Keith Wilson Wilcox

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Keith Wilson Wilcox 5/15/21 to 12/16/11

Keith Wilson Wilcox passed peacefully in Ogden, Utah on December 16, 2011. He was born in Hyrum, Utah on May 15, 1921 to Irving and Nancy Mary Wilcox. He grew up in Holladay, Utah and attended Granite High School. He moved to Ogden when he was in the 10th grade and graduated from Ogden High School and Weber College. While at Weber College, he spearheaded the drive to establish an Art Department which was created in 1939. He graduated from the University of Utah in 1943 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He then became a lieutenant in the US Navy and served in World War II as the engineering officer and Chaplain aboard the USS LSM 558.

After the war ended, he joined the architectural office of Fred Markham in Provo, Utah as an Engineer. Later in Ogden, he helped to plan the first campus of Weber State University. In 1949 the Deseret News presented a new cartoon, "Slim Pickens" created by Keith Wilcox.

He attended the University of Oregon and received his Master of Architecture degree and later opened his own private architectural practice in Ogden, called Keith W. Wilcox and Associates. He practiced architecture for 20 years.

He devoted time to serving the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as Bishop, Stake President and Regional Representative. He later gave full time service to his church which included serving as the Mission President of the Indiana Indianapolis Mission, Ogden Temple President and a member of the First and Second Quorums of the Seventy in the Far East Area. He served as Director of the Los Angeles Temple Visitors'' Center.

Keith served 15 years as a member of the Weber County Planning Commission, ten of which he was the chairman, as a member of the Kiwanis Club for 20 years and then as a member of the Ogden Rotary Club where he was honored as an "Honorary Member of Rotary International." Ogden City School District named a room in the Mount Ogden Jr. High School as the "Keith W. Wilcox Drafting Lab." He served 1978-1980 in the Utah State House of Representatives.

He served on the Utah Boy Scout Council and was a member of the Utah Sons of Pioneers, serving as Chairman of the 1997 Sons of Utah Pioneers National Encampment in Ogden and as an area vice president of the National Sons of the Pioneers.

Keith loved to paint and presented four art shows. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities by Weber State University

Some of his architectural buildings include the Washington D.C. Temple, the first 16 buildings of the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Ogden Federal Building, the original McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden, the Kingston Ward Chapel, Center for Disabilities on Utah State Campus and numerous schools for the Ogden and Weber School Districts and Cache Valley.

Keith married Viva May Gammell in the Logan Temple July 17, 1945. They are the parents of six daughters, Rona Lee (Willard Z. Maughan), Stephanie (H. Bruce Pickett), Christine ( J.Dennis Ritchie), Pauline (David M. Flitton), Sharon (Jan P. Christensen), and Carole (Nelson Astle). He has 20 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren. Surviving are two brothers, Lee W. Wilcox and Ron W. Wilcox.

The family would like to express deep gratitude for the excellent care received from Aspen Care Center and the devoted attention of Dr. Nelson Astle.

Funeral Services will be held on Thursday December 22, 2011 at 2 p.m. at the Kingston Ward Chapel located at 35th and Polk in Ogden. Friends may visit with family on Wednesday from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. at Lindquist''s Ogden Mortuary 3408 Washington Blvd., and Thursday from 12:45 to 1:45 p.m. at the church. Interment, Lindquist''s Washington Heights Memorial Park, 4500 Washington Blvd.

Send condolences to the family at: www.lindquistmortuary.com