H. Grant Heaton

1929 ~ 2011
H. Grant Heaton 'graduated' from this life on the morning of Saturday, November 19, 2011.
He was born on June 5, 1929 in Alton, Utah to Herald Hoyt and Ellen Johnson Heaton. He was the only son of five children with two older sisters and two younger sisters. (Eudora, Mary Deen, Flora May and Karma). In 1937 he lost his mother on Christmas day to pneumonia, and in 1940 his father married Dollie Garrison. He spent his youth in the mountains of Southern Utah riding horses and farming. He attended Valley High School where he played football, basketball, baseball, and track and field. He also attended the University of Utah where he met his sweetheart Luana Carter in a ballroom dancing class.
In 1949 he was called to serve a four-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in China, which was cut short due to communist revolution. He served the remainder of his mission in Hawaii and China Town San Francisco. He was drafted into the army in 1952. He married his eternal companion Roxcy Luana Carter on December 18, 1952 in the Salt Lake Temple and was deployed to the Korean War on January 1, 1953 where he worked in military intelligence for 18 months.
All of those experiences, beginning with his mission, prepared him in 1955, to receive a call from President David O McKay to serve as the first mission president in the newly opened Southern Far East Mission. This was a defining chapter in his life, where, as a 25-year old father, he began spreading the gospel in China, Guam, Singapore, the Philippines and all continents in South East Asia. Missionary work was very important to President Heaton, as well as the relationships with his missionaries, most of whom he continued to associate, until his death. He had a firm testimony of the gospel, of which he bore often. He was a gospel doctrine scholar, a teacher and loved sharing his knowledge with family and friends. He used his passion for education during the 1960's when he was called as the Church Institute and Seminary coordinator in the Pacific Northwest Region.
He spent his professional career as an entrepreneur. He had a brilliant mind, and many enterprises he pioneered were years ahead of their time. His crowning achievement, however, was his family.
He is survived by his loving wife of 59 years Luana Carter Heaton, with whom he could not live without, as well as his five children, H. Grant Jr. (Linda), Lisa Lee (Jeff) Jones, Eric E. (Karen), Kwan C. (LaVon), and Patricia Ann (Clark) Chamberlain, 24 grandchildren, and 9 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, Herald Hoyt, Ellen Johnson, and Dollie Garrison Heaton, as well his older sisters, Eudora Thompson and Mary Deen Jeppson.
Funeral services will be Wednesday, November 30, 2011 at 1:00 p.m. at the Holladay 18th Ward on 2625 E. Milo Way (4910 S.) in Holladay, Utah. There will be a viewing Tuesday evening from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at the ward house, as well as Wednesday morning from 11:30-12:30. Interment Holladay Memorial Park. Messages and tributes to the family can be posted at: www.holbrookmortuary.com
The family would like to thank the many nurses, aids, doctors and specialists who cared for Grant in the last 15 years as he battled with many health problems. In lieu of flowers the family would graciously accept donations for medical and funeral expenses.