Hubert Hal Visick

1930 ~ 2012
Late Tuesday, October 23, 2012, our devoted and beloved husband, father, and brother, Hubert Hal Visick died peacefully at home. Hal led an active and full life dedicated to the people and institutions he cared about. Born at home on June 12, 1930, in Kanab, Utah, to Hubert Eaton and Gwendolyn (McAllister) Visick, Hal had battled in recent years the effects of Parkinson's Disease and the cumulative effect of "too many birthdays." Raised in Kanab, Ogden, and Salt Lake City, Hal spent happy summers as a young man working as a bus driver, bellhop, and performer at Bryce Lodge where he made many dear and lifelong friends prior to serving a mission for the LDS Church from 1949 to 1952 in the Texas-Louisiana Mission. Following his mission, and having seen the error of earlier ways, Hal transferred from the University of Utah to Brigham Young University, graduating in 1955, following which he served four years as a pilot in the US Air Force, from 1955 to 1959, obtaining the rank of Captain, before attending George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC, and graduating first in his class in 1963. Choosing perspicaciously, Hal married Else Hedvig Bjorndal on March 12, 1959, in the Salt Lake City, UT, temple. Eight children were born to this union.
Following law school, the family lived in California where Hal practiced law at Latham & Watkins, then briefly in Michigan while Hal worked at Ford Motor Company and again in California while he practiced with Roberts, Carmack, and Johnson, before moving to Utah in 1971 when Hal became the Assistant to the President and General (Legal) Counsel for Brigham Young University. While at BYU, Hal was involved in many interesting legal matters and built a team well-matched to the challenges of a large, international, private religiously affiliated university. In addition to his regular duties, Hal also regularly taught religion courses and later became affiliated with the J. Reuben Clark Law School, teaching advanced courses there. Hal was devoted to the mission of the University and its sponsor, the LDS Church, and accepted a mid-career call to serve as the president of the Illinois Peoria Mission from 1986 to 1989, an experience and time he held especially dear throughout his life. Hal retired from BYU in 2001 after 30 years of service.
Hal is survived by his wife, Else, and his eight children, Jennifer Visick (Douglas Singer), Christopher Sean (Kirsten) Visick, Davie Erik (Caramia) Visick, Saralinda (Christopher) Francis, Elizabeth Visick, Richard Eaton Visick (Hayden Bass), Spencer Hal Visick (Donna Chavis), and Alexandra Visick, as well as his sister Helen (Timothy) Thompson and 12 grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother William Patrick Visick.
Hal lived a robust, happy, engaged life. Like Thoreau, he sought the marrow. His easy, self-deprecating wit, his commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ, his delight in singing, his feats of strength as a runner, and his love for his family will be long remembered and the source of many cherished memories. The mountain lions and eagles surely have missed his long runs through the mountains these past few years, and surely the world is a little less cheerful now that it can no longer hear his joyful singing of hymns, spirituals, and show tunes over the roar of the Visick lawn mower, but we have faith that the heavens are cheered by his arrival.
A visitation will be held Sunday, October 28, 2012 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the Oak Hills Hillside Chapel, 1960 North 1500 East, Provo, and again on Monday morning from 9:00 to 10:15 am. Funeral services will be held Monday, October 29, 2012, at 10:30 am, at the same location. Interment will be at the East Lawn Memorial Hills, 4800 N. Eastlawn Dr., Provo, Utah. Condolences may be sent through his obituary at http://www.serenicare.com. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Perpetual Education Fund or the Missionary Fund of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (http://ldsphilanthropies.org). The family extends special thanks to Utah Hospice Specialists for the compassionate, professional care they provided Hal over the past several weeks.