Gordon W. Greene

Gordon W. Greene
8 Feb. 1921 ~ 4 Feb. 2013
Gordon William Greene, our loving and devoted husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather, passed peacefully from this life on 4 February 2013, holding the hand of his eternal companion of 70 years, Phyllis.
Gordon was born 8 February 1921 in San Francisco, CA to Raymond Allen Greene and Mary Alice Hurley. All of his childhood was spent in San Francisco. After graduation from Lick-Wilmerding High School Gordon was preparing to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with his final interview on the morning of 7 December 1941, but other events of that morning changed his plans. He joined the Army, and then married his sweetheart, Phyllis Coulam, on 11 December 1942. They traveled by bus to the Salt Lake City Temple to have their marriage sealed on 14 December 1942. Even on the last day of his life on earth Gordon's face would light up whenever he looked at Phyllis. Gordon was a Geologist, with a degree from Fresno State; a Geophysicist, with a Masters degree from Stanford University, and worked for the U.S. Geological Survey for 25 years while raising a family of 8 children in Palo Alto, CA, Annandale, VA, and Lakewood, CO; a genealogist/family historian; a photographer; a missionary, when he and Phyllis served an LDS mission to Baguio, Philippines in 1989-90; a bishop over the Orem 71st Ward; an amateur radio operator; a WWII veteran, serving in England and France as a radar technician, and for 17 years thereafter in the Army Reserve, retiring with the rank of Captain. His family loved to hear his stories of working in Alaska, their mission in the Philippines, or his service during WWII. He took lots of pictures, and would have slideshows at family gatherings. Most of all Gordon was a devout disciple of Jesus Christ, with a firm testimony of the restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Gordon is survived by his wife Phyllis; his brother Donald L., sister Doris E. Lay; his sons Stephen (Sandie), Bruce (Felicia), Robert (Bonnie), David (Christine), Kenneth (Carolyn), James (Charity), and his daughters Elizabeth (John Coray, deceased) and Janet (Matt Wandschneider), 24 grandchildren and 35 great grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his parents, an infant brother, Raymond Allen, Jr., his sister Muriel M. Wildman, his son-in-law John Coray, an infant granddaughter and an infant great granddaughter.
The family would also like to extend special thanks for the loving and wonderful care of the staff at Sunrise of Sandy, and CNS Hospice.
There will be a viewing at Sundberg-Olpin Mortuary, 495 S. State St, Orem, UT on Sunday, 10 Feb 2013, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Funeral services will be held at the Orem, UT Park Stake Center, 190 West 300 South, Orem, UT on Monday 11 February 2013 starting at 11:30 a.m., with a viewing at 10:00 a.m.
Condolences can be sent to the family at www.SundbergOlpinMortuary.com
We all love you lots and lots Grandpa! We will miss you! Till we meet again!!