Christopher Bigelow

1943 - 2024

Christopher Meldrum Bigelow

1943 ~ 2024

Christopher Meldrum Bigelow passed away at age eighty-one on August 13, 2024, due to Alzheimer's and associated complications.

Chris was born on August 9, 1943, in Jacksonville, Florida. As a "Navy brat," he grew up coast to coast in fourteen cities and attended five high schools, graduating from Francis C. Hammond High School in Alexandria, Virginia. His mother was Avalon Christensen of St. David, Arizona, and his father was LaVell Meldrum Bigelow of Provo, Utah.

On June 16, 1965, Chris graduated from the University of Utah in economics and was sealed to Mitzie Kimball in the Salt Lake Temple. Fulfilling his ROTC scholarship obligations, he served in the U.S. Navy until November 1969, including in the Vietnam War as executive officer of a minesweeper. The family is grateful for the excellent, heartfelt care provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, including full disability benefits due to Chris's presumed Agent Orange exposure.

For eight years in Los Angeles County, California, Chris supported his fast-expanding family as a stockbroker, corporate finance executive, and banker. In 1977, the family moved to Bountiful, Utah, where Chris worked as a financial and marketing consultant and owned a small mortgage-investment company. Later in life, he worked as an Uber driver in the Salt Lake metro area, a job he loved for the social interaction.

As a fifth-generation member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Chris served as a stake seventy, on a ward Scouting committee, as a counselor in several bishoprics, and as a high councilor in a University of Utah student stake. As a volunteer, he devoted many hours to guiding tours on Temple Square and ministering to inmates at the Utah State Prison.

Chris had a great sense of humor, was an avid reader and a practical do-it-yourselfer, and loved going out for movies and Mexican food. As a father and husband, he made family his priority and played an active role in our progress and productivity, perhaps sometimes with excessive military-style intensity.

Chris is survived by his ten children: Christopher K. (Ann Larsen), Andrew (Elizabeth De Cicco), Stacey (Brad Smith), Jennifer (Todd van Uitert), David (Melissa Marston), Elizabeth, Jeffrey (Alexis Berrett), Sarah (Joseph Maynard), Emily (Joshua Marchant), and Julia (Samuel Young). Survivors also include Mitzie; his four brothers, Robert, Michael, William, and Mark; forty-two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren; and numerous cousins. He was preceded in death by his parents and by twin brothers who died soon after birth, all four of whom are buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Funeral service will be held on Thursday, August 29 at 11:30 am at the Utah Veterans Memorial Park Chapel located at 17111 1700 W, Bluffdale, UT 84065. A viewing will be held prior to the services from 10:30 - 11:30 am at the same location. Burial and military honors will follow the funeral services at Utah Veterans Memorial Park and Cemetery.

To watch the funeral services live via Zoom please see the obituary on Larkin's website at www.larkinmortuary.com/obituary/view/christopher-meldrum-bigelow/