Garry L. Bond

Garry L. Bond, age 89, returned gently to his Heavenly Home on March 10, 2026, in Draper, Utah, surrounded by his loving family.

He was born on March 16, 1937, in York, Nebraska, to Emma Lee (Tess) Wertsbaugh and Ivan LeRoy Newman. He spent his early years in Gresham, Nebraska, spending lots of time on his grandmother Faith Newman's farm. Marvin Bond entered his life in 1946 as a stepfather. They moved to Colorado in 1950. Garry graduated from Grand Junction Central High School and attended Mesa College.

In 1954, he started a business venture in Moab, Utah, with Marvin; this milk distributorship was the beginning of his 40-year career in the milk processing industry in various management roles. He was a troubleshooter and solved countless problems for Meadow Gold Dairy, Beatrice Foods, Borden Dairy, Rolland Dairy and Roberts Dairy. Garry's career moved through Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, Montana, Idaho, and Iowa. He chose to retire in Draper, Utah, where he built a network of friends and enjoyed being closer to family.

It was in Moab that he met and married the love of his life, Kathryn Barton. They moved to Colorado and were blessed to have two girls, Teri (Gary) Hernandez and Barbara (Blaine) Lutz.

In 1989, he embarked on an adventure of walking 4 miles a day. True to his nature, once he started, he never missed a day. His family memorialized milestones of miles, years, and days of consecutive walking with plaques and celebrations. He walked in 44 states, 35 countries, and 7 islands.

"Retirement" found Garry establishing a homeowner's association, working part-time for a chain of hotels, and then later for Frito-Lay, doing home improvement projects, helping his girls with their various projects, and serving his neighbors.

He was a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving in Bishoprics and as a missionary in the South Salt Lake mission and in the Bishop's storehouse. His favorite calling was that of a ministering brother (home teacher); he loved being an emissary of Jesus Christ. He was sealed in the Manti temple to Kathryn and his girls in 1975. He understood the importance of families in the eternal plan and devoted a great portion of his life to genealogy and temple attendance.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his son-in-law, Gary Hernandez. He is survived by his wife, Kathryn Barton Bond, his daughters Teri Hernandez of Jackson, Wyoming and Barbara (Blaine) Lutz of Farmington, Utah, siblings Elaine (Mike) Amstutz of Beatrice, Nebraska, Mike (Ruth) Newman of Muscatine, Iowa and Nancy (Dan) Carlson of Houston, Texas, as well as grandchildren Savannah (Squire) Augustine and Sierra Lutz.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to your favorite charity

A viewing will be held on Saturday, March 14, from 12 pm -12:45 pm at Larkin Sunset Gardens, located at 1950 E Dimple Dell Rd. Funeral services will follow at 1 pm.

To view a recording of Garry's service, please click on the blue tab above that says "Watch Services".