- Date Of Birth: August 31, 1957
- Date Of Death: May 10, 2019
- State: Utah
Brian D Nelson 61, of Mantua left this earthly life to join his son Chris to serve on the other side of the veil on May 10, 2019 from injuries sustained in a car accident on May 1, 2019.
Brian was born on August 31, 1957 in Brigham City, Utah and was the fifth and last child of Lee Gordon and Doris Gibbs Nelson.
Brian graduated from Box Elder High School in 1975. He married his high school sweetheart Debbie Busenbark in the Ogden LDS Temple on June 18, 1976. Brian lived all but the first four years of his marriage in Mantua. He and Debbie built their home in 1980 behind his parents in what was once their horse pasture and raised their seven children there.
From the time Brian was a little boy he was very active in sports. He played baseball, basketball and softball. He was well known for hitting it out of the park. He played with Champion Homes, Brigham City Merchants and Morton Thiokol. The Morton Thiokol Team was able to play in seven National Championships. Brian was named to the All-American Team several times. He also received many MVP awards. When he was playing two nights a week plus weekends and four of his children were on teams, Debbie convinced him to hang up his cleats and become coach to his boys. He coached many Jr Jazz, T-Ball and Little League teams. He also served as their Cub Scout and Boy Scout leader for many years. Brian’s favorite teams were the Indianapolis Colts, the Boston Celtics, the Chicago White Sox and the Boston Bruins.
Brian was a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints serving in many callings. He had a very strong testimony of his Savior Jesus Christ and of the knowledge that we can be together again as families for eternity.
In 1997 Brian and Debbie began a tradition of attending at least one new temple every year for their anniversary. They had been to 39 temples.
Brian began working at Thiokol in 1978 at the age of 21. He spent most of his 35 years there working in the Space Shuttle program as a Manufacturing Engineer. Part of his job was escorting the booster motors by train from Corinne Utah to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On one of those trips while traveling through Alabama a trestle broke and the train crashed thirteen feet down to the creek below. Brian received many injuries and continued to suffer bad headaches from it. After the Space Shuttle ended and the Aries program was cancelled, he was laid off. He then started a new job with BAE Systems working at Hill Air Force Base as a Technical Writer.
Brian was a very devoted husband, father and grandfather. His family was everything to him. After hearing a talk by President Uchtdorf a few years ago he began a tradition of taking each grandchild out to dinner for their birthday. He loved spending the one on one time with them. They affectionately call him “Papa”.
Brian was preceded in death by his parents and his son Christopher.
Brian is survived by his wife Debbie, Mantua. His children: Monica (Josh) Glover, Brigham City; Brock (AshLee) Nelson, Mantua; Dallas (Corina) Nelson, South Jordan; Skyler (Misti) Nelson, Mantua; Erica (Patrick) Norris, Mantua; Cory (Sydney) Nelson, Brigham City. Grandchildren: Jacob, Mckall, Molly, Emma, Mckynlee, TayLee, Saybree, Lily, Oaklee, Champ, Jaxon, Avree, Casey, Janci, Nora, Blakely, Bridger, Sadie and Magnolia coming the end of June. Also, siblings: Dorene (Ralph) Valentine; Gordon Nelson; David (Janet) Nelson and Carol (Rex) Spencer.
