Neal Norton Hatch

1975 - 2019

Neal Norton Hatch was born on June 19,1975 and died at the age of forty-four on October 15, 2019 in Provo, Utah. He loved his childhood years in Elk Ridge, Utah, and frequently told funny stories about his adventures growing up with his brothers, sisters, and well-loved friends.

Neal’s teen years found him working at Gladstan golf course, running, playing soccer and tennis. As a student at Payson High School, class of 1993, he was on the tennis and cross country teams. He continued loving sports and the outdoors throughout his life, especially enjoying golf outings with his brothers.

As a nineteen year old, Neal served a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Japan, Sapporo mission. He maintained a place in his heart for the Japanese culture, and his sweet and funny experiences as a missionary.

Neal’s English degree from BYU solidified life-long loves: BYU sports and literature. One of Neal’s favorite memories as a teen was watching in person as the BYU football team beat Miami. Over the last few years he volunteered for the BYU football and basketball teams taking stats at the home games. Neal’s love of literature resulted in a collection of books that his family will treasure. Neal also loved people and collected friends everywhere he went. His work friends became like a second family to him.

Neal was a poignant story teller who spun funny vignettes of his life experiences. If Neal could share a story with us now he might recount his recent trip back to Japan, tell of an ongoing joke with a coworker, or perhaps gently poke fun of family members - possibly something amusing he had seen a niece or nephew do. We will also miss his fridge magnet insult exchange with nieces and nephews. We would share with Neal how much we love him, how irreplaceable he is in our family and how much we will miss the presence of his witty sense of humor, gentle nature and kind heart.

He is preceded in death by his mother, Ria Hatch, and survived by his loving father Ron Hatch, his grandmother Alice Hatch, five brothers, six sisters, brothers and sisters-in-law, and a wealth of nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends - who all adored him.

Services will be at Sundberg-Olpin Mortuary in Orem, UT on Monday, October 21, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. where we will honor Neal’s life and love of a good story. A viewing will be held at the same location from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m.