Paul Robison DeBry
1941 - 2020
Paul Robison DeBry, age 78, was born April 24, 1941, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He died of natural causes on Sunday, January 12, 2020 during his beloved Sunday afternoon nap. Paul had been out shoveling the walks of his neighbors that morning, a testimony to his care for others.
Paul grew up in Salt Lake City and Holladay, Utah. He attended Olympus High School where he made many wonderful lifelong friends. He graduated from the University of Utah in Accounting. He was a member their tennis team. He served a mission to Holland and Belgium from 1960 to 1963. He was drafted in the Army in 1966 and served two years, including one year in Vietnam. Paul met Rita Leckie, the love of his life, at BYU while working on a master’s degree in accounting. Sixty days later they married in the Salt Lake Temple. He jokingly complained that they would have been married sooner, but Rita kept dragging her feet. They started their life together in Los Angeles where Paul worked for Deloitte & Touche, a large Certified Public Accounting firm. After a couple of years he and Rita moved to Provo to be closer to family. In Provo he was a partner in the CPA firm of Squire & Co. After about 20 years he left the accounting business to pursue other business ventures, one of which was founding the first company to put genealogical records on the computer. Church and family have always been foremost in Paul’s life. He has served in many callings in the church, including as a bishop on the BYU campus. Paul and Rita served a mission to the Nauvoo Temple where they were ordinance workers. At the time of his death he was an ordinance worker in the Provo Temple. He spent many hours doing genealogical research and performing the temple ordinances for thousands of his ancestors. During his retirement he wrote many books and articles on family and church history. He produced a two hour award winning documentary on DVD about his ancestors, entitled, “The Pratt Brothers-Builders of Zion”. His favorite publication however was a book he titled, “Raising Kids on Cherokee Lane”, the story of he and Rita raising their seven children. One of his great dreams was to invent a time machine so he could go back and be with them again as they grew up. He had such great memories of their time together when they were young.
He is preceded in death by his parents James and Ruby DeBry, his brother James (Da), and his sister Patricia (Bob) Pexton. He is survived by his beloved wife Rita, two siblings, Mary (Felshaw) King, Mark (Marla) DeBry, and seven children, Christina (Stuart) Heimdal, David (Marilyn) DeBry, Laura (Gordon) Harkness, Mark (Malinda) DeBry, Emily Ernst, Julia (Terry) Andersen, and Athena (Ben) Petersen. He is also survived by 40.8 grandchildren and 1 great grandchild.
Funeral services will be held at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 3050 N. Mojave Ln, Provo, UT on Saturday, January 18, 2020 at 11 a.m. Friends may call at the Nelson Mortuary, Friday, January 17, from 6 until 8 and at the church on Saturday from 9:30-10:45 a.m. prior to services. Interment, Provo City Cemetery, Provo, Utah following the funeral services.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to a charity of your choice or to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Missionary Fund.
