The 2023 4th quarter Y Alum magazine arrived the other day, and I finally got around to fulfilling my obligation to review the listing of those who have passed on into the Eternities.

I immediately noted that this was the longest list I’ve ever seen! 534!

The first name listed was Omar Kim Smith. Might he be a Smith from Hyrum’s line? His graduating class was 1940. I asked Google about him. One of the search companies that offers to sell you info about him said that he’s alive and well and living in Michigan at age 104!

I couldn’t find an obituary, but what I did find was a photo of a Memorial Day flag planted at his gravesite. The headstone says he died in 2017, that he was born in 1919, and that he was a captain in the US Army, so it’s very likely that this is BYU’s Omar, going into WWII at age 22 and becoming an officer based on being a college grad…

Why did it take six years to be mentioned in the BYU death list? One hopes that he had moved on from mormonism.

The most recent listing was from the class of 2022, a young woman with a childhood disease who succumbed to an attribute of that disease less than a year after her 2022 graduation.  She died in April of this year. Her obit says she served a Spanish-speaking mission in Maryland … maybe Summer met her? (One wonders how Hispanic Summer may look…?)

Regarding the 534 total… The thought arises regarding how many of them left money to the church? I’m surprised the church hasn’t suggested that members plan on tithing to the age of 110, and they all should make plans along this line!

My class, 1970, only had 13 celebrants of death listed. I didn’t recognize any names, and it’s unlikely I ever will.

I randomly looked up a name from the class of 1970, Steven Wallace Allen. His birth-death stats are 08/25/1946 - 12/26/2020, so yeah, this particular issue seems to be a ‘catch-up’ edition of the death listings…

But why didn’t they list Bro. Allen’s death when it happened? His obit reads like a Pride of the Mormons listing! Here’s a line from the obit (https://www.bunkerfuneral.com/obituaries/steven-wallace-allen/) “For the past 2 ½ years, Steve & Linda have been serving as BYU Pathway Connect Missionaries.” He did 20 years of classes at BYU Education Week, and his funeral was handled by a mormon family mortuary!

Maybe active member survivors assume that the church will notify those who need to know? And exmos wouldn’t give a rat’s ass…

D&D’s class, 1972, had 17 desfuntos, including the last on the list, Brother Wanko. Certainly, anyone ever introduced to Brother Wanko would remember that name. When he was a teenager, his bishops could have had fun with him during interviews. Did he serve a mission? Elder Wanko has a nice ring to it!

Whoa! Brother Wanko did NOT serve a mormon mission. Born in 1944, the delay in his graduation was due to serving a four-year term of service in the US Army. After his graduation, he joined the US Secret Service, and his career included time spent on Pres. Reagan’s security detail. I’ll just leave you this link so you'll know where my "Whoa!" came from:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CX6exMFOhKX/ I'm sure most of the old farts here will get it...

While his obit lists BYU, it does not mention anything about service in the church, so one is left to easily assume he was not a mormonic drone.

This ends this quarter’s BYU alumni magazine death parade perusal. Stay above ground until the next edition, please!

>> ...She died in April of this year. Her obit says she served a Spanish-speaking mission in Maryland … maybe Summer met her? (One wonders how Hispanic Summer may look…?)

I look about as Hispanic as a Nordic blonde can look. So, not so much. ;o)

ETA: My chief reason for reading my alumni magazine is the obituary section as well. The class notes section comes in second.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/11/2023 09:11AM by summer.

On the high number that have died. Wonder how many died with Covid? Could the events I'd the past few years have anything bug to do with the numbers?

Perhaps the magazine recycles/reprints the obits of the most actively-Mormon individuals to raise the bar for all remaining readers?

or perhaps they are truly behind in processing the covid-years' increase in lost Mormons?

or maybe they print whatever obits family members submit and aren't keeping good records of whose been memorialized previously?

whatever the reason, more of them dropping means fewer remaining in the chapels on Sunday.

They don't print obits, just name, grad date and place of residence at death.