Gordon Mark Romney Obituary (1966

Gordon Mark Romney, husband, father, grandfather, brother, and son, passed away on June 4, 2022. Gordon was born to Victoria Lurene Wilkinson Romney and Gordon Wilson Romney on August 16, 1966 in Bountiful, Utah. He was the eldest of eight children, and in his younger years he assumed the role of third parent to his younger siblings helping make breakfast and assisting Mom in every activity. Saturday was his day with his Dad and frequently asked if “Bumpa,” his Romney grandfather, had taught his Dad how to do specific skilled tasks. The answer was almost always to the affirmative. This ranged from making waffles to planting trees in the yard almost always at nighttime. During his youth, his family lived in multiple states, but he most often claimed Long Island, New York, and El Paso, Texas as home. Gordon was enthusiastically involved in Cub and Boy Scouts, achieving the rank of Eagle Scout with palms and was in the Order of the Arrow with his brother Todd. He went on two 50-miler hikes, one dragging his Dad along to 11,000 foot altitudes of Colorado. His Eagle Scout project was one of the first Apple II implementations of the Four Generation Program for Family and Ancestral History. One of the brightest highlights of his life was serving as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Leeds, England. In addition to touching the lives of the people who lived there and with whom he served, he learned how to make curry, which became a favorite family dinner. Gordon also loved British pop music. Some of his favorite artists were Howard Jones and Pet Shop Boys. Gordon attended Brigham Young University on a Trustees Scholarship. He met Corina “Cori” Andrea Griffith while they were both involved in the BYU Student Association, where Gordon was a vice president. They married on July 25, 1989, in the Guatemala City Temple, where his parents served as president of the Guatemala City North Mission. His father had the privilege of marrying them, as local law required, before their sealing in the temple. The Griffiths most kindly brought the wedding to Guatemala as Gordon’s parents could not leave the mission field. Gordon and Cori later divorced in 2009. While serving in the BYU Student Association, Gordon spearheaded the BYU Service-to-Go program, a precursor to Y-Serve. He continued his Bachelor of Arts program in accounting, and during those years, his daughters, Virginia Leigh and Kendle Anne, were born. In 1992, before beginning his MBA studies at BYU, Gordon was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. This terrible disease would be the singular struggle of his life. He was blessed, however, to successfully complete the BYU MBA program. Gordon managed the symptoms and effects of multiple sclerosis as best he could for almost 30 years, even as it ravaged his body. He challenged his capacity to travel, unaccompanied, five miles or more in his power chair. Up until his death he remained the memory expert on personal and family events from childhood on. Immediately before his MBA studies, Gordon worked for MegaWest Systems, a Utah healthcare service provider; and post-MBA for ARCANVS, one of the first three internet Certification Authorities in the world. In 2002, Gordon and his family moved to Oracle, Arizona, where he was elected as a Justice of the Peace in Pinal County. His years spent as a Justice of the Peace were among the most fulfilling of his life, as Gordon loved serving others. He later lived in Kearny, Arizona; Scottsdale, Arizona; Midway, Utah; and San Diego, California. He settled in Orem, Utah, at Treeo Senior Living, where he met Nadine Corral. He and Nadine were sealed for time and all eternity in the Bountiful Utah Temple on March 22, 2017. The two never ran out of terms of endearment for each other — Nadine was his adoring and adored eternal companion. Nadine always addresses him as “Gordy” – the name his closest friends and family have always used. Gordon was a devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout his life. He found happiness through his church callings and temple service. Gordon served as an ordinance worker in the San Diego California Temple for as long as his health allowed. While living at Treeo, Gordon loved “being an investigator” for missionaries at the Mission Training Center in Provo, Utah, and striking up conversations with strangers so he could share the gospel with them. Gordon was a public transit enthusiast and advocate. When his daughters were young, the three of them would have Saturday adventures and take the bus from their home in Sugar House to the nearest Krispy Kreme in Orem. During the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics, he was most excited about the TRAX lines being constructed. Later in his life, he took it upon himself to teach some of his neighbors to use public transit, including the accessibility options he used with his power chair. He enjoyed making trips to City Creek Mall in Salt Lake City by UTA bus and TRAX simply to eat at the food court. Gordon enjoyed watching the Utah Jazz and BYU football and basketball with his darling wife Nadine. He loved black licorice and classic cinema, especially “Vertigo” and other Alfred Hitchcock movies. He actively read and enjoyed Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side comics and Berkeley Breathed’s creation, Opus the penguin. Gordon is survived by his wife, Nadine Ester Corral Romney; daughters and sons-in-law, Virginia Leigh Romney and Matthew Montgomery, and Kendle Anne Webster and Michael Webster; two grandchildren, Emery Webster and Alexander Webster; parents, Victoria Lurene Wilkinson Romney and Gordon Wilson Romney; siblings, Anne Romney, Todd Harold Romney, Susan Romney Hanson, Deborah Natasha Romney Sturgill, Miles David Wilkinson Romney, Melinda Romney Lee, and Spencer Wilkinson Romney and numerous nieces and nephews. He is preceded in death by his grandparents, Lurene Kealiilalanikulani Gates Wilkinson and Harold Nephi Wilkinson, and Elizabeth Wilson Romney and Gordon M Romney. Funeral services will be held on Friday, June 24, 2022, beginning with a viewing at 9:30 a.m. and a funeral service at 11:00 a.m., at the Orem 1st Ward Chapel, 80 South 280 East, Orem, Utah 84097. Interment will be at the Midway City Cemetery, 600 West 500 South, Midway, Utah 84049. Condolences may be expressed at www.bergmortuary.com. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Multiple Sclerosis Society.