John Askew Obituary, Death – Just before Christmas, we received the tragic news that John Askew had passed away. We were heartbroken to hear this. Incredible as it may sound, he lived to be 90 years old. John served the Parish for a long time in various capacities, including leadership roles on the Parish Council, where he held the positions of Chair and Vice Chair for a number of years. We would like to express our deepest condolences to his family as well as to all of his other loved ones.
John’s birthday is March 2nd, 1943, and he was born that day. After graduating from Jordan High School, he wed his high school love, Lael Kunz, and started a new life together. After that, they were encased in an oblong stone and buried inside the Manti Temple. After that, he completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Utah and then went on to earn his master’s degree in business administration from New York University.
In spite of his very brief career, John was able to achieve a great deal. He worked in New York City on Wall Street for a number of years, then moved on to serve as the Deputy Director of Energy in Washington, DC, under the administration of President Gerald Ford, and then moved to Southern California to work as an insurance executive there. The family relocated to Utah, where the father found work as an investment adviser, twenty and one years ago.
John was a dedicated educator, a fantastic role model for those he mentored, and a family man who cherished both life and his home. Both the mountains and playing were something that he greatly enjoyed doing in his free time. He was a devoted athlete, and his favorite activities included downhill skiing, mountain biking, and anything else that took him outside. He participated in performances with a variety of choirs and sang solos whenever he was given the opportunity. He was endowed with a voice that was incredibly beautiful. He instructed a great number of his friends and family members in the sport of skiing by taking them to the peak of the mountain and saying something along the lines of,