Mark Brimhall Garff, a good man and an able builder, died in Salt Lake City on May 29, 1995 at the age of 88.
Born in Wallsburg, Utah on May 4, 1907, he was the son of George Peter and Tryphena Mayer Brimhall Garff. He attended school in Lehi, Bountiful and Salt Lake City, playing halfback for the LDSU football team. He served as an LDS missionary in Denmark from 1929 to 1932.On October 11, 1935, he married Gertrude Laura Ryberg in the Salt Lake Temple. At the time of his marriage, he was serving on the High Council of the Granite Stake under President Hugh B. Brown. In 1937, at the age of 30, he was called as president of the Danish Mission. In 1939, He and Elder Joseph Fielding Smith organized the evacuation of most of the European LDS missionaries via Denmark at the outbreak of World War II. He served as a member of the LDS General Welfare Committee for 18 years, as an assistant high priests group leader in the Highland Stake, and as a Sunday School and priesthood teacher in the Parleys 6th Ward.
As founder and senior partner of Garff, Ryberg & Garff Construction Co., he was involved in the construction of many major buildings along the Wasatch Front, including the George Albert Smith Fieldhouse and the Wilkinson Center at BYU, Orson Spencer Hall at the University of Utah, Merrill Library at USU, and the Kennecott Building in Salt Lake City. In 1965 he became chairman of the LDS Church Building Committee serving for six years, during which time the LDS Church office building and the Washington D.C., Ogden and Provo Temples were begun. In 1973 he formed Mark B. Garff Construction Co. with his two sons. In 1986 he was awarded the Eric W. Ryberg Award by the Utah Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America for his service to the construction industry.
Mr. Garff served as a member of the executive committees of the Danish-American Rebild National Park Society and Utah-Idaho Sugar Co. He was president and director of Deseret Federal Savings, vice-president and director of Deseret News Publishing Co., member of the Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce advisory council, and member of the Salt Lake advisory board of First Security Bank. He also served as president of Bonneville Knife and Fork Club and was a life member of Sons of Utah Pioneers.
He was faithful, energetic, a skilled craftsman, cheerful, and a respected teacher and advisor to many. His workmanship and standards will endure. He loved boating, fishing and the out-of-doors. He enjoyed reading, quoting and writing poetry.
He is survived by his widow and five children: Mark R. (Judy); Charlotte (Theodore M. Jacobsen); and William R. (Karen), all of Salt Lake City; Georgia (David W. Owens) of Walnut Creek, Calif.; and Laura (Robert D. Lewis) of Petaluma, Calif. Also surviving are 21 grandchildren; five English "grandchildren", four great-grandchildren; a sister, (Ina Cannon), and three brothers (Major, Wayne and Elmo). He was preceded in death by a brother, three sisters and a grandson.
Funeral service will be held at noon on Friday, June 2 at Parleys 6th Ward, 2350 So. 2100 East, SLC. Friends may call Thursday evening from 6-8 p.m. at Wasatch Lawn Mortuary, 3401 So. Highland Drive, SLC, and Friday at Parleys 6th Ward from 10:45-11:45 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the Danish Scholarship Endowment Fund, c/o LDS Foundation, Box 27188, Provo, Utah 84602.
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