Floyd Garn Hatch, aged 83, died May 1, 2001, at his home in Salt Lake City.
Dad was born January 15, 1918, in Salt Lake City, the only child of Dr. Floyd Frost Hatch and Mabel Lubeck Hatch. After his mother died in 1926, a victim of an influenza epidemic, he was lovingly cared for by his grandmother Amanda Garn Lubeck, great-grandmother Jennet Evans Garn Decker and, after his father's remarriage, Donnette Lloyd Hatch.
Throughout his youth, Dad spent his summers in Heber Valley, staying with family and riding horses in the surrounding fields and mountains. After graduating from West High, he went on to the University of Utah. Dad trained with horse-drawn artillery in ROTC with his best friend and cousin, Glen Hatch. He was raised a Mormon with an ecumenical outlook.
Dad volunteered for active duty in World War II from 1941 to 1946. He served as an artillery forward observer, infantry liaison officer, and battery commander. As the front lines advanced, Dad participated in five amphibious landings in North Africa and Europe. He remained in Europe to assist with the post-war transition. From 1951 to 1954, Dad again volunteered for active duty, serving as an artillery officer in Korea. He retired as a colonel in the Army Reserve with a total of 15 battle stars and a Bronze Star.
Dad helped found the Utah Law Review at the University of Utah Law School, serving as editor for its first two years.
He started the University of Utah chapter of the international legal fraternity Phi Delta Phi. Dad was also president of Kappa Sigma at the University of Utah and helped found the chapter at Utah State
University.
He married Lorraine Russell in 1951. Together they raised five children, two daughters and three sons.
Dad earned his Industrial Engineering degree from the University of Utah. He was a missile engineer at Jet Propulsion Laboratory and at Sperry Corporation. At the Utah Department of Transportation, Dad was an engineer of highway traffic and construction. In the course of his engineering career, he edited two engineering journals, was active in the Utah Engineers Council, and was an organizer of a statewide survey of historic engineering sites in Utah.
When the historic Heber Tabernacle faced demolition, he worked to save the pioneer landmark built by his great-grandfather, Abram Hatch. Today, the tabernacle is Heber City Hall, a success that galvanized preservationists to form the Utah Heritage Foundation. Dad also worked with Zions Bank to restore Abram Hatch's nearby Victorian home for use as a bank branch.
He loved wilderness backpacking, high country horse packing, and alpine skiing. Dad became a life-long Boy Scout in 1930. He was a citizen lobbyist for wilderness preservation efforts, including the High Uinta Wilderness Act.
Dad was the founding president of the Mormon Trails Association. He helped prepare the Mormon Pioneer Trail Sesquicentennial celebration, worked with the National Park Service to update the Mormon Pioneer Trail Map, and encouraged the preservation of all historic overland trails. He was a member of the commemorative Mormon Battalion, the Oregon-California Trails Association, and the Sons of the Utah Pioneers.
He returned to Europe at the end of the Cold War, having organized a family trip to Communist Eastern Europe, across Soviet Russia on the trans-Siberian railroad, and into China after the Tiananmen Square
uprising.
In his private time, Dad also restored classic automobiles, documented family histories, and pursued photography.
He was predeceased by daughter Lianne, and is survived by children Russell, Laurie (Larry Burmeister), Brian (Antoinette White), and
Warren; granddaughter Shannon; and brother Joseph Hatch (Annette) and sisters Jane Evert (Robert), Donnette Atiyah, and Golda Olsen (Gordon).
In lieu of flowers, Dad requested that well-wishers plant a tree at a location of their choosing.
As you always closed your letters, Dad, "happy trails travel."