Lyndon Whitney Clayton 1925 ~ 2011
Lyndon Whitney Clayton was born February 22, 1925, to Lyndon Whitney Clayton and Madeleine Estelle McClellan in Salt Lake City, Utah. He died March 28, 2011, in Salt Lake City at age 86. From his cozy Avenues home he attended East High School and then the University of Utah where he graduated in five years with a medical degree. He was proud to affiliate with the Sigma Chi fraternity and to claim amateur boxing as a hobby. On April 2, 1949, Whit married Elizabeth Graham Touchstone, who had instantaneously won his heart. He served as a physician in the Air Force and then practiced medicine as an obstetrician gynecologist in Whittier, California, for 35 years. In 1964 Whit and Betty's marriage was solemnized for eternity in the Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). Whit served as a bishop for the LDS Church. After retiring, he and Betty moved to Jackson, Wyoming, where he served as president of the hospital board during the development and construction of the new St. John's Medical Center. He and Betty served a mission for the LDS Church as medical advisors to the North America Northwest Area. Whit was a guest instructor at the Teton Science School and was a docent at the National Museum of Wildlife Art. He was passionate about everything scientific and was the classic polymath, usually reading several books at a time. Whit loved to laugh, tell stories, ski, identify wild flowers and constellations, hike and fish, eat red meat and chocolate cake, sing (he always knew the lyrics) and dote on his family. Whit is survived by his lifelong best friend and wife Elizabeth (Betty) Graham Touchstone and their four sons: Whitney (Kathy) of Salt Lake City; Weatherford (Lisa) of Newport Beach, California; John (Elaine) of Henderson, Nevada; and Craig (Meggan) of Costa Mesa, California; 23 grandchildren and 19 great grandchildren (and counting); his sisters Mary Lynne (Conrad) Hansen and Adele Collipriest. He was preceded in death by his grandson, Jacob. Friends may come Sunday, April 3, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. for a viewing at Larkin Sunset Lawn, 3250 East 1300 South, Salt Lake City, Utah, or Monday, April 4, from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Crestview LDS meetinghouse, 2795 East Crestview Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah 84108. Services will be held Monday, April 4, at noon at the Crestview meetinghouse. Interment at Salt Lake City Cemetery.