Ace William Packard

Ace William (“Bill”) Packard, 89, passed away peacefully late evening April 4, 2024.   During the final years of his life, he was dutifully and lovingly cared for by his eldest daughter, Beverly, and son, David, who has faithfully remained at his side for 61 years.

Bill was born on July 23, 1934 in Meridian, Idaho to Forrest Leroy and Esther Carter Packard. He spoke often of his parents and 16 siblings (12 brothers and 4 sisters), and of the happy reunion it would be to see them again. During his teen years, he met Joyann Marlene Jones, daughter of Milton Carlos and Leone Elizabeth Jones, in Meridian, Idaho where both attended high school. They dated during their high school years, fell in love, and were engaged on graduation night in 1952.

Almost immediately thereafter, Bill joined the U.S. Naval Forces where he served with dignity for four years during the Korean War. While on leave, and shortly before his 19^th birthday, Bill married his high-school sweetheart for time and eternity on May 15, 1953 in the Salt Lake Temple.

Bill and Joyann began their life together living on naval bases at Alameda and San Diego California. Following his service, Bill, Joyann, and their two children, moved to Bountiful Utah where he began working in a family-owned construction business. While there, two more children blessed their home. It was during a scheduled flight from Salt Lake City to Boise, Idaho on a family-owned plane that Bill’s life would forever change. During a storm at the Idaho-Utah border, the plane went down due to an accumulation of ice on its wings. The accident claimed the life of his mother and left Bill with a badly fractured back that would, in years to follow, compromise his ability to walk and eventually become the source of significant chronic pain.

Shortly after, Bill, Joyann, and their four children returned to Meridian, Idaho to be near extended family. It was there that four more children blessed their marriage, as they continued a life of hard work, meager means, and faithful service in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1968, Bill took his large family on an inspired journey to Prince George British Columbia, Canada. There, the family lived in a small two-room cabin heated by a pot-belly stove and furnished weekly with water coming from a mountain spring five miles away. There, the ninth, and final, child was born to Bill and Joyann. There, Bill switched careers from being a carpenter to being a furniture salesman. And there, Bill spent his evenings and weekends engaged in a divinely appointed missionary service that has since brought forth a hundred-fold, yea, a thousand-fold, in Prince George, British Columbia.

After several brief years in Canada, Bill and his family returned to Meridian, Idaho where he would learn that the third time is not necessarily a charm. On this third attempt to make Meridian his flagship home, Bill began to grow a green thumb that consisted of thousands of tomato plants annually, hundreds of fruit trees, a one-acre vineyard, and—what can only be described as “massive”—a garden filled with every other vegetable listed in recipes of the Farmers’ Almanac. Proceeds from the road-side sale of these crops contributed to the support of Bill’s family. During this same time, Bill thought he could capitalize on his green thumb by vertically integrating; he purchased an old worn-out custom cannery in Nampa, Idaho and applied his carpentry skills to make the cannery operational and more functional. For nearly six years thereafter, while Bill was working at a nearby furniture store, Joyann and the children spent their days operating the cannery.

Try as he might, there were little of this world’s goods that Bill was able to accumulate. Every dollar came by hard work and, for some unknown reason, riches that often accompany hard work always escaped him. Most often, Bill’s support of his family came equally from what he was able to earn and from what the family was able to save. Notwithstanding, none of his children ever knew that they were growing up in a family that was, by most standards, economically impoverished; they never went without. Just how little Bill made for all his efforts was not known until one of his sons began to prepare and file Bill’s annual tax return. How can one raise a family of nine children on an annual salary of less than $25,000? Bill Packard was a masterful father at being able to do so! It was not until after the last of his children was married that Bill’s earnings began to improve . . . a little.

In their final years together, Bill and Joyann lived in various cities throughout Utah including Bountiful, West Jordan, Centerfield, Santaquin, Spanish Fork, and South Jordan. Although Bill worked and wore out his life providing adequate support for his family, love is the commodity he offered most.

Although his love was freely given, even his children knew that Joyann was loved first and loved most. During the 68 years that they spent together, they fostered a friendship that few couples ever will. Their friendship was interrupted on June 24, 2021, when Joyann unexpectedly died after falling down a stairwell. Her passing was Bill’s greatest loss. His loneliness and desire to be with her only grew with each passing day. His children are happy in the knowledge that their father has returned to the friend of his youth and love of his life.

The gift that Bill loved more than any other was his sacred testimony of Jesus Christ and of the grace and salvation that He freely offers to all who will have faith in Him. Bill spoke often of his testimony of Joseph Smith and his work of laying the foundation of the true Church of Jesus Christ. There was never an expression of doubt that escaped his tongue. The greatest gift that Bill had to offer was the grace he had been freely given. Although quietly natured and unassuming, Bill was courageous in his faith and assertive in the sharing of his testimony. From the depths of his pure soul comes a testimony that burns where it goes and condemns where it is rejected.

With Joyann at his side, Bill devoted his life to bringing his sons and daughters to that faith which leads to eternal life. In so doing, Bill despised the things of this world and lived in the purity of his religion, in the immaculate integrity of all its principles. Bill was unsullied in heart and mind and free of the popular sins of this generation. Bill was endowed with purity and exhibited, in his Spirit-given characteristics, the brightness of the Lord’s example. He sought to bear the burdens of others and to help the weak and downtrodden, and help again, till helping became his natural food. The greatest comfort he provided to members of his own family—a comfort that will be deeply missed—was felt when his righteous hands were placed upon their heads to pronounce divinely-given blessings and protection. He won the hearts of his family and will, forever, be joined to them in love.

Till we meet again, he will be dearly missed.

Bill is survived by his 9 children including Raymond, Beverly Keysor, Byron, Joyleen Bastian, Kevin, David, Marlene Richardson, Lahna Prows, and Carlos. He is also survived by 64 grandchildren, 147 great grandchildren, two great great grandchildren, and siblings Floyd, Ronald, Robert, Darwin, Bernard, and Barbara Kunzler. He is preceded in death by his parents, Forrest and Esther Packard, and by siblings too numerous to list.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, April 13, 2024 at 10:00 am at 4200 West Skye Drive, South Jordan, Utah.  Friends may visit with family for a viewing on Friday, April 12, 2024 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm and Saturday, April 13, 2024 from 8:30am to 9:30am at the same location as the funeral. Interment and Military Honors will be at the Santaquin City Cemetery. Following the burial, a luncheon will be provided at 3477 East River Bottom Road at 1:45 p.m.