Gary Lee Browning

My earth life began on September 18, 1940, when I was born in the Idaho Falls LDS Hospital located next to the temple. It ended peacefully September 28, 2024 in Provo, Utah. My parents are Gerald Browning and Martha Hansen. I cannot imagine a more loving, encouraging, forgiving, and generous mother and father. To have grown up under their tutelage and with my two beloved younger sisters is an enormous blessing.

As a young boy I lived in southern Idaho (mainly Rigby and Pocatello), and then completed junior and senior high schools in St. Maries, a small logging town in the northern Idaho panhandle. My father was a highly respected mortician and funeral director, assisted ably by my mother and, less ably, by me.

After high school, two years at Brigham Young University (BYU), and a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Finland (1960-1963), I received a colossal blessing in 1964 when I met and married Joan Wagstaff from Spokane. Having previously listed qualities I hoped to find in a companion, I quickly realized Joan fulfilled and surpassed them all. In time Joan and I became the parents of five splendid children: Debi, Steve, Betsy, Katie, and Jon. For me, they each have been the very kind of family members I hoped to have.

After receiving my graduate degrees from Syracuse and Harvard, I taught two years in Pennsylvania at Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges before in 1976 gratefully accepting a position in Russian studies at BYU. During my thirty years at the “Y,” I often felt as though I were in seventh heaven–close to such marvelous students, brilliant faculty colleagues, and superb university administrators, among others!

From 1990 to 1993 Joan and I served as mission leaders in what was initially called the Finland Helsinki East Mission, soon renamed the Russia Moscow Mission. These were years of rapid change in the Soviet Union–for over seven decades Soviet citizens had been denied religious freedom. From 2004 until 2018 I served as a traveling patriarch, mainly in countries of the former Soviet Union, but especially in Russia among my dear friends. This provided a pinnacle in my life’s spiritual fulfillment.

My retirement years have been pleasant, but I believe now is a good time for me to move on. Especially for my precious wife and family, and also for my good friends in many countries, I feel boundless love. They have enriched my life in countless ways. Now I leave this marvelous earth with undying gratitude for them all and for our Savior.

Gary is survived by his children: Deborah (James) Dixon, Steven Browning, Elizabeth Jensen, Kathryn (Mark) Keith, Jonathan Browning; fourteen grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his parents; sisters, Jeanie Ekins and Judy Lifferth; and dear wife, Joan Browning.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m., Monday, October 7, 2024 at the Cascade Stake Center, 481 East Center Street, Orem, Utah. A viewing will be held at the Stake Center Monday, October 7 from 9:00-9:45 a.m. prior to services. Interment, Provo City Cemetery. Condolences may be expressed to the family at www.bergmortuary.com.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Gary L Browning Endowed Scholarship Fund for Russian students at BYU. https://donate.churchofjesuschrist.org/contribute/byu?funds=30121207

Those who are unable to attend Gary’s services are invited to view it LIVE (while in progress):
https://zoom.us/j/99673533705