Lee Broderick

Lee R Broderick, age 90, passed away on April 10, 2017.  He was born January 25, 1927, in Roosevelt, Utah, to Hillard Ruben Broderick and Sarah Louise Ruesch Broderick.  His mother died when he was 7 years old.  His father then married Crystal Hill, and between the two families, he had nine brothers and nine sisters.

At the young age of 18, he was drafted into the military and trained as a medic in World War II.  Right after the war, he served for 2 ½ years in the Finland Helsinki Mission.  Lee R kept meticulous notes of his work as one of the first missionaries in Finland, creating branches and serving as branch president.  These records provided rich detail for the written history of the beginnings of the LDS Church in Finland.  His father passed away while he was serving his mission.  Upon return, he helped his family and shared meager earnings so siblings could serve missions.

After his mission, he married GenaVee Steele on January 23, 1952, in the Manti Utah Temple.  They have 9 children, 31 grandchildren, and 23 great-grandchildren.  It brought Lee R great joy as his large family gathered on Sunday evenings at the family home.

Lee R graduated from BYU in 1954.  He studied botany and was hired by Stanford Research Institute as an observer of the environmental impact on crops surrounding the new Orem Geneva Steel plant.  He later joined Geneva Steel and transferred those skills to observing and assessing the quality of coal as the sole petrographer for the steel plant.  He worked as a chemical engineer for Geneva Steel for 28 years.  He then worked for ZCMI for 11 years, finally retiring at age 70.

Lee R was a gentle, humble man who loved the Lord.  He was valiant in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  His ability to astutely observe, and his discipline to meticulously record, made him an exemplary ward clerk and then stake clerk for 19 years.  He was also a branch president, serving at the rest home for older members of his stake, and a temple worker up until his death.

In 1998, he and GenaVee served an eighteen-month mission in the England Birmingham Mission as Directors of the Family History Service Center for all the British Isles, where again his attention to detail proved pivotal in their success.

He is survived by his wife, GenaVee, his nine children: Mindy (Vic), Julene (Scot), Bruce, Denise (Dwight), Van (Sarah), Lisa (Sid), Kimball (Penny), Lana (Roger), and Karen (Alan); siblings:  DeRae (Pauline), Luelma (Ken), and sisters-in-law Ruth and Joyce, Dawn (Vernon), Elva (Dave), Tom (Karma), Roy (Charlotte), Carol (Garland), Ruby (Ken), Mae, Heidi, Jerrald, and Marilyn.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, April 15, 2017, at 11:00 a.m. at the Sunset Heights Stake Center located at 1260 South 400 West, Orem, Utah, with a viewing before from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.  There will also be a viewing the evening of Friday, April 14, 2017, at the Sundberg-Olpin Mortuary from 7-9 p.m., located at 495 South State Street in Orem. Burial will be in the Orem City Cemetery with military rites by the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

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