D.L. Thurman

How do you say goodbye to a wonderful Husband, Dad, Grandfather, and Friend? D.L. Thurman passed on November 16, 2025, at the Sunridge Assisted Living in the Memory Care Unit. He was born to Daniel Earl and Orba Fay Hamilton Owen on July 10, 1938, at the Dee Hospital in Ogden, Utah. His birth name was Daniel Lynn Owen, but he went by D.L. Owen. After his parents divorced, his mother married Roy Wallace Thurman. D.L. was then known as D.L. Thurman. When he was preparing to graduate high school he needed to use his legal name. Dad then legally changed his name to D.L. Thurman.

When D.L. was young, he lived with his grandparents, Lillie and Moroni Hamilton, in Idaho while his mother worked at Hill Field during WWII. While living in Idaho, D.L. created many memories with his grandparents, extended family and his cousin Ralph, who also lived with his grandparents.

Dad started working at a young age delivering newspapers. He won the family’s first turkey and his first bike by selling the most new newspaper subscriptions. He continued to win turkeys and bikes throughout his years delivering papers. D. L. played on the school football team, and he played the trumpet in the school band. He also worked on the area farms in the summer earning a penny an hour so he could buy his own school clothes. Dad also held a job at Stimpson’s grocery store in Washington Terrace. He was quite an entrepreneur; he made money by taking school tests for his friends and they would pay him. Dad was an amazing leather tooler. He made wallets and sold them to his friends at school. Throughout the years, he made many wallets, purses, coin purse and belts. He sold his leather goods to earn money for college.

D.L. graduated from Weber High School in 1956, despite blowing up the chemistry lab. He furthered his education at Weber State College and Utah State, emphasizing his studies in Tool Engineering.

D.L. and Jane started dating when Jane was 13 and D.L. was 16. D.L. would ride the bus to see Jane. If he stayed too long, and missed the last bus, he would walk from 20th and Madison to Washington Terrace. He made this walk many times as he hated leaving Jane. They dated for 5 years until Jane was 18. D.L. married Jane Laree Newman on March 26, 1960. Dad said that mom was the first girl that he ever kissed. Mom said that dad wasn’t her first kiss, but he was the best kisser because he had strong lips from playing the trumpet. Mom also said that dad brought adventure to her life. D.L. and Jane had three children DeLynne, Kristi Laree (deceased) and Brandon. They were married for 65 years, spending them all in Roy, Utah.

During D.L.’s career, he worked at Hill Air Force Base, Marquardt, Thiokol and Western Zerconium. He worked as a Tool Engineer for the testing and handling of rocket motors, including the space shuttle. D.L. and his wife Jane owned and operated the Pine Pole Goat Dairy in Roy for many years producing Grade A milk and cheese.

Dad always had pets, from a wild bird “Flit” that would ride on his head when he was a young boy, to a box turtle that lived in his backyard. He also owned a small water turtle that died tragically due to his young friend biting the head off the turtle when his head poked from his shell. This was traumatic for the young D.L. Dad always had a dog or two, beginning with his first dog, King. Every dog he ever owned he said, “was the best dog I ever had.” Dad thought he hated cats until Lucy adopted him and wouldn’t leave him alone. They became inseparable friends. Other cats followed Lucy’s lead and dad learned to love cats.

During dad’s younger years, he enjoyed boating and water skiing. As soon as the ice would melt, you would find dad in his wet suit, water skiing. In the winter dad enjoyed snow skiing. He taught his children how to ski. Dad loved hunting, deer and pheasant hunting were some of his favorites hunts. When DeLynne was eight, she wanted a pony. This started a whole new adventure for the family. Everyone in the family ended up with a horse. D.L. and Jane joined the Challengers Horse Riding Club. Barrel Racing, Pole Bending, Keyhole and the Potato Race were some of the events that he enjoyed. Dad enjoyed camping, and trail riding on horseback into the back country of the Uintas and Yellowstone. Such fun memories. D.L. had many other hobbies too. One hobby was brainstorming, a better way to organize the barnyard. Mom never knew where the animal pens would be after one of his “remodeling” jobs. This would drive mom crazy. Dad loved to tinker and could fix almost anything. Dad restored old classic cars. He enjoyed driving them around and showing them at car shows. Dad built and designed their house in Roy. Dad had a horse drawn surrey that was pulled by his Clydesdale. Boy, that would turn heads. D.L. had an amazing gun collection. He would buy 2 of each gun so he could use one and keep the other untouched. Dad had a working relationship with his tractor. He would say that there wasn’t anything that he and his tractor couldn’t do.

D.L. retired in 2001 from ATK then continued working there as a contract engineer until 2012. Dad was an honest man and a very hard worker.

D.L. is survived by his loving wife Jane Thurman, daughter, DeLynne Thompson (Robin), son, Brandon Thurman (Kim) and 10 Grandchildren: Heather Thompson (Bryce), Eric Thompson (Jacquie), Cody Willhite (Melissa), Cherron Thurman, Brock Willhite (Amanda), Austin Thurman (Mitzi), Shaylice Harris (Andrew), Mikayla Thurman (Bobby), Aspen Thurman, Dakota Thurman, son-in-law Joe Buenviaje and many great-grandchildren and one great-great granddaughter. He is also survived by his sister Pamla Donoviel (Dennis) and sister-in-law Theola Spackman (LaVar-deceased.)

D.L. was preceded in death by daughter Kristi Buenviaje and grandson Cory Thompson.

Dad requested to be tossed in the trash after he passed. He didn’t want a funeral, he didn’t want people gawking at him. So as per dad’s compromise, we had a graveside service held on Thursday November 20, 2025. Lindquist in Roy assisted with his wishes. Dad was laid to rest at the Roy Cemetery in the family plot.

Thank you, dad, for being the best dad a girl could ask for. You will be forever loved and deeply missed! I bet your heavenly reunion was an eye-opening experience. Keep an eye on us all, until we meet again. Love you, Dad!! A special thank you to Shaylice Thurman Harris for all her hard work during this difficult time. Thank you to all the CNA’s, nurses and Hospice nurses from Sunridge Assisted Living Memory Care Unit for their exceptional care of dad. A loving thank you to Layna for being an “adopted” member of our family.