Dee Vernon Burrell's Obituary
In the morning hours of Sunday, June 21, 2026, Dee Vernon Burrell passed from this mortal life. He will be remembered at a celebration of life on Tuesday, July 7, 2026 at 7:00pm at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints at 327 South Long Drive in Alpine, Utah, and at a funeral service on Saturday July 11, 2026 at 10:00am at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints chapel located at 5620 E Adobe Rd in Mesa, Arizona.
Dee was born in Safford, Arizona on May 1, 1944 to C. Fern (Goodman) Burrell and C. Vernon Burrell. He spent his childhood and teenage years in Safford, accumulating many stories about time spent with good friends, chores including milking the family’s cow, and playing on and around a barn. At the age of 19, he left his home for two years to serve a full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Central British Mission from 1963 to 1965.
Upon returning to Arizona, Dee joined his family, who had moved to Tempe, Arizona and began his schooling at Arizona State University, where he met and courted Linda Miles. They were sealed for time and all eternity on July 14, 1967 in the Mesa Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. After the birth of their first son, Jeffrey Dee, Dee enlisted in the Army Reserves in April of 1969 and served honorably, learning much. Most of the how-to skills and life lessons he shared with his children were prefaced by either. “I learned this on my mission,” or, “I learned this in the Army.” Dee was a devoted husband and father. He and Linda continued growing their family with two more sons, Scott Miles, and Chad Michael, and two daughters Melissa and Kristin. Linda and Dee raised their family in Mesa, mostly in a home, for which Dee served as his own general contractor and did much of the construction himself.
He completed a Bachelors and a Masters degree in Elementary Education with a minor in Special Education. He became a teacher in elementary and junior high schools, including 17 years as a math and as a computers teacher at Rhodes Junior High School in the Mesa Unified School District. Dee accepted many different callings to serve in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, including many years as a leader in Boy Scouts of America, where he had a hand in guiding more than a generation of young men as they passed through their formative years.
Dee is preceded in death by his wife Linda, his parents Vernon and Fern, and his sisters, Florence and Janet. He is survived by his sister Elizabeth, his brother Phil, his five children: Jeff (Tammie), Scott (LeGay), Chad (Tricia), Melissa (Brent Hawkins), and Kristin (Willard Hagen), 22 grandchildren, and 7 great grandchildren.
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