Thomas Guy Nielson

Thomas Guy Nielson a very loving, friendly, and outgoing man left this earth due to complications associated with Parkinson’s Disease at the age of 74. He was born on May 13, 1948, in Mapleton, Utah to Guy and Lucile Grant Nielson and lived in his hometown for most of his life. He moved around briefly after marrying the love of his life Dixie Ruth Clayton on January 10, 1970, in the Oakland Temple. They were blessed with four children, Aaron (Trisha), Brian (Ruth), Chris (Lisa) Nielson and Mindy (Nate) Devenish and 11 grandchildren, Hailey, Ashley, Casey (Sarah), Alexa, Chloe, Treyvan, Oaklee, Kason, Vance, Cooper, and Luke, who thought the world of him and loved him fiercely. Tom and Dixie were able to build a home in Mapleton to raise their family and help take care of Grandma Lucy, which created aclose bond with Grandma while living next door. Tom was the youngest child, and has an older brother, Richard Nielson.

Tom loved the outdoors and was an avid photographer and outdoorsman. He always had a camera in his hand and loved taking pictures of nature and animals and he loved talking to anyone who would listen. Tom purchased a Bronco he named the “Beast” to restore and always wanted to go to Moab rock crawling. As a family they spent many weekends camping in the mountains where Tom had to test his driving skills, gunning the truck to make it up the hills without overheating. He loved to hunt and spend time outdoors. Parkinson’s Disease robbed Tom of his ability to participate in the activities he loved later in life as it was hard for him to walk and talk. There were many times that he was hard to understand and he struggled to get around, but he was adamant that we figure out what he was trying to tell us. There were also days that he could communicate clearly, and we cherished those times. We know that Tom is now busy running around doing all the things he hasn’t been able to do in his final years and talking everyone’s ear off. Go Tom!

He spent his career working at Lawrence Radiation, Osmond Studios, BYU Hawaii, Channel 2 KUTV as a Media Engineer and then retired from UVU, where he was the Director of Media Services. He loved working with his hands and was notorious for creating projects out of nothing. He overbuilt things to make them bigger and stronger and took exceptional care with his work. His work bench was always covered with everything he touched, and it took time to find what he needed at times, but he loved the chaos and tinkering around.

We want to thank the Memory Care unit at Ashford in Springville for taking exceptional care of Tom these past few months. They are extraordinary nurses and CNA’s that truly cared for him and went the extra mile to make him happy and comfortable. His hospice nurse, Laura, and everyone else who helped with his care.

There will be a Celebration of Life for Tom on August 18 th at 6:00pm at the Harvest Park Event Center, 2100 Harvest Pkwy., Mapleton, Utah where friends and family are invited to come share memories of Tom with the family and enjoy some of his favorite treats.

Tom’s favorite quote that he learned as a youth and repeated often:

“In promulgating your esoteric cogitations and articulating your superficial amicable and philosophical observations, beware of platitudinous ponderosity. Let your extemporaneous decantation’s and unpremeditated expiations have intelligibility with veracious verbosity but without rodomontade or bombast.” (Translation- Don’t use big words)

We love you Tom- you were a wonderful husband, father, and grandpa! Love you and miss you forever.