John Delmore "Jack" Nash

John Delmore Nask (Jack) (used interchangeably herein), 96, passed away on August 11, 2026 at Cedarwood Assisted Living in Sandy, Utah after a long and happy life. John D. was born in his grandparents’ home in Linrose, Idaho on October 5, 1929 to John Uless Nash and Sabina Hart Nash. He grew up in Linrose, working on his father’s farm with many cousins and other family members. He began driving work horses on the farm at age five.

Jack attended grade school with five other students in his grade, in a classroom holding four grades at the same time (where he could hear what the higher grades were learning from a young age).

He Served a Mission to Australia in 1949, one of the first missionaries to fly to his mission in an airplane.

After serving two and a half years in Australia, he returned home and was drafted into the army in 1952. He was assigned to the Counter Intelligence Corps, training for six months in Ft. Holabird, Maryland. He served in the Headquarters of the Prisoner of War Command and in the Pusan Military Office where he did investigative work related to Communist influences. While stationed in Korea, he served in the LDS Group Presidency and helped teach more than three hundred Koreans who desired to be baptized. He was instrumental in opening missionary work in Korea while serving in the army and knew the first Korean to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Jack attended Utah Agricultural College (Now Utah State University) and graduated with a degree in history. While there, he met his future Dearest One (Mary Carolyn Moore). They married in the Salt Lake LDS Temple in 1955 and graduated together in 1956, a few months before their first child was born.

John was hired as Field Director of American Nation Red Cross at the Marine Base in San Diego, California. After an assignment to Korea where he could not take his wife and baby girl, he resigned and went to graduate school at U.C. Berkeley, earning a master’s degree in American History. He and Mary moved to Modesto, first teaching at Modesto and Downey High Schools, living a year in Idaho and teaching at Ricks College, and then returning to Modesto Jr. College, where he taught history for nearly thirty years. He and Mary moved to a ten-acre paradise in Oakdale where he raised his family and lived for forty plus years.

Jack is survived by his five children, Jenni Lyn Abbott of Sandy, Utah; Julie Reeves (Shawn) of Lindon, Utah; Deanne Nash of Springville, UT; Johnny Nash (Rulaine), of Raleigh, NC; and Amanda Bell (Brent) of Highland, Utah, and two sisters, Marilyn Hull (Gib), and Sally Davidson (Steve). He also has 27 grandchildren and forty-seven greats. He is preceded in death by his beloved wife, Mary Carolyn Moore, a grandson, John Stuart Nash, and a brother, Phillip Nash.

John served in multiple roles during his life, including as Zone Leader in Australia; President of the Associated Men's Students at Utah State, Member of the Cultural Arts Commission in Modesto (helping develop a local museum), President of the Stanislaus County Historical Society, Chairman (Dean) of the Business and Social Science faculty at MJC. He was a Scoutmaster four times, an Elder’s Quorum President, Bishop, and led the fundraising and building of a new church building in Oakdale, California. He served on the High Council, was responsible for caring for the large lawn at the Modesto North Stake Center where the Modesto Temple is now being built. In 1984 he was called as Stake Patriarch at age 55, where he served for 32 years, giving more than 1780 patriarchal blessings. He and Mary also served together in the Oakland Temple for two years.

Jack made a point to learn something every day of his life – he was a prolific researcher and writer. He and Mary published a history of the Church in the California Central Valley: In a Goodly Land and researched hundreds of ancestral records together. He wrote several plays that were performed and was working on two historic novels in his last years. He loved a good Louis Lamour western and was a gifted fly fisherman, passing on the skill to many descendants. He lived by the simple motto of “do a good turn daily” and made a point of sitting with different people every day in the care center where he lived – often singing ‘good morning songs’ to cheer them. The employees loved to visit with him. He planted something almost every year of his life, including keeping crenshaw melon seeds in his pocket so he could sprinkle them among the flowers at Cedarwood. He was deeply spiritual but never judgmental. A gentleman. A friend. A dedicated father and grandad. He will be missed.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, August 22nd, at the Crescent 14th Ward LDS Chapel, 10375 S. Leilani Dr., Sandy, Utah at 10:00 a.m. A viewing will be held in the church building at 9:00 that morning. Interment will be in the Franklin, Idaho Cemetery. Memories and condolences may be shared with the family at webbmortuary.com

Services will be streamed and may be viewed live on Saturday, August 22, 2026 at 10:00 a.m. MDT by opening this link:

https://youtube.com/live/gpcaVrwhCLo?feature=share