Allen Vincent “Andy” Anderton

Andy passed away at home in Murray, Utah, on December 14, 2023, after a long bout with prostate cancer and heart disease. He was born September 2, 1936, in Evanston, Wyoming, to Olive Mildred Fern and Walter Thomas “Tim” Anderton. He attended Ogden High School, where he was on the ROTC Rifle Team, and graduated in 1954. He then earned an associate of science from Weber College and spent two years in the army. The latter, as he put it, was “a million-dollar experience I wouldn’t pay a dime to go through again.” It did allow him to see the country, and he spent time at Sandia, New Mexico, where he was tasked with painting the casings of atomic bombs. His army experiences heightened his interest in electronics, and he later received a diploma with a major in electronics engineering technology from the University of Utah.

He married Marcia Carolyn Smith on April 24, 1959. He first worked for Sperry and then for IBM as a system engineer. The couple lived in Salt Lake City, where his first daughter, Nola, was born. They moved to Los Gatos, California, for about three years, where his second daughter, Laurel, was born. They came back to Salt Lake City, where he continued to work for IBM until his early retirement. He earned several service awards and made many lifelong friends working there.

Andy enjoyed rockhounding and took the family on many trips to remote places, staying in a camper trailer and roaming the desert looking for petrified wood, red-horned coral, topaz, trilobites, agate, and many other rocks. He learned lapidary skills such as cutting, polishing, and faceting and made many pieces of fine jewelry. He also enjoyed fishing, especially in Quake Lake and the Madison River in Montana. His lifelong interest in guns made him an enthusiastic hunter of ducks, geese, deer, and elk.

Andy and Marcia later divorced, and Andy met Judy Taylor, with whom he enjoyed many trips around the western states in the trailer, with a focus on geocaching (he found an impressive 4,261 caches!). Judy was a major part of his life until her death in 2018.

He was a great problem solver and a hard worker who had a knack for fixing things. He also had a steady sense of humor, even when things were grim. Toward the end of his life when his dream of buying a new GMC Denali truck was thwarted by ill health, he christened his new walker “GMC Denali,” though of course it wasn’t his preferred way of getting around.

Survived by his daughter Laurel Anderton in Logan, Utah.   Preceded in death by his daughter Nola Anderton.

Family and friends are invited to an informal memorial remembrance at Cannon Mortuary, 2460 E. Bengal Blvd (7600 S.), Saturday, January 6, from 1:00 to 3:00.

A special note of thanks to Jeremy and Kim Warner, Nicki Fairbanks, and Nancy Strohfield for all their service to him in his final weeks and days.