David Byron Geslison was born to Byron and Melva Geslison and older siblings Elaine, Allen, and Kathy on November 27, 1953. Three minutes after said birth along came his twin, Daniel.  Dave is my daddy and I am his little girl he affectionately called, “Sweeks.” I am devastated to tell you that Daddy succumbed to his second massive stroke on August 7, 2020. Now let’s dig into the good stuff: his life.

It is impossible to talk about Daddy without mentioning his identical twin brother, Dan. Dave and Dan got into oh, so much glorious trouble together as young’uns, but they certainly learned a lot from their adventurous childhood. From stacking cheerios on their aging grandmother’s back they learned balance. From locking the same poor grandmother in the potato pit they learned to run and hide.  From making and selling bean shooters in their elementary school they learned book keeping and industry. From managing their own chicken bone museum they learned archeology and hospitality. Let’s just say they had fun and the fun didn’t stop as they matured, but they did grow to become gentle men of great faith and humility. 

Together Dave and Dan literally invented and fluently spoke their own language. With words like blucken (chicken), goob (stand-in for any proper name) and shrinzinzic (multi-purpose word to mean pretty much whatever the situation called for), it is easy to see how their childhood creativity prepared their little brains for the languages they would later learn and use to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel is vital to paint an accurate portrait of Dad because the Savior was the very center of Daddy’s life. Every time I tell someone that my dad and his twin each served two consecutive missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, their eye always widen and they say, “I didn’t know that was done.” Well, it was done and it was done well by Dave and Dan. Dad was first called to serve and teach the beautiful people of South Korea. There will forever be a soft and tender place in his heart for Koreans. He gave them his heart, his love, and the truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Instead of getting “trunky” at the conclusion of his mission to Korea, Dad got another mission call. He excitedly accepted the call to serve in Iceland. The fact that he’d be mission companions with his twin may have played a part in that excitement. Besides accidentally getting drunk with his mission president/dad, he faithfully served and grew to fiercely love the people of Iceland. He returned to Iceland time and again and when he wasn’t in Iceland he was talking about Iceland to everyone, all the time, no matter what, or when, or why. Always Iceland. Forever. The end. Iceland. Did I mention that he loved Iceland?  A lot.   

Besides Iceland, Daddy loved his family deeply and always put them first. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University, but went to work for the post office right after graduation because the job provided security and health insurance for his little family. He leaves behind his wife, two children, five grandchildren, and a dog named Skizzy who will probably starve without him to feed her table scraps. Actually, the list of people he leaves behind is extensive so bear with me here. David is survived by his loving wife and partner in more of life than I have room to properly explain: Fawn Geslison, his children: Richard Geslison (Maria Geslison), and Jessica Smith (Nathan Smith), his grandchildren: Evelyn and Adele Geslison, and Jackson, Jocelyn, and Jordyn Smith, his siblings: Elaine Pidcock (Jerry Pidcock), Mary “Kathy” Black (Joseph Black), and Daniel Geslison (Lois Geslison), his sister-in-law: Deborah Styler, and everyone in his beloved American Fork (the city where he delivered mail for more than 30 years). He is proceeded in death and currently celebrating with his parents: Byron and Melva Geslison and his brother: Allen Geslison.

A little known fact about Dad is that he was an accomplished poet. His most notable work was titled “Do Do-Do-Do, Do Do-Do-Do.” The title is also the entire poem. If you were lucky enough to hear a reading of “Do Do-Do-Do, Do Do-Do-Do” you wouldn’t soon recover from the split in your side. 

Daddy also enjoyed studying the Gospel, rolling in the grass with his dogs, and watching his tractor sprinkler inch across the lawn, and people. Oh, he loved people. If he knew you, he loved you and you knew you were loved by him. If you are reading this, he loved you. He also loves his Savior. I know that he is anxiously engaged in his next great mission on the other side of the veil. I can only imagine how happy he is to use his voice again in proclaiming the good news of the Gospel!

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