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Jerry Grant Thorn, 86, of Provo, Utah, passed away on January 21, 2022. Jerry was born in Provo, Utah, on December 18, 1935. He was the son of Grant Sanford Thorn and Naomi Dalton Thorn. Jerry grew up in Springville, Utah, graduating from Springville High School in 1954, where he excelled in academics and sports, being in student government and receiving all-state honors in football and basketball. He received a football scholarship to the University of Utah.

Jerry married Carol Jean Straw on December 30, 1955, in Springville, Utah. Their marriage was later solemnized in the Salt Lake Temple in 1959. After graduating from Brigham Young University with a degree in political science, Jerry attended Duke University Law School in Durham, North Carolina, where he was a member of the school’s law review. After graduation in 1963, Jerry practiced law at the firm of Howard & Lewis in Provo. In 1965, Jerry became a corporate attorney for Southwestern Bell Telephone, and the family moved to Dallas, Texas.

In 1968, at the request of his father, Jerry returned to Provo and became the president of the family’s multi-generation construction company, Thorn Construction. In 1986, Jerry accepted a position in the Reagan Administration, in Washington, D.C., serving as the Solicitor of Labor in the U.S. Labor Department. In 1994, Jerry became the General Counsel to the Governor of the State of Ohio in Columbus, Ohio, a position he held until becoming the General Counsel and Assistant Dean at the South Texas College of Law in Houston, Texas. While at the South Texas College of Law, Jerry was twice a visiting professor of law at the law school of the Republic of Malta in southern Europe.

Jerry retired from the practice of law in 2003 and returned to Provo. In retirement, Jerry played golf almost daily at his beloved Hobble Creek Golf Course with a group of cherished childhood friends from Springville. Jerry was active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving as a bishop, high councilor, and as a temple worker in the Provo Temple for 10 years, as well as serving many years in his favorite Church calling as a gospel doctrine teacher. While Jerry’s professional accomplishments and accolades were many, his greatest joy and what he valued most was his relationship with his wife, Carol, and his children and grandchildren.

Jerry is survived by his wife, Carol, and his seven children, Marcia Pearson (Kim) of Summerville, South Carolina; Lisa Clegg (Kerry) of Mapleton, Utah; Susan Gull (Jeff) of Woodland Hills, Utah; Sandra Stanger of Orem, Utah; Jill DeHoyos (Sam), of Pleasant Grove, Utah; Jeffrey Grant Thorn (Chareé) of Eagle Mountain, Utah; and Jared Dalton Thorn (Rikkie), of Saratoga Springs, Utah, and 32 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his younger sister Linda Thorn Pearce, of Midvale, Utah.

Jerry was preceded in death by his parents, by his younger brother Neil Dalton Thorn and his younger sister Diane Thorn Preston, and by a son-in-law, Mike Stanger.

The family will hold Jerry’s funeral service on Friday, January 28, 2022, at Nelson Family Mortuary, at 4780 North University Avenue, in Provo, Utah, at 2:30 p.m., preceded by visitation hours from 1:00 p.m. to 2:15 p.m., and followed by burial at East Lawn Memorial Hills Cemetery at 4800 North 650 East, in Provo, Utah.
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