Bron Barnett Ingoldsby

Hilary Whitesides 7w

Talk given by Bron's twin brother, Kirk, at his funeral.

Good morning everyone. I am Bron’s twin brother Kirk Bron Barnett Ingoldsby was born on January 11, 1950 in Lindsay, California. He was the son of Norman Ingoldsby and Daphine Owen. He spent his entire childhood growing up in Lindsay which is a small agricultural town in California’s San Joaquin Valley. In 1954 his sister, Pamela was born and in 1955 his brother Todd was born. From early childhood on he was an outgoing and social person who made many friends, many of whom came to be lifelong friends. Bron attended Lindsay schools and was always a good student who earned good grades and participated in numerous activities. He took piano lessons, played trumpet in the band and enjoyed singing and dancing. He was a 4 year letterman on the LHS track team. Mom and Dad joined the LDS church when we were about 3 years old and he was raised in an active LDS home enjoying all the blessings that that brings. As children we attended church in a small branch in the nearby town of Exeter and he had many choice memories of that time. In addition to his numerous church and school activities he also grew up working in the family floral and nursery business. Wherever he was, he made friends and drew people of all social levels to him. Even as a child he was a friend to the friendless and always had a great sentimentality towards his family and friends. After graduating from LHS in 1968 we enrolled as freshmen at BYU, the beginning of a long and satisfying experience there. Because of the Vietnam was which was raging at the time, we had to leave school early that year in order to receive our mission calls. In the summer of 1969 we entered the Language Training Mission and he left for the Columbia-Venezuela mission the day after the first manned landing on the Moon. Bron earned the love of many people on his mission and his great interest in South America, its people and culture began. This was a defining time in his life which helped shape his later career as a researcher of cross cultural family studies. After our missions we returned to BYU where Bron completed his studies for a BA degree in history in 1974. It was at this time that, among many other friends and activities, he met Valerie-Rose Percevault whom he married in the Provo Temple on April 18, 1974, the same day that he and Val took their last final exam that semester. And so began a wonderful and lasting love affair that continues today. After a long honeymoon that included the biggest wedding feast I’ve ever been to at Val’s home in Lethbridge, Alberta, they came back to Lindsay for a few months to consider their future. Pretty soon they were back in school and in a couple years Bron had earned a degree from Utah State as a Master of family and human development. Then it was on to the University of Georgia in Athens, GA where a few years later Bron earned his PhD in Family Science in 1979. Wherever they were they made friends, many of them life-long friends and they always made themselves useful, particularly in the church where they served well wherever they found themselves. As a graduate student Bron became active in the National Council on Family Relations, or NCFR which he was active in for the rest of his life. He became involved immediately and it was this involvement that led directly to his landing his first job as a professor of family science at Kent State Ohio in Kent, OH thus beginning his distinguished career as a teacher and researcher and leader in the field of family science. They made their home in Rootstown, Ohio for four years and it was during this time that their twin daughters, Hilary and Marie were born on November 14, 1980. Aside from their temple marriage this was surely the greatest blessing ever to come to them as they have been a source of love, joy and loyalty all the ensuing years. While in Rootstown Bron served much of the time as bishop of the Rootstown ward and has never lost contact with many of the people he served at that time. In 1983 Bron was recruited to work at Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho. He hesitated at first but finally accepted the offer and the family moved to Rexburg and in a short time to Sugar City where they would raise their girls in very favorable and loving circumstances. During this special period they were deeply involved with music and dance lessons, sports and other school and church activities for Marie and Hilary. Bron was always involved with his girl’s numerous activities and served for a time as PTO president and on the Idaho state girl scouts executive board. When Marie won the Idaho Jr. Miss competition, He and Val became involved with Jr. Miss leadership and served as program directors in Idaho and later in Orem. Bron served as a judge for several years. After a long career at Ricks, Bron and Val moved here to Orem about 4 years ago so that he could begin teaching and doing research at BYU. The last thing they did in Idaho was to give their daughter Marie a wonderful wedding as Marie married Todd Bigelow in the Idaho Falls Temple. This was his last move and as always, he left behind but never left contact with numerous friends and colleagues. At this time he enjoyed seeing his daughters grow to independence. About 3 years ago, Hilary was called to serve a mission in Brazil and I know her success there was a source of much happiness for him. Shortly after her mission and about the time his Father-in-law, John Percevault passed away he began to experience serious symptoms of illness that would soon be diagnosed as cancer of the esophagus and liver. The last year and a half have been difficult as he bravely battled this disease with hope and optimism. His optimism continued to the end and he continued to teach his classes up until just a few weeks ago. During this time his first granddaughter, Bronwyn, was born and she has been a source of great happiness and sunshine for him and all the family. Less than a month ago we celebrated Hilary’s engagement to Clayton Whitesides and Bron expected to still be here for her wedding in December. So, even at the end Bron had much to celebrate and find satisfaction in. Bron’s family has always been a joy to him and his marriage to Val a beautiful love story. Bron was, as I mentioned earlier, a long time member and leader of NCFR and International NCFR. He belonged to Partners of the Americas, a partnership of cultural and humanitarian exchange between individual states and countries in Latin America. He served an officer for years including some years a president of the Idaho Partners. During his time at Ricks served as a double department head of both the family science and the home economic departments and did not ask for extra compensation. He was a recipient of the prestigious Yon Trost award. While at Ricks he initiated a student service abroad program in Ecuador which has since been taken over privately. He did research in many cultures but particularly among the Hutterites of the Northern US and Canada, the peoples of Columbia and Ecuador, and also in Micronesia. He has wonderful friendships in all these places but more especially among the Hutterites. He founded a professional organization for Teaching Family Theories o which he served as president and helped put on conferences. He has also authored and co-authored 3 textbooks which are widely used today and considered the standards for the discipline. At BYU, in addition to his teaching and research, he has worked on the graduate school committee, working with many individual students. He has always been well liked and very popular with his students and with other faculty. In the last couple of weeks the visitors and tributes have been pouring from all over as family, friends and colleagues and students have learned that the end was near. To me he was always a loving and loyal brother and friend. I want to thank all of you for being here today to share our grief and also celebrate his special life. He will truly be missed and not forgotten. When he passed away on this last Tuesday, October 18th, he was surrounded by loved ones. It was a sad but sweet hour of grief for all of us. Even though his final decline was quick, he was able to express his love for us all the way to the end. May God receive his soul with love and may He comfort us is my prayer in Jesus’ name. Amen

Hilary Whitesides 8w

From brother-in-law John Percevault

Our memories of Bron, center mostly on holidays in Canada, Idaho and Utah. In Canada, Val and Bron used their time mostly with the extended family, but they also enjoyed visiting friends and acquaintances. Evenings usually centered on movies or television with a large bowl of popcorn or chips and dip. Bron really enjoyed old movies and the associated trivia. He watched with his brother-in-law John Brockesbly B-grade movies or worse (spaghetti westerns, etc). We were never sure how or why they enjoyed such and laughed so much. Travel was a large part of Bron’s life and enjoyment – either with the family or as part of his career studies. Being able to speak Spanish was a gift that he used with pleasure, and this skill influenced his decisions for the destination of many trips. His engaging stories of visits to South American countries, Micronesia, Hawaii, and Hutterite colonies kept us amused. Bron, the academic was not much of a participant in sports – no downhill skiing in Idaho or Alberta, no stream fishing, etc. He liked to read and write professionally – a requirement of his teaching/research positions at Rick’s College and BYU. When we visited during the summer in Sugar City, Bron hosted us at the annual baked potato supper at the College. We often remember the event because he stated we needed to “grab our dessert now or we would not get any”. That is how the crowd down there did things. Cooking for Bron could be a challenge – tomatoes were only put on the earth to make ketchup. Fresh vegetables were of limited interest, and prime rib had to be well done (yuk). But, he did enjoy Mexican – real Mexican like the Orem joint near the food market. We never understood his fascination with this type of food, but it was likely related to his experiences travelling, or perhaps being raised in California. And, those black olives – we still buy and stock the Lindsay olives in our pantry. These always remind us of Bron. He would willingly let others BBQ. We are not sure if he ever manned the tongs, but he did expect that there would be shrimp and then a BBQ rib supper for his twins. Val and Bron met at BYU. We still think he was attracted to this French,/Italian/Hungarian girl that could pass easily as a Latino chick. He was a family man and extremely proud of his wife and girls. A bit of a braggart he was about his wife and two girls whom he adored. John P.

Hilary Whitesides 8w

Tribute from Nancy Percevault

Memories from Nancy Percevault.