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Jay Mack Holbrook 1937 - 2022 Provo, Utah

Updated Jun 26, 2025
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Jay Mack Holbrook 1937 - 2022 Provo, Utah

ABOUT
Brigham Young University Idaho
Georgetown University
University of Wisconsin
Utah State University

FUNERAL HOME
Berg Mortuary of Provo
185 East Center Street
Provo, Utah

JAY HOLBROOK OBITUARY
Jay Mack Holbrook, 85, of Provo, passed away peacefully on May 17, 2022 of causes related to dementia. He was born on January 12, 1937 in Chesterfield, Caribou, Idaho to Lawrence E Holbrook and Mary Marjorie Boyatt. He was the oldest of eight children. As a child he worked tirelessly doing a man's share of the farm work, and drove a tractor with a wood block strapped to the pedal for his foot to reach it. He sang and danced from an early age, and when he wasn't milking cows, he played baseball with his well-loved grandpa Edwin (Pops) Boyatt. He went to Ricks College on a football scholarship, and later, after serving a mission in the Central States, graduated from Utah State University.
Jay Mack's interests were many and diverse: debate, theater, music, dance, poetry, gardening, languages, travel, and public speaking. As an adult he studied organ and voice, and brought his strong tenor voice to church and ecumenical choirs, where he met his closest friends. With family, he was known to burst spontaneously into song, often accompanied by a tap dance. He held a deep love of learning and earned an M.A. in History from Georgetown University and an M.A. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin, where he went on to pursue a Ph.D. in demography. He taught social theory, demography, sociology, and later, computer science, at several universities before founding Holbrook Research Institute a.k.a. Archive Publishing, which collected, preserved, and published New England town records. He published some 300 titles, with his better-known works including "Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850; Connecticut Colonists; Vermont's First Settlers 1749-1803"; and "New Hampshire Residents 1633-1699". He sold his business to Ancestry.com in 2011 and now his work is available online and benefits genealogists and historians worldwide.
His speaking and debate skills earned him the Distinguished Toastmaster Award in 2012 and in the final round he drew tears from the audience as he spoke of how his father overcame alcoholism. Jay read voraciously and loved the scriptures which brought him peace, introspection, and understanding, plus helped him make sense of those difficult years on the farm. In 2016, he wrote and published a work of scriptural poetry called "Genesis in Limerick", and at the time of his death he was still assembling a collection of poetry he wrote about farm life in gem valley Idaho, the beauty of nature, the pain and wisdom of aging and the longings of a boy's heart.
His life would have been incomplete without his wife and dearest sweetheart, DeLene Clark of Meridian, California. They met in 1961 at the church genealogical library in Washington, DC, where she served as volunteer librarian. After proposing several times, she agreed to become his faithful companion and they married on December 20, 1962 in the Los Angeles Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They have four daughters, Jalene, Lanae, Marinda, and Danelle. They resided for many years in Oxford, Massachusetts, and in retirement moved to Provo, Utah. Their Provo home was their base to travel the world, finally getting a chance to visit the many places about which they had studied and read.
Jay Mack served two missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: one as a young man in the Central States, and one with his wife DeLene, as a senior couple, in Toronto, Canada. He was a temple sealer in the Boston, Massachusetts Temple and the Provo, Utah Temple. To his family, he was a chain-breaker, a man determined to excel, and a faithful disciple and follower of Jesus Christ.
He leaves behind his wife of 59 years, DeLene Clark Holbrook; and children, Jalene Holbrook McDonald, Lanae Holbrook, Marinda Holbrook Crowder (Sterling), and Danelle Holbrook Brown (Phil); 14 grandchildren and five great grandchildren. He leaves siblings, Susan Holbrook Bergeman (Jerry), Sheila Holbrook Mason (Rich), Larry Holbrook (Connie), and Colleen Holbrook. He also leaves nieces, nephews, cousins, and one uncle, Max Holbrook, and many friends. He is preceded in death by his parents; two brothers, Charlie John Holbrook, Ben L. Holbrook; and a sister, Marlene Holbrook.
The family expresses their love and utmost gratitude to the Beehive Homes of Provo, Sam Eyre and staff, who are specialists in memory care and loving patients through the challenges of elderly decline.
Funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, May 21, 2022 at the Grandview 21st Ward, 1600 North 1880 West, Provo, Utah. The viewing will begin at 9:00 a.m. that same day. Interment will be in the Provo City Cemetery, 610 South State Street, Provo, Utah, with a luncheon following. To view the program of services online, please visit . Condolences may be expressed at www.bergmortuary.com.
Those who cannot attend in person are invited to view a live stream of the service via Zoom, .
Meeting ID: 935 3569 2490
Passcode: 159824
Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.
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Followers

Debby Stevens
I'm a Christian, and I'm a daughter of Allan B. Holbrook, now in heaven. My married name is Debby Stevens.
My parents, Allan and Marie, were devout Christians, and had 10 children. They were both school teachers, but Mom quit teaching at public school after marriage. But both Mom and Dad home-schooled us all - starting when I was in 1st grade - that's when they came to the decision to home-school us. Dad earned an income through being an English teacher here in Traverse City, for man years. Dad started some Bible meetings that took place in the homes of friends of ours and in our own. He was the main teacher in it, and it was in a discoursing style - he would talk about spiritual things with the fathers of the families, each time, and all the children of the families would sit and listen to it all.
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