Brent Miller Thueson Obituary (1941 - 2020)

Graveside services for Brent Thueson will be broadcast via Facebook Live on Wednesday, December 16, 2020 at 2:00 PM MST. To watch these services, please click on the link below. Click HERE to view Graveside Services for Brent Thueson Brent Miller Thueson passed away on December 9, 2020 at his home with family there. Brent was born on June 6, 1941 to Merle Edna Thueson and John Aaron Thueson. He was the second oldest of six kids (John, Ann, Craig, Con and Mark). At a young age, he and his brothers showed their ingenuity and out-of-the-box thinking when they wanted to go to a local soda fountain after being tasked with watching their newborn brother while their mom ran some errands. Utilizing what they had at their disposal, they constructed a means of conveying their diminutive sibling. Using a newspaper carrier one of them had from a paper route, they put the newspaper carrier in the basket on the bike Brent would be riding, placed bundled newspapers into the carrier, they laid Mark down in the carrier contained by the basket and stuffed newspapers around Mark to hold him in place. They then all mounted up on their bikes, rode over to the soda fountain and victoriously returned home…until their mother found out about their antics and voiced her displeasure at their decision. As he grew into his teen years, Brent had an affinity for sports and recreation. He became a lifeguard at the Kearns pool and was also on the Murray High varsity football and basketball teams. At six feet four inches (a height he corrected numerous nurses on in subsequent years when they measured him at a different height), he was the center on the basketball team. These athletic opportunities showed Brent’s desire to live in the moment with his family, but also be protective of his family and friends. A time he showed living in the moment was as the lifeguard, he had keys to the pool. So one night he took some of his siblings and friends to the pool for a moonlight swim. On the basketball team, he showed his protective nature and consequences of actions; as evidenced when Murray High played Olympus High, who was an aggressive team at the time, and Brent fouled out of the game in the first five minutes of the game. The other time he learned that there is an equal reaction to an action was when he was playing a different team. As he guarded the other team’s center, he surreptitiously plucked leg hairs out of the other center’s legs while guarding the other center on defense, leaving the referees non-the-wiser. Unfortunately, he found the consequences of his actions the next time he was on offense and the other center was guarding him. When Brent got the ball, instead of going for his trademark hook shot, he drove toward the basket and jumped up for a layup. As he jumped, he felt the other center’s hands on his shorts just before he felt his shorts end up around his ankles in front of a full gymnasium. After graduating from Murray High School in 1959, Brent went on to study at Utah State University, where he ended up graduating in Sociology. Prior to his graduating, he served a two and a half-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Holland-Netherlands mission. Upon returning home, his sister introduced him to one of her friends in the ward who’s family had moved in while Brent was on his mission. This woman, Sharen, ended up becoming his future wife, in spite of Brent’s memorable marriage proposal of pulling the ring out of his pocket and saying “Here it is.”…that was it, no question just the statement. After graduating from Utah State University, Brent began working for the Utah department of Probation and Parole. While working for the department, Brent and Sharen added to their family with the birth of Wendy and then David a few years later. In his position with Probation and Parole, he worked with many law enforcement agencies and was approached by two FBI agents who came to know him. They took him to lunch and explained that the FBI was looking to quickly hire agents due to a lot of agents getting ready to retire shortly. They urged him to apply. Brent did. Shortly after, he was accepted and on his way to Quantico to start his training. Upon completing his training, Brent accepted his first assignment to the FBI office in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This was just the first of many locations the FBI would have him work across the country. During these assignments and travels, the family grew by three more (Daniel, Mieka, and Emily). As his family grew, he instilled many values into them. The importance of family was the most prominent. Acts of service and patriotism were also high values. Sometimes his kids begrudgingly participated in these latter acts, but it soon became second nature to them. Just a few examples of his service were when he was transferred to Montana, but moved his family into a home that was two hours away from his office so that they could be in a nicer house and school system than what was around his office. Even though this meant long commutes and occasionally sleeping on the concrete floor of the office for the nights that snowstorms made traveling home that day impossible. Another form of service was positions he held within the Latter-Day Saint church. He was a Young Men’s President, a Bishop, a counselor in the Stake Presidency, and a temple worker. He also served a mission with his wife to Cochabamba Bolivia. Those that knew Brent will also remember his quick wit and jovial, joking personality. These ranged from lacing his daughter’s bowl of Rocky Road ice cream with pieces of diced onion left over from dinner to loading revolvers for target practice with a few lighter rounds and then a powerful Magnum round before handing the revolver to the unaware person about to shoot at the target (pop, pop, BOOM!). He accepted being the recipient of jokes as well. He also instilled a dying art into his children, the art of chivalry. He would chide them for not opening the car door for their mother, a building door for a stranger, or for cutting in front of a stranger to go through a door first. His children learned this showing of respect and pass it on to others, being told “thank you” and occasionally “someone taught you right” from the recipients of these chivalrous acts. Another of the many examples of Brent’s respect and service was when work was being done on his in-laws’ house in their golden years, which included a professional painter. Just after Brent’s sister-in-law had showed up at the house, the painter noticed his van was gone. The painter had left his van in the driveway with the keys inside. Brent immediately told his sister-in-law he needed her to come with him and they got into Brent’s car with Brent as the driver. As his sister-in-law got in, Brent said with authority “Do up your seat belt” at which point Brent went into “FBI mode” and sped off in search of the perp. Knowing the area, Brent drove with his sister-in-law acting as spotter for the offender. His sister-in-law recounts that it was “the ride of her life” as Brent sharply maneuvered around corners and Brent said “I will find this guy”. They quickly found the van in a hidden location with the perp still there. Authorities were called and the thief was apprehended. The van had thousands of dollars of equipment and un-deposited payments still inside, which was all returned to the delighted and grateful painter. Brent loved his family and loved having them around. He is survived by his loving wife of fifty-five years, Sharen; Wendy, and her three kids (Jessica, TJ, and Cheyanne), Cheyanne’s two sons (Carter and Benson), and once he gets a ring on it, Cheyanne’s future husband, Daren; David, his wife, Tracy, and their three boys (JD, Jacob, and Seth); Daniel; Mieka, her husband, Paul, and their two kids (Dane and Kaia); and Emily. There are also current and “living on a farm” fur babies that are too numerous to name. Brent, we love you and miss you, but we are glad you can be with your parents and brother who have preceded you. We will be okay and you will live on in us and all the lives you have touched. Love always, your “Does a bear sleep in the woods?” family. Brent will be cremated, but there will be a memorial/celebration of life at the Manila Pond LDS Church house located at 3396 North 900 West, Pleasant Grove, UT on Wednesday, December 16,2020 from 10:00-11:30 AM. A small program will be after that from 11:30 to noon. Followed by a graveside service at 2:00 PM to inter the cremains at Elysian Gardens (1075 E 4580 S, Millcreek, UT 84117). The Memorial service/celebration of life will be streamed on Facebook (see link at the top of the obituary). The family has asked that in lieu of flowers, please donate to the following charities: Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation- Jdrf.org National Kidney Foundation – kidney.org American Heart Association – heart.org Honoring Heroes Foundation - honoringheroesfoundation.org FBI Agents Association - www.fbiaa.org/ways-to-donate We also wanted to extend our gratitude to Yarrow Hospice for the love and care they had for Brent and extended to the rest of the family. They made themselves available and even some of them stopped by to see Brent just because they were in the area and wanted to see how “the big teddy bear” was doing. The family has asked for any to share memories they have of Brent in the comments below, as well as any sympathies or wishes you care to extend to the family.