James Dearden

James Wellington Dearden (Jim) was born on May 19, 1940 to Herman Wellington Dearden and Lois Buck Dearden. He died peacefully on Sunday, December 3, 2023 at his home. He was 83 years-old.

Jim was born at the old Dee Hospital in Ogden, Utah, and he grew up in Henefer, Utah.

On February 13, 1963 he married his sweetheart, Jolene Barker Dearden in the Logan Utah Temple. They were married for 60 years. They were blessed with two wonderful children, Julie and Jeremy and they lived the majority of their life in Taylorsville, Utah.

Jim was a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served a two-year mission to the Auckland, New Zealand Mission (1960-1962). Together, Jim and Jolene served an 18 month mission to the England Leeds Mission (June 2007-December 2008). He enjoyed many callings in the church, but his most rewarding calling was serving with Jolene in the Branch Presidency at the Golden Living Center in Taylorsville, Utah.

For his profession he called himself “a film maker”. For over 40 years he was able to work in all areas of the film industry before retiring in December 2005. For the last 30 years of his career he worked in Provo, Utah at the BYU Motion Picture Studio which later became the LDS Motion Picture Studio. In addition to his day-to-day work activities he taught film production classes to BYU film students for a number of years. Jim’s last role was as a Unit Production Manager (Line Producer). This position took him to many parts of the world. Jim loved film making and he enjoyed the people he worked with.

All of his life Jim loved airplanes. He earned his pilots license at age 48. For the last five years, Jim has been working with several of his airplane buddies to restore ten single-engine planes back to airworthiness. This work has been both a hobby and a passion.

Jim was very proud of his English ancestry. He had a talent for family history work where he was able to find many additional family members.

Jim also had a great love for his family. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Jolene Barker Dearden. He is also survived by his children, Julie Wallace (John) and Jeremy James Dearden (Mindy), 8 grandchildren, 5 great grandchildren with one on the way. He is also survived by his siblings, Layne Dearden (Helen), Barbara Hurst (Ralph), and Mark Dearden (Paula). Preceded in death by his parents, grandparents and nephew David Dearden.

A viewing will be held on Thursday, December 14th, 2023 at Jenkins-Soffe Funeral Home, 4760 South State Street, Murray, Utah from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Funeral services will be held on Friday, December 15th, 2023 at 11:00 am at the Taylorsville 9th Ward Chapel located at 2030 West Chateau Avenue, Taylorsville, Utah 84129. A viewing will be held prior to the funeral service from 9:30 - 10:45 am. Interment will be near his childhood home at the Henefer Utah Cemetery, Henefer, Utah 84033.