Jay Parsons Markham November 12, 1939 - September 23, 2021

Jay Parsons Markham, age 81, passed away on Thursday, September 23, 2021, in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He was surrounded by his One and Only True Love, Joy, and loving family.

Jay was born on November 12, 1939, in Ogden, Utah. Jay’s parents, Ira and Beatrice Markham, and his older sister, Lu, anxiously awaited Jay’s birth. They were so excited to welcome Jay into their family and adopt him as their own.

Jay was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was baptized at age 8, sealed to his parents in the Salt Lake Temple at age 12, served a 2 ½ year mission in Peru at age 19, and held many callings throughout his life.

After graduation from Mt. Diable High School in Concord, CA, Jay attended Brigham Young University Provo, UT.  He was a much-decorated member of the gymnastics team in both high school and college. After his mission, Jay was sealed to his beautiful wife Joy in the Los Angeles Temple on June 5, 1964 and earned a bachelor’s degree from BYU in Business Management.

Jay and Joy started their family in Northern California. In 1972, Jay changed from working in management to working at computer companies and moved with a new job to Farmington Hills, MI. In 1983, he was excited to move to Orem, UT. Jay was immediately called as the Bishop of the Sharon 13th Ward and impressed his new ward in a skit as a new bishopric did by doing a roundoff back handspring.

Jay got his dream job at the Church Office Building in Salt Lake City, UT. He worked on computers, building and fixing programs, in the genealogy department, and more. After early retirement, Jay and Joy moved to Las Cruces, NM, in 2008.

Jay had many hobbies and talents:

• He and Joy started a computer training business and especially loved helping others with genealogy and computer issues.
• He loved Astronomy, built a large telescope by himself, and had many books that he was always reading.
• He had a Ham Radio license and loved to talk to people around the world.
• His favorite store was “Radio Shack”.
• He made his first computer from scratch, putting the wires and programming together all by himself.
• He played trombone in high school.
• He loved his Coca Cola. He started drinking it on his church mission to help protect him from the parasites that were in the water and food.
• He loved James Bond Movies. He watched & collected every movie there was of James Bond.
• Jay loved fast cars. He bought a Radar Detector from Radio Shack and kept it on his dashboard. Once it started to beep, it gave him the warning to slow down.
• Jay continually shared his love of BYU with his family. He would watch the BYU sports teams play on TV and attend some of the games.
• He had a love and pride of his Markham family heritage. He loved his close relatives very much and wanted to be buried in the same cemetery as his great-great Grandfather, Stephen Markham.
• He was a big fan of the Olympics and would watch every year with his family.
• He loved the theater, acting, skits and dancing, both on and off the stage. He was in numerous plays at the local community theater. He had a love for performing and watching his children perform.
• Jay had a love for diving off the high diving boards at swimming pools. He had beautiful flips and dives, always with perfect pointed toes, because of his gymnastics training. He was the highlight at any local swimming pool, where people would stop to watch his impressive dives.
• Jay loved photography (begun on his mission) and would share his skills with his children.
• Also learned from his mission, Jay loved speaking Spanish.
• As Jay’s children were growing up, Jay tried to teach and share his talents with his children. He loved to play and spend time with his grandchildren.

Jay was so happy to find out who his biological parents were. At about age 80, using DNA results and tireless genealogical research, Jay discovered who his biological parents are. Jay was able to talk with one of his biological siblings through a video call. He was still anxiously waiting to meet all his surviving biological siblings and family members.

Jay is preceded in death by parents Ira Joseph Markham and Beatrice Ann Parsons Markham, sister Lucretia Parsons Markham Jones, daughter Cheryl Lynn Markham Harris and grandson Bradley Michael Harris.

Jay is survived by his wife, Joy Ann Hinkson Markham of Las Cruces, NM; children Stephen Jay (Nina) Markham of Kent, WA, David Allen (Holly) Markham of West Bountiful, UT, Rebecca Susan Markham (Scott) Wedge of Florence, AZ, and Robert William (Heather) Markham (Provo, UT); son in-law, Craig Clarke (Justine) Harris (Washington, MO); 40 grandchildren; 26 great-grandchildren; and many loving relatives.

Please return to this page just before 10:30 a.m. MST on Wednesday, September 29, 2021 to view the livestream of the service below