Shelby Ronald Lisonbee April 20, 1929 - January 5, 2025

Shelby Ronald Lisonbee, known as “Ron” to his friends and family, of Spanish Fork, Utah, passed away peacefully on January 5, 2025, at the age of 95.

Ron was born April 20, 1929, in Vernal, Utah, to Shelby M Lisonbee and Elva Susan Christensen Lisonbee, the eldest of their four children. He grew up on a dairy farm in Bridgeland, Utah, where he learned the value of hard work and developed a deep love for the outdoors. It was in the Bridgeland Ward that he met his sweetheart and eternal companion, Emma Lee Brady.

After graduating from Roosevelt High School in 1947, Ron served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in South Africa from 1949 to 1951. After returning, he married Emma Lee in the Salt Lake Temple on August 18, 1952. Together they purchased a dairy farm in Bridgeland, but their plans to run the farm were interrupted when Ron was drafted into the Army during the Korean War in 1953. After basic training, he was stationed at the Panama Canal, where he and Emma Lee lived until his discharge in 1955.

Returning to Utah, Ron continued his education at Utah State University, earning a Range and Forest Management degree. He then began a distinguished career with the U.S. Forest Service, spending countless weeks in the backcountry wilderness of Utah and Wyoming. His passion for nature and the mountains was reflected in his work as a forest ranger. His career required his family to move many times. In all, Ron and Emma Lee moved over 30 times together during their marriage. A skilled horseman and lover of Western novels, movies, songs, and cowboy poetry, his family often joked that he was “born 100 years too late.”

Ron was deeply committed to his faith. He served as stake president of the Spanish Fork Palmyra Stake, as bishop in both Roosevelt, Utah, and Spanish Fork, Utah, and spent many years as a temple ordinance worker in the Provo Temple. During retirement, he and Emma Lee served as senior missionaries in Nauvoo, Illinois, where Ron put his interests and talents to work as a wheelwright, restoring wagons and buggies for the historic sites.

Ron is survived by his beloved wife, Emma Lee, and their four children: Rodney Lisonbee (Lorie) of Highland, Scott Lisonbee (Lori) of South Jordan, Cindy Stone of Spanish Fork, and Susan Brown (Scott) of South Jordan. He and Emma Lee have 14 grandchildren and 40 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, Shelby and Elva; his siblings, Clay Lisonbee, Bertie Hullinger, and Shelley Graham; a grandson, Dayne Stone; and a son-in-law, Howard Stone.

A memorial service will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, January 11 at 452 W 550 S, Spanish Fork, Utah with a viewing starting at 9:00 a.m. Interment will follow at the Spanish Fork Cemetery.

Ron will be deeply missed by his family and friends. His legacy of faith, service, love of nature, and quiet dedication to his family will live on in the hearts of those who were blessed to know him.