Roscoe "Bill" William Burnett Sr.

Bill came into the world on July 17th, 1941, in Ogden, Utah -- the second child born to his loving parents, Ivan and Leone. When Bill was only 18 months old, the young family moved to Oregon where Ivan was lured by the romance of the forest and took a job as a timekeeper at the Santiam Lumber Company. This move was portentous because, despite the many adventures Bill would take, Oregon would remain his home base for the rest of his life. After a few months in Eugene with Leone's parents, Bill's family moved to Sweet Home, Oregon. His school years were spent between Sweet Home and Portland. Bill graduated from Portland's Wilson High School in 1959, distinguishing himself as an avid trumpet player and a mediocre student, with one straight-shooting guidance counselor telling him that he wasn't college material. In the fall of that year, Bill enrolled as a freshman at BYU.

In 1960, Bill took a break from his studies at BYU to answer the call to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Northern Mexico. There he developed an abiding love for the gospel of Jesus Christ, particularly for teaching its doctrines and for selfless service. Bill served several months of his mission in El Paso, Texas due to visa issues and being bedridden for several weeks with hepatitis. The two and half years Bill served in Mexico and south Texas proved deeply formative, providing a direction for his entire life {and a hint at his ultimate death).

Upon returning to BYU and during visits home to Portland, Bill struck up a friendship with another Portland-­based BYU undergraduate, Lorna Barnhart. Lorna was a recent convert and, even more than he was dazzled by her Liz Taylor-like good looks, he was impressed with her solid, passionate testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. One night, he laid out in the grass backyard of his student digs, and looking at the stars, Bill asked God if he should marry Lorna. The answer came so strongly that tears streamed down his cheeks and into his ears, something stoic Bill had never experienced before or since. Lorna was to be his partner in life and eternity. He proposed at Thanksgiving and waited patiently until he received his answer on Christmas Eve: Lorna beautifully wrapped a small box with one small piece of paper on which was written the scripture, Ruth 1:16 - "Whither thou goest, I will go..."

Bill and Lorna married in Sealing Room #7 of the Salt Lake City Temple on September 4th, 1965. The following summer, Roscoe William Burnett Jr. came into their family. Then came Michael in 1966, Alison in 1968, and Janell in 1970 -- they had four children, ages 5 and under. They planned a little more cautiously for the arrival the other souls to come into their family: Stephen in 1973, Matthew in 1976, and Daniel in 1982. Bill and Lorna's greatest joys, triumphs, laughs, and a few tears were shared with these 7 children and their children's children; those volumes are written in heaven and are too numerous to share here. But Bill sometimes wondered what would have happened if they had been married in Sealing Room #12.

While finishing up at BYU, Bill spoke with a friend who told him about teaching seminary for the Church Education System (CES). Bill soon started teaching seminary; it would become his other great love and fill the entirety of his 39-year professional life. Bill earned both his BA ('66) and MA ('75) from BYU, allowing him to serve as a teacher and coordinator for seminary as well as an institute director. With Lorna as his ever-faithful CES partner, his assignments took him all over North America: Utah ('66-'69 & '74-'75), upstate New York and eastern Canada (Palmyra: '69-'74), eastern Washington (Richland: '75-'78), central Oregon (Eugene: '78-'97), New Jersey ('97-'01), and lastly to California in San Francisco's East Bay (Antioch: '01-'05').

Bill loved the comradery with his CES colleagues. He relished in the trainings from church leaders, and he felt so grateful never to hear so much as a curse word in his place of work. Above all, he loved his students. His face lit up for the rest of his life when would reminisce about students he had and some of the hijinks they got up to. He loved teaching the scriptures and nourishing students with the good word of God .... And he also just loved feeding them. Bill started hosting "Friday Forum" luncheons for institute students in his later years, with a gospel speaker and a meal that he prepared himself. Cooking these meals gave him a welcome creative outlet; no known cases of food poisoning resulted.

Upon retiring in 2005, Bill and Lorna returned to their hometown of Portland, Oregon. Now they could for live out their lifelong goal of serving missions together. First, they were called to the Chile Santiago North mission. Bill dusted off his Spanish while Lorna doggedly hit the books. They brought their prodigious passion for service and their fervent love of the Savior to the people of Santiago and the missionaries of that mission, blessing countless lives. Returning to Oregon, they went on to answer the call serve several welfare missions, including as Employment Specialists, BYUI Pathways Coordinators, and as Directors of the Bishop's Storehouse in Portland.

For the last few years, Bill considered himself called on "Lorna Wellbeing Mission", as her health steadily declined due to leukemia. He served this mission with miraculous devotion, as her fulltime caregiver until her last breath on June 3rd, 2022. Despite this profound loss, Bill continued serving his family as a devoted brother, father, and grandfather, all despite declining energy levels. He finally gave in to his family's cajoling and saw his doctor before Christmas, who expressed concerns about Bill's liver. It seemed that the lifelong teetotaler had developed cirrhosis, likely as an aftereffect of the hepatitis he contracted as a missionary so many years ago. When Bill flew to Utah in late December for his brother Richard's funeral, Bill was in good spirits and pain­free, though his energy seemed to wane more and more each day. Finally on the night of January 1st, Bill checked into the ER in Riverton. Within minutes, he collapsed, sparing himself and his family the slow agonizing decline they had witnessed with Lorna. He died at 1:15am the following morning.

Bill is survived by his sister Valois (Kitchen) and his brothers Darrell and Blaine, as well as his children Ross, Michael, Alison, Stephen, and Matthew. He has been greeted in the hereafter by his parents Ivan Sr. and Leone, and his siblings Ivan Jr. (Smiley), Patricia, and Richard. Surely his most joyous reunions have been with his grandson Tommy, his son Daniel and daughter Janell, and with his wife and best friend of 58 years, Lorna.

A family graveside service for Bill will be held Saturday, January 14, 2023 at 10:00 AM at Sunset Hills Memorial Park, 6801 Sw Sunset Hwy, Portland, OR 97225. Following the graveside service will be a public memorial service at 1:00 PM at Mountain Gate Ward, 10300 SE 132nd Ave, Happy Valley, OR 97086. The memorial service will be streamed over Zoom at the following link: https://zoom.us/j/91441614559

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.finleysunsethills.com for the Burnett family.