1919 – 2020
Dan M. Eastman died Jan. 25, 2020. He was born Dec. 25, 1919, in Tooele, Utah, the son of Frank G. and Mary Elsie England Eastman. He married LaVelle James on Jan. 9, 1946, they later divorced. Dan married Ruby Wolfensburger on Aug. 1, 1978.
He was a proud member of the Tooele High School class of “’38,” where, though the smallest man on the team, he played fullback! After high school, he served an LDS mission in the Central States, 1939-41, arriving home just in time for Thanksgiving. Little more than a week later, Dec. 8, 1941, he enlisted in the US Army. After helping build the new Wendover Air Force Base, he went to flight school and became a pilot. He flew 28 combat missions in A-20 and A-26 medium bombers in the 416th Bomb Group, 9th Air Force, in the European Theater from D-Day until the close of the war.
Dan graduated from the San Francisco College of Mortuary Science in 1946 and spent the next 60-plus years in funeral service in Elko, Nevada, and at Eastman, Evans and Early Mortuary. Dan was past president of Evans and Early, the Utah Funeral Directors Association, the Ambassador Club, and the Bay View Duck Club, and also a past member of Acacia Lodge #22, F&AM.
Dan is survived by four children: Alan (Vickie) Eastman, Julie (Mark) Menzie, Scott (Helen) Eastman, and Kelly Eastman; nine grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; plus stepchildren Peggy (Bill) Kovacs, Sue (Grant) McRitchie, and John Howard.
Dan lived his life in service for others.
There will be no public funeral service. Contributions in his memory are welcome to the Primary Children’s Hospital or the Shriners Children’s Hospital.