Josephine Bird

Josephine Elane Asay Bird, a longtime Lindon resident and beloved mother of seven grateful children, passed away on the morning of Friday, August 22, 2025. She was 88 years old.

Josephine’s life was one marked by devotion to her family and friends. She will be remembered for her life-long ability to overcome adversity and embrace new experiences with grace as well as her innate ability to create joy and friendship no matter what the circumstances. Josephine had a joyful, delightful, and lighthearted soul. She was overflowing with kindness and found great joy in sharing her talents with others.

Josephine was the second of six children born into the loving arms Zane Smith Asay and Mattie Mildred Nielsen Asay. She was born in Spring Canyon, Carbon County, Utah and grew up in various locations throughout Utah, though she always claimed the Uintah Basin as her childhood home.

Graduating from Union High School in 1955, she immediately began working at the local hospital, washing dishes, but quickly discovering she had a special talent for phlebotomy, began helping with nursing duties as well. Destiny had other things in mind for her, however, and she willingly gave up all hope of a career when she met the love of her life, husband of 69 years, and eternal companion, Arvil Bird.

She is the mother of seven children, and grandmother to an ever-increasing posterity. She always filled her home with the best things: love, family, and a daily batch of freshly baked bread. She spent her days making people happy and closed nearly every day on the back-porch swing with her husband as the sun set behind them. The impact of these seemingly unremarkable acts is in fact the recipe for an extraordinary life, and she knew it. She will not soon be forgotten.

One of her greatest passions was “Family Name Extraction.” She spent many, many years hunched over copies of vintage and antique government and church documents with a magnifying glass in hand attempting to read and then transfer the information to handwritten cards that would one day be searchable online. These records would officially record the existence of an untold number of human lives and connect generations of families to each other. The meaning of every human life and their link to family has always been clear to her. Accordingly, she went on to serve for a number of years as an ordinance worker in the Mt. Timpanogos, Utah Temple, which she loved.

She will be remembered by her seven surviving children, Terry Bird (Karen), Leon Bird (Lori) , Nancy Parry (Noland), Brian Bird (Jynae), Sharon Johnson, Teresa Turnbow (Doug), and Judy Breinholt (Kyle); and three brothers, Zane LaVelle Asay, Joseph Melvin Asay, and Alfred Freddie Asay. Her husband, Arvil David Bird died in 2019. She was also preceded in death by her parents, Mattie Mildred Nielsen Asay and Zane Smith Asay as well as her sisters, Susie Roene Asay Hollingsworth and Mildred Colleen Asay.

Service are under the direction of Olpin Family Mortuary in Pleasant Grove, Utah. Condolences may be sent to olpinmortuary.com.

A Graveside Service will be held Thursday, September 4, 2025 at 11:00 AM in the Lindon City Cemetery. Family and friends may attend a viewing before the service at the Olpin Family Mortuary from 9:00 - 10:30 AM; 494 South 300 East, Pleasant Grove, Utah.