Bryon Keith Madsen

It is with a mix of great sadness and rejoicing we announce the passing and celebration of our beloved Bryon Keith Madsen. He held the distinction of being loved by all. There wasn’t a person who met him that wasn’t entertained by his quick wit and wonderful sense of humor. He was a casserole-loving, small town, simple guy who found levity in everything. It was truly the tool that got him through life and even at the end of a very difficult journey with diabetes and heart failure it was still intact.

Bryon was born in Rigby, Idaho May 6, 1949, to Leda Mae and George Keith Madsen. He was the eldest of their five children and a beloved older brother to Lamar, Karen, Colleen and Dalan. He was always proud of his small-town Idaho roots and was quick to tell you Rigby was the birthplace of television.

In 1969 Bryon served a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Arizona California mission. He graduated from Rick’s College and then from the Phoenix Police Academy (achieving highest marksmanship). After just one year as a police officer, he decided it didn’t fit the family life he wanted more. So, he turned in his badge and headed to BYU. It was there that he met his wife and great love of his life Sidney Ray. After a quick engagement they were married in the Mesa Arizona Temple on April 30, 1976, and that same year he graduated from BYU.

He spent his career in the banking and mortgage industries and eventually started his own business, Mesa Mortgage, with Leonard Richards. Bryon loved basketball and for years he planned his life around a good half-court game. He took up running and ran the Phoenix marathon and many Mesa Turkey Trots.

He served in numerous church callings including the organist, youth leader, three Bishoprics and on the Lehi Stake High Counsel. But what he would really want you to know about him was his children because they were his greatest accomplishment.

He was proud of his daughter Candice’s accomplishments as a journalist and television news producer. She inherited her interviewing skills from her dad who always knew how to ask people questions about themselves and made everyone feel special. Bryon loved and appreciated the way Natalie kept him looking good with her hairstyling skills and like her dad, Natalie is everyone’s biggest cheerleader. He relished watching “the boy” Roman excel in sports and then begin his career in psychiatry. Like his dad, Roman is a leader and protector. Rachel inherited her dad’s charm and love of running and is the sunshine of the family. He loved watching Hayley dance, and everyone agrees she also inherited his wit, and Bryon was one proud Papa when Rissa, the baby of the family, started her own successful business. Like her dad, Rissa knows how to bring the fun. Bryon loved his 18 grandchildren, and they too became the center of his life.

One of Bryon’s greatest pieces of advice to his children was ‘to have a friend, you have to be a friend’ and it is evident by his many lifelong friendships that he was also a good friend, and these friendships blessed his life immensely.

Please join us in a celebration of his life December 20 from 6-8 p.m. at The Church of Jesus Christ Ridge Ward Building, 2220 N. Harris, Mesa, Arizona. Funeral service will be held Saturday, December 21st at 11:00 a.m. at the same location. Visitation will be held at 10:00 a.m. prior to the service.

Arrangements by Bunker’s Garden Chapel, www.bunkerfuneral.com . Should this obituary appear anywhere but bunkerfuneral.com, please check our website for accurate details and service information.