Mark Johnson

Mark H. Johnson, beloved father, grandfather, son, and brother, passed away peacefully on June 13, 2026, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Mark was born to Ray Johnson and Doris Elaine Hair on May 21, 1947 in Provo, Utah.  He was raised in the small town of Leamington, Utah, where he shared many adventures with his 9 siblings.

By the time he was four, Mark had learned to read and fell in love with it instantly, reading at an 8th grade reading level by the end of 1st grade.  With an insatiable appetite for reading, he read every single book in his school library. This love of reading would continue throughout his entire life; as an adult, he could often be found reading spy novels and toting around heavy books about computer programming.

As a child and later as a teenager, Mark rose early to milk the cows and help his father and grandfather around the farm before school. He attended Delta High School, where he excelled at wrestling, as well as academics. He always spoke fondly of riding around Leamington on his favorite horse, Flax.

In 1966, Mark served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Texas. After returning home from his mission, he went to college to study Computer Science at BYU, where he met and married Vicki Ann Sinclair in 1969. They went on to have four children, followed by two stillborn daughters, Karen Marie and Debra Lee.

In the midst of losing their final child, as well as losing parents and grandparents in 1984, the couple divorced. Afterward, Mark met and married Kari Anne Nelson in 1988, and to Mark’s delight, they went on to have two more daughters.

In Mark's life, the gospel of Jesus Christ was a constant, and he served faithfully in many callings, from those with the young men to teaching gospel doctrine.  Mark loved the stories of Jesus and would recount them to his children, often listening to a dramatized version of the New Testament at home or on various road trips.

Mark and Kari both enjoyed having fun with family, which included lively family dinners, teaching their children to ski and play other sports, vacationing, and preserving memories in books for posterity. Mark loved to talk with anyone and everyone, and he would often regale them with stories of his childhood, his harrowing trip to Russia during the Cold War period, where he lectured at a university in Moscow, any of his current work projects, and many other entertaining topics. Conversation was always abundant and enlightening when talking to Mark.

He had a love of computers and technology and a special aptitude for retaining the information, from the simplest of binary systems to complex computer languages. During his working years, Mark had opportunities to work for companies such as Novell, WordPerfect, General Automation, and Intel; and he created his own company, Datamark, which produced the first computers used in LDS temples. He had many brilliant ideas, developing several parts that are still used in computer chips today, applying for patents for his work with encryption, and ultimately giving the technology to the U.S. government for use.

Yet while he worked hard, he also loved to play. He enjoyed driving fast in his sports car, taking the boat out on the lake for some water skiing, riding around with the family on four-wheelers, and taking the kids fishing and camping whenever possible.

In 2011, Mark took an opportunity to move to the Washington, D.C. area, where he was contracted to work with government agencies to increase security and develop technologies to assist in defense. He was only allowed to share limited information with his family regarding the projects he was working on, but he was very proud of the work he was doing.

After a few years, Mark returned to Utah to be with his children and grandchildren. In his final years, he spent as much time as he could with his loved ones. He will be greatly missed!

Mark is survived by his six children: David, Doug (Sarah), Danny (Camille), Julie (Kelly), Alexia (Andrew), and Sierra (Christy), along with 17 beautiful grandchildren. A viewing will be held Saturday, June 20th from 10:00-10:45 A.M. at Anderson & Sons Mortuary in American Fork. A graveside service will follow at 11:00 at American Fork Cemetery, where he will be interred.