Christopher Joy Layton, age 86, entered into eternal life Saturday, June 12, 2021, in Syracuse, Utah.
Chris was born on April 12, 1935, in Mesa, to Leslie Joy Layton and Janice Carpenter Layton. He was the oldest of four children.Chris graduated from Tempe High School and served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Northern States Mission. He later attended Arizona State University and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Farm and Ranch Management. While attending ASU, he met Joyce Maria Farley. After dating three weeks, they were engaged. They married in the Mesa Arizona Temple on July 8, 1959, nearly 62 years ago.
Chris’s life’s work was farming and ranching in Arizona, California, and Idaho. After retiring from farming, he worked for both the Arizona Department of Agriculture and then as a peace officer for the Arizona Department of Motor Vehicles. When he retired, Chris was a Sergeant, working as the Officer in Charge at the Arizona Port of Entry in Northern Arizona.
Chris and Joyce were called to serve the Quechan Indians in Bard, California, in the 1970’s. Chris served in the Branch Presidency there for six years. After retiring in Arizona, Chris and Joyce moved to Utah and served as missionaries in the LDS Temple Department for five and a half years. Later, they served for three and a half years as missionaries working with the special needs seminary students at three high schools in Davis County. He loved every minute of their missions.
Chris is survived by: his wife, Joyce; his four children, Jan Bice (Jeff), Christopher Layton (Lisa), Elizabeth Bodkin (Lew) and Leslie John Layton (Christine); thirteen grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; his sister Ann Marie Layton Ajabli (Taha); sisters-in-law, Jenny Shaw (Bill), Judy Farley, Rebecca Nakamura (Kaz) and Jessica Sandeno; his brother-in-law, Joseph Farley; and many nieces and nephews. Chris is preceded in death by: his parents; his brothers, Edmond and Kenneth Layton and a granddaughter, Halycon Marie Bice.
Graveside services for Chris will be conducted Saturday morning, June 19, 2021, at 9:00 a.m., at the Thatcher Cemetery.
Online condolences may be offered at www.viningfuneralhome.com
Arrangements are entrusted to Vining Funeral Home.
