H. Hilburn Berry

Henry Hilburn (“Bill”) Berry, a beloved father, grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, and friend passed away peacefully on May 10, 2026, in St. George, Utah, at the age of 96. He was born on November 13, 1929, to Hilburn H. Berry and Mae Evelyn Kessner at his grandmother’s home in Yellow Creek, Arkansas. He was their only child, but had five younger half-siblings from his mother’s second marriage. Bill leaves behind a legacy of faith and service.

The father of five children -- John Berry, Stephen Berry, Paula Berry Smith, Raymond Berry and David Berry, Bill was instrumental in instilling the values of faith, persistence, and hard work in them. His family expanded to include 14 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, and three great-great-grandchildren.

Bill was born and raised during the Great Depression that began a few months before his birth in 1929. Like most other families in southwest Arkansas, his family had very little and struggled to make ends meet. As a young child, Bill helped milk the cows and worked in the garden. His best “friend” was a family horse named “Roy” who he rode to school. This upbringing was the foundation for the strong work ethic that served him his entire life. He could be found mowing his lawn until just a few years ago. It also caused him to be very frugal and save for a rainy day. He avoided debt at all costs. He would not buy a car or other consumer goods unless he could pay cash for it. As a result, decades before the Internet and YouTube videos, he would figure out how to fix anything that broke down -- whether the TV, a household appliance or the car -- and then he would fix it. He also thought it was unnecessary to pay an architect or a general contractor to design and build a house, when he could do it himself. As a result, he substantially remodeled one family home, and designed and built two others, including his last home in St. George, Utah that he finished in 1991 when the Bloomington Hills area in which it is located was largely undeveloped.

The economic challenges of the time caused Bill to lose interest in school and he quit in the 9 th grade, and started working. He joined the U.S. Navy in 1947 at age 18, and became an Electrician’s Mate. His military occupational specialty sparked an interest in electrical engineering in him, and after his honorable discharge from the Navy in 1950, he earned a General Equivalency Degree and began taking college classes at night while working as an electrician for Bell Helicopter in Fort Worth, Texas. He was accepted into Brigham Young University and moved his young family to Provo, Utah where he attended full-time, graduating in 1962 with a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Management/Engineering. He moved the family to southern California where he worked in the aerospace industry until he accepted a position with the U.S. Department of Defense Naval Weapons Center in California where he remained until he retired in 1989. He rose to become the Chief Engineer of key components of the Tomahawk Cruise Missile System, which has been successfully deployed in U.S. combat operations around the world.

Bill’s family of origin met with missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in southwest Arkansas, and all members of the family were baptized in a nearby creek. Bill was 13 at the time. However, there was no congregation nearby and they were not active in the church. His first wife, Tula Chiburis, was a member of the Greek Orthodox church but Bill refused to attend with her. She agreed to meet with missionaries from Bill’s church if he participated as well. After studying for about a year, Tula was baptized a member of the church in 1955, and Bill became active in the church with her. He received the priesthood and was a devout member of the church for the remainder of his life, serving in many callings and as a service missionary for 18 months at the church’s Employment Resources Center in St. George. Through the passion for genealogy of his second wife, Lois Yocum, Bill became devoted to genealogy work. Together with Lois, they identified hundreds of living and deceased relatives.

Bill is survived by his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren who aspire to his legacy of faith, service, hard work, and perseverance.

All are welcome to join us in celebrating Bill’s life on May 21, 2026. A viewing will be held at 10:00 a.m., followed by funeral services at 11:00 a.m., at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Bloomington Hills 10th Ward Chapel, located at 1130 E. Brigham Rd., St. George, UT 84790. Interment at Tonaquint Cemetery with full military honors will follow the services.