Edwin Lee Brightenburg

Edwin Lee Brightenburg, our loving father, grandfather, and great grandfather, brother, uncle and friend passed away peacefully on Thursday, April 2, 2026. He was born October 5, 1938 in Brigham City, Utah, the first of two children born to Mark Fredrick Brightenburg and Francis Elizabeth Byers. He lived his entire life in Brigham City, Utah, graduating from Box Elder High School in 1956. He married his sweetheart, Myrle Reeder on October 14, 1960 in the Logan temple. Together they raised their own 6 children and many that weren’t theirs. Ed was an active member of the LDS church and served faithfully in numerous callings as part of the 12th ward. He, along with his wife Myrle also served a three year service mission at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. Ed had numerous careers starting at the age of 7 or 8 working along side his dad pumping gas. He also worked as a short order cook at his parent’s coffee shop as a teenager, and later worked and retired from Thiokol in 1992. He started his second career at Maddox Compressor and retired after 13 years. Following that, he was a grounds keeper at Eagle Mountain. That combined his two favorite past-times—golf and gardening. Career number four turned out to be his favorite of all—driving bus for Box Elder School District. He retired after 13 years there as well. He loved driving the kids to and from school and activities and developed lasting cherished friendships. Aside from his family, cars were his favorite thing to talk about. He would probably prefer we list all his cars here, but space is limited. He was a wonderful husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather and he could pretty much fix anything with a coat hanger and electrical tape. He was the original MacGyver. He was a longtime supporter of the Scout and Cub Scout program serving in various capacities. The activities he loved the most were gardening, square dancing with his sweetheart and friends, golfing and being Santa Claus. As Santa he loved visiting his regular families each year and was the official town Santa for many years, where riding into town on top of a fire engine and taking photos with kids was a highlight. His family would like to extend their eternal gratitude to the special families of 4th east—the Schwab family and the Larsen family specifically. Monday night game nights and porch visits for popsicles from the kids in the neighborhood were some of his favorite things. Those families also provided countless hours of service which were greatly appreciated. The family would also like to thank all the special nurses who took such good care of him—especially Peggy and Melinda. He is survived by his children Chris (Cindy) Brightenburg; Diane (Kurt) Quayle; Randall Mark (Kimberle) Brightenburg: Angela (Alan) Kallmeyer; Juli (Todd) Bainter; Misty Lee (Ken) Pendleton; 17 grandchildren, and 20 great grandchildren. He is also survived by his brother, Dee Glenn Brightenburg. He was preceded in death by his sweetheart, Myrle Reeder Brightenburg as well as his parents. Funeral services will be held on Thursday, April 9 at 11:00 am at the Brigham City 8th Ward building, 139 East 300 North, Brigham City, UT. A viewing will be held prior to the service from 9:30 to 10:30 am. Interment will be in the Brigham City Cemetery. Send condolences to www.gilliesmortuary.com