William Max Brotherson

William Max Brotherson was born on December 4, 1936, in Roosevelt, Duchesne County, Utah.  He was the oldest child and first son of six children born to William Napier Brotherson, Jr. and Karen Beth Cox Brotherson.  As a child growing up, Max’s family included his parents and five younger siblings, Jack, Kirk, Brent, Karen Ann and Genna Vee. 

Max loved growing up on the Brotherson family ranch in Boneta, Utah, where he enjoyed his parents, siblings and other relatives.  His days as a boy were mostly spent herding sheep and cattle, doing chores on the ranch, and playing with his siblings and friends.  He attended local public schools and enjoyed his time as a student, being involved with friends and many activities. Max graduated from Altamont High School in 1955.  His activities in school included band (saxophone), basketball, baseball, track and field, and other ventures.  He participated in Scouting and played with a dance band throughout the Uintah Basin during his high school years. He also enjoyed riding horses, fishing, hunting, camping, dancing, and spending time with siblings and friends.   

Following his high school graduation, Max left home to work and spent part of two summers working at a cannery in Corvallis, Oregon and also on a wheat farm in Montana.  He also attended college for two years at both Snow College and Brigham Young University.  Max decided to serve as a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and received his assignment to go to Europe and work among the Danish people in the fall of 1957. He served in the Denmark Copenhagen Mission for two and a half years until the spring of 1960 and learned the Danish language.  He came to love the Danish people and had opportunities to serve in diverse locations including Copenhagen, Bornholm, Aarhus, and for many months in the cold and distant Faeroe Islands.  He taught the gospel of Christ faithfully and was blessed to increase his own faith and testimony of the restored gospel.  Following his mission, he completed his studies at Brigham Young University and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in finance and banking in 1966.   

Max met Deanne B. Bingham while attending school at BYU and they were involved in dance together and provided dance instruction.  Their relationship grew and the two of them were married on September 1, 1961 in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple.  Max and Deanne made their first home in Provo, Utah while attending school and Max also worked for Beneficial Finance Company and in construction at BYU. 

Five children arrived to bless their family, which included two boys and three girls.  Their oldest son, Todd, was born in May 1962, and he became the oldest grandchild; their next child was a daughter, Stacey, who was born in January 1968.  Four years later, a second daughter, Kelly, was born in the summer of 1972.  Another daughter, Tiffany, was born in November 1975, and Deanne and Max had a final son, Cole, in August 1981.  Son Todd served an LDS mission in San Antonio, Texas (Spanish) in 1981-82.  Max and Deanne are the grandparents of 14 grandchildren. 

Max and Deanne moved to Phoenix, Arizona following his graduation from BYU, where Max worked in the banking industry for a number of years.  Deanne worked for a bank and also was a homemaker and cared for their family at home.  They spent as much time as possible with family and eventually moved back to Utah in 1971 and settled in the Salt Lake City area.  Max took a job working for Zions Bank and also was involved with his own ranching efforts in Kamas, Utah and with the family ranch beginning in the early 1970s.  Max helped to acquire the Strawberry Valley ranch lease in 1973 that has now been part of the family ranching operation for nearly fifty years.  His professional activities have included working in the areas of finance, real estate development, and private banking, but his greatest interest has been working in the business of cattle ranching.  Through this enterprise, he has been able to enjoy the outdoors, spend time with family and friends, and continue a family legacy.  Max has especially enjoyed working with his brothers and other family members on the family ranch operation in the Strawberry Valley and in Altamont, Utah. 

Max has enjoyed involvement in church activities and spent many years playing in church sports, including fast-pitch softball, slow-pitch softball, and church basketball.  Max has continued as a faithful member of the LDS Church and served in a variety of church responsibilities during his lifetime, including elders quorum president, ward clerk, and temple ordinance worker.  He has spent a number of years engaged in temple work for the Brotherson side of the family and has had multiple spiritual experiences with these ancestors while doing such work in the temple.  He appreciates the eternal blessings of the restored gospel, the blessings of family life, and the opportunity to celebrate our family heritage.  

Family will receive friends at a viewing of Friday, January 31, 2020 from 6:00 until 8:00 PM at the LDS chapel at 5565 South Neighbor Lane, Holladay, Utah.  A Funeral Service will be held on Saturday, February 1, 2020 at 10:00 AM, also at the church, where viewing will begin at 8:30 AM.  Interment will follow at the Altamont-Mount Emmons Cemetery at 3 PM.