Lincoln John Card

Lincoln John Card passed away peacefully on March 15, 2024.  He has been reunited with his wife, Jilene, his parents, and siblings. 

Lincoln was born February 12, 1926, on President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday in Cardston, Alberta, Canada to Joseph Young Card and Pearl Eliza Christensen. He was the seventh of eight children. 

As a boy, each day was an adventure for him. He developed a great love and appreciation for nature at an early age.

While attending high school, Lincoln was a member of the air and army cadets, a reserve group. He also spent the summers following his junior and senior years helping with the war effort by doing research at an experimental station in Suffield, Alberta, Canada.

In 1945, when WWII ended, Lincoln left to attend Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. After two years at BYU, he accepted a mission call and served in the Australian Mission for 2 ½ years.  After his dedicated missionary service, he returned to BYU and completed his degree in Elementary Education.   

After graduating from BYU in 1952, he married the love of his life, Jilene Peterson, in the Salt Lake Temple on December 23, 1952. They were the proud parents of four children.

Lincoln received a Master’s Degree from BYU in 1961 and an Associate Doctorate Degree from USU in 1979. During Lincoln’s 37 years in public service, he taught elementary school in Cardston, Canada and Provo, Utah. He was also a principal of four different elementary schools in Provo, Utah: Maeser, Grandview, Rock Canyon and Edgemont. He also served on several state education committees, directed the Basic Adult Education Program in Provo and was one of the pioneers in starting summer school activity programs in the Provo School District. In 1985, he was honored in Washington, D.C. by the Secretary of Education as the National Distinguished Principal from Utah. Through the years, he earned the love and respect of thousands of students, teachers and parents.

After retiring, Lincoln and Jilene were called to serve in the Texas Fort Worth Mission in 1988. Lincoln served as bishop of the Pleasant View 3^rd Ward in Provo, and of the Suncrest 2^nd Ward in Orem as well as a counselor in a branch presidency in the MTC in Provo. He worked in the baptistery and as an ordinance worker in the Mount Timpanogos Temple for ten years. He cherished the friendships he made while working with and serving others in his various church callings. 

Lincoln was a master gardener and taught his children the value of hard work. He also taught his children to love outdoor adventures. His children have many fond family memories finding Indian artifacts and arrowheads in southern Utah, searching for dinosaur bones and hiking to remote lakes in Canada, tenting in the high Uintah’s or jumping in the car on Saturdays to go fishing or explore the many different canyons in Utah County. 

Along with his love of the “great outdoors,” Lincoln also enjoyed poetry and literature. He called poetry “the music of words.” His children, grandchildren and great grandchildren cherish the many stories he has written and shared with them through the years. 

Lincoln patterned his life after the title of the song, “Have I Done Any Good in the World Today.” Until the end of his life on earth, he prayed daily that he could find someone to serve through a smile, kind word or deed.  His personal creed in life was: “Let your voice, your actions and your influence make the world a better place because you were there.”

Lincoln claimed that his greatest achievement in life was being married to his sweetheart, Jilene Peterson and working hand in hand with her to successfully raise four children. 

Lincoln is survived by his four children: Kevin Lincoln (Sue), David John (Raelene), Colette Jilene (Mike Harris), Scott Peterson (Natalie), 21 grandchildren, 46 great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife Jilene, his parents, Joseph and Pearl and his siblings: Brigham, Ruth, Lester, Eldon, Aaron, Rhea, Marie, and his great granddaughter Kylee Alexis Kenyon.