James Alan Bolt

James Alan Bolt was born on February 1, 1944, in Oroville, California, the youngest of five children born to Theodore Ralph Bolt and Alice May Lewis Bolt. Preceded in death by his parents, his brother Ralph, and sisters Donna and Judy, he is survived by his sister Bonnie Burns of Lawrenceville, Georgia.

Jim’s early years were spent in a modest home across from the grade school where his parents worked as janitors. After his mother’s death when he was nine, he and his father supported each other until his father remarried Hallie Armacost, his late mother’s close friend. The family later moved to Chandler, Arizona, where as a teenager Jim worked picking honeydew melons, delivered newspapers with his friend Niles Dutson, and played on an LDS ward softball team. That experience led to his and Hallie’s conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a faith that remained central to his life. At sixteen he also worked at a local Dodge dealership to earn his first car, already showing the industrious spirit that defined him.

After graduating from Chandler High School, Jim served a two-and-a-half-year mission in Uruguay, developing a lasting love for the Spanish language and its people. Upon returning, he attended Brigham Young University, where he met Lorraine while working at a hot dog stand. They married in August 1967 and together raised seven children: Jason, Tyler, Cassandra, Ryan, Matthew, Melissa, and Dustin. Jim earned a degree in Anthropology from BYU, served four years in the United States Navy, and later obtained master’s degrees in Library Science and Latin American History. He devoted thirty-four years to service at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City before retiring in 2011.

Above all, Jim found his greatest joy in family. He faithfully attended every concert, game, graduation, and family milestone, and cherished season tickets to Utah football games shared with children and grandchildren. He and Lorraine made their home in Orem, Utah, for more than fifty years, where he passed away peacefully at the age of eighty-two, surrounded by his wife and children.