Retiring teacher, coach urges Colony grads to ‘find their 68’
By Jeremiah Bartz Frontiersman.com A football coach using a hockey reference as the centerpiece for his keynote address may
Palmer resident Brian Lee DeVilbiss, 49, died Jan. 29 at St. Elias Specialty Hospital in Anchorage with his wife Jennifer at his side. A private graveside burial took place at the Palmer Pioneer Cemetery.
A memorial service will be at 2 p.m., Saturday at Lazy Mountain Bible Church in Palmer.
Brian was born April 23, 1960 in Seoul, Korea, and adopted by Ralph and Maxine DeVilbiss in 1963. He graduated from Palmer High School in 1979. He also studied and worked at the Evangelical Institute of Greenville, S.C. He became very distinguished in the Valley as a self-taught diesel mechanic.
He married Jennifer Clements on July 28, 1998 in Palmer. One of Brian and Jennifer’s favorite quotes is from their friend and teacher Mr. Joseph Carroll, “All is in Christ, by the Holy Spirit for the glory of God. All else is nothing.”
Brian is survived by his wife Jennifer, daughter Karianne, son Joseph, brothers Larry, Ray and Billy, father and mother-in-law Tom and Shirley Clements, brothers-in-law Scott Clements and Thomas A. Clements, all of Palmer and many nephews, nieces, cousins and many beloved brothers and sisters in Christ and close friends.
Brian was preceded in death by his father and mother Ralph and Maxine DeVilbiss, his sister Susan Herr and his nephew Stephen DeVilbiss.
To learn more about Brian, go to www.briandevilbiss.blogspot.com.
Donations in Brian’s memory can be directed to Evangelical Institute, 700 N. Parker Road, Greenville, SC, 29609 or at www.grcomin.org.