Lynn Woodbury, AIA
1952-2023
Born June 24, 1952, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Wallace Richards Woodbury and Beverley Clair Beesley. Lynn spent his youth golfing, creating mischief with “the boys” (lifelong friends) and being an East High champion swimmer. Lynn joined the family firm — the Woodbury Corporation — first when he was in high school as a drafter. Woodbury is a development and management business that has thrived for over 100 years. The firm has a diverse portfolio that includes retail, office, hotel, multi-family housing, senior living, student housing and mixed-use projects.
Lynn was determined to become an architect from a young age. Following a year in the National Guard and a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Mexico City, Mexico, Lynn pursued his business degree and Master of Architecture at the University of Utah. On June 5, 1978, Lynn married his sweetheart, Cecily Elaine Carter, in the Salt Lake City temple. He continued working with Woodbury during his college years and grew to play a critical role in the business, leading the design and construction division.
In 1985, Lynn suffered a spinal cord injury in a trampoline accident, which left him paralyzed for 38 years. Despite the challenges this brought, he maintained his optimism and never allowed his injury to define him.
Lynn played a crucial role in the family business. As his brother, Jeff, said, “He was involved in residential, office, hotels, a lot of retail, medical and industrial — Lynn was involved in every type of project we did. He had a unique way of thinking three-dimensionally. He had a vision of how even complicated sites and complicated projects could happen. Lynn had a way of coming up with an initial concept on a site that was very practical, very economical and very insightful. Even though he couldn’t draw in his later years, he was instructing other people to draw his vision. Lynn would save us a lot of money just because he could see by looking at the topo map and looking at the site how he could balance it. That vision is really the talent that made him so valuable throughout his career, both before and after the accident.”
Lynn is survived by his cherished wife Cecily; children Michael (Marianne), Elizabeth and Chelsea (Matt); grandchildren Katherine, Alex, Elizabeth, Zoe, Lucy, Lyla, Emmett and Nina; and brothers W. Richards (Becky) and Jeff (Sonia).
Dave Charles Robinson, AIA
1947-2023
Dave was born in Alliance, Ohio, on Sept. 23rd, 1947, to Catherine and Ralph Robinson, the second of their five children. In 1965, Dave graduated from Marlington High School and received his degree in architecture from the University of Cincinnati in 1971, a passion he pursued his whole life. A licensed architect for over 45 years, Dave was a longstanding member of the American Institute of Architects. He had a wide range of experience with a variety of building types and practiced architecture for national and international firms throughout his career.
In 1993, he founded his own firm, Dave Robinson Architects, while living in Salt Lake City, Utah with his wife, Anne Smart. Over the course of the next 30 years, Dave Robinson designed over four million square feet of commercial and industrial real estate from master planning through to construction and completion in the state of Utah.
Dave passed peacefully on May 3, 2023, comfortably in his home and surrounded by loved ones. He was a brother, son, husband, father, and often called “Sir Grandpa” by his grandchildren. Generous and reliable, he was admired for his kindness, his thoughtfulness and, above all, his unwavering work ethic. An avid reader and lifelong student of history, Dave is remembered for the large tomes he was known to lug around and his mastery of words. He was a soft-spoken man whose sharp, whip-like wit was easy to miss if you didn’t know to listen for it.
Dave is survived by his wife, two of his children — Peter and Amy — his six grandchildren and his four siblings, all of whom loved him greatly and will miss him dearly. He will be welcomed into his next life by his son, Steve Robinson, and his beloved daughter, Jessica Bailey, both of whom preceded him in death.
Robert Pett, AIA
1953-2023
The family of Robert Nilson Pett was heartbroken to share the news of his unexpected death at age 70 on Oct. 31, 2023. Rob was born on Mother’s Day, May 10, 1953, to Marjorie Nilson Pett and Stuart Brandon Pett Sr., the youngest of four siblings.
Rob attended William Penn Elementary, Evergreen Jr. High and Olympus High Schools and received his Master of Architecture degree from the University of Utah in 1980. Upon graduation, Rob joined FFKR Architects, where he worked until 1994, at which point he joined MJSA Architects as a shareholder. He became president of MJSA in 2005 and remained so until his retirement in 2018 after 25 years with the firm.
Rob loved his profession and deeply respected his associates and clients. Notable projects where Rob was lead architect were Governor’s Mansion Restoration, David Keith Mansion Restoration, Utah State Capitol Gold Room Restoration, Safe Haven for Valley Mental Health, Provo City Library, C. Roland Christensen Building at the University of Utah, Carmen B. Pingree School, Utah State Capitol Restoration and the O.C. Tanner Flagship Store. He was also proud of his work with the Natural History Museum of Utah. He served on numerous boards and received many awards for his work. No project was too big or too small for his exacting work, be it the Delta Center or a friend’s birdhouse. He was a hardworking, respected architect inside and outside of the community and was at a job site on the day he died. The family would like to extend their deepest gratitude to the contractors who tried to save him and cared for him after he died.
He and Kathryn (Snedaker) Holmes married in 1997 (later divorced) and together raised Sarah Snedaker and their own two sons, Robbie and Michael. Rob was proud of and loved his kids, and they loved him in return, “If you knew my dad, you know how silly and witty he was. I am so grateful I got to have him as my dad.”
Rob is survived by his sons Robbie (wife Madison and baby Rowan) and Michael (Celestria); stepdaughter Sarah (Joe); siblings Susan (Mary), Stuart (Virginia) and Rip (Claire); lifelong best friend John Felt and dear friend Robyn Seldin; many adored cousins, nieces, nephews and beloved friends.
Scott Theobald, AIA
1953-2023
Scott Theobald passed away on Feb. 26, 2023, a few days before his 70th birthday. At his retirement in 2018, he was the Senior Vice President of Design West Architects in Logan, Utah. Scott was born and raised in California. After high school, his family moved to New York, where he obtained a Fine Arts degree from the State University of New York. In 1979, he received a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Utah, and then returned to New York for four years. While working in Rochester, Scott married his wife, Jan, and also developed his lifelong professional love for Historic Preservation and the design of Performing Arts facilities. Scott joined Design West in March 1983. During the 1983 Christmas break at Utah State University, a fire severely damaged the North Wing of Old Main, the original academic building on campus. Old Main was designed, in part, by K. C. Schaub, Design West’s founder in 1892. Scott’s historic preservation experience helped Design West win the assignment to help USU save their flagship building. Over the next 15 years, Scott led three major projects to rehabilitate the entire 156,000 square‑foot historic building.
In 1985, Scott Theobald filled a substantial leadership void when Richard Clyde died in a plane crash. Scott continued the company’s K-12 school design throughout the western states and its associated Energy Conservation initiatives. He became a principal of the firm in 1994. Among Scott’s significant projects was Design West’s first Year-Round Education school in Oxnard, California, the Eccles Performing Arts Center in Park City and major projects for the Ellen Eccles Theatre and the Utah Theater. Scott was a key member of Design West’s 2002 Winter Olympics Housing project team at the University of Utah. That led to many Student Housing projects, including an 11-year assignment at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, Colorado.
Scott demonstrated a remarkable diversity of interests and capabilities. He was the company’s primary Specification Write and the Manager of Quality Control at Design West. Many young architects learned the hard way from Scott’s merciless redlining of their construction documents. Scott’s relationship with on-site superintendents always started with the declaration that “My only job is to help make you successful,” and he defined success as, “Projects which are delivered on time, on budget, without major issues.”
Robert Eaton, AIA
1942-2024
After suffering a brain hemorrhage on New Year’s Day, Robert Jan Eaton, 81, died peacefully on Jan. 3, 2024, with Susan, his wife of 38 years, at his side. Bob was the only child born to Jesse H. and Elizabeth (Belle) Marquez Carson Eaton on Oct. 22, 1942, in Kansas City, Missouri. He spent his youth in Gila, New Mexico, where his parents operated a chicken ranch. He graduated from Cliff High School in 1960 and attended New Mexico State University in Las Cruces before transferring to the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where he earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1967.
Upon graduating, Bob found himself strongly desired by the local draft board during the Vietnam Conflict and saw the wisdom of attending Officer Candidate School. He served in the U.S. Army at several stateside posts and in the Mekong Delta of South Vietnam as a Platoon leader. Bob was lucky enough to be in the first reduction of troops in 1969 and fulfilled his service stationed in Hawaii. He was honorably discharged from Combat Engineers Unit Command in 1970 and began a 50-year career in Architecture, which brought him to Utah.
Although known as Stretch for much of his life, he began his professional career as Bob. His work left a legacy of projects in Utah, California, and Nevada. Bob was president of Eaton Architecture, which was based in Salt Lake City, Utah. The portfolio of the firm included work in the industrial/government, healthcare, performing arts, aviation, retail/commercial, residential, public and education sectors. He spent his last few years working with the Navajo tribe in New Mexico and Arizona, designing schools, government buildings and medical facilities.
Bob served his state and profession by serving on the Professional Regulatory Board for the State of Utah and as president of both the local and statewide organizations of the American Institute of Architects. He also served as a School Board Member for the Salt Lake City District School for the Arts. In his last years, he turned to writing as a hobby and published a fictional novel based upon his ancestor’s lives as pioneers in southwest New Mexico. He felt an urgency to complete that novel before Christmas and was blessed to see that accomplishment in print prior to his passing.
Bob is survived by his beloved wife, Susan Rae Wiser Eaton; three children: Heidi Vail (Sam) Wainer, Joshua Ladd (Suzette) Eaton and Christina (David) Riches; seven grandchildren: Tobin, Kai, Isaac, Emery, Madeline, Nicholas and Sydney; his first wife Merla Jean Cook Eaton and many beloved family members and friends.
