Bryce Lanier Johnson, 74, passed away on April 3, 2026, in Orem, Utah.

Lanier was born April 18, 1951, in Cortez, Colorado to Charles Edward "Buddy" and Georgia Lou Lanier Johnson.  He grew up in Dolores among the beautiful rivers and mountains of Colorado and spent many hours adventuring outdoors with his family. After graduating from Dolores High, he moved to Denver and attended automotive school and worked cleaning and repairing furnaces for several years.  In 1973, he was called to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Australia South Mission.

After his mission, Lanier worked on a potato farm in Rexburg, Idaho. He married Deborah Cox (later divorced).  As newlyweds, the 1976 Teton Dam break spared their belongings in their second-floor apartment, but disrupted their lives.  They moved to Denver, and then moved to Cortez where Lanier began working with his dad in insulation and where Lanier and Deborah welcomed their son, Nicholas, to their family.  Lanier followed in his mother's footsteps and became a Kirby vacuum salesman. Over the years of traveling and going door-to-door, he put nearly 600,000 miles on his Toyota SR5 pick-up truck before he finally had to replace the original clutch.

In February 1986, Lanier married Darla Harker in the Provo, Utah LDS Temple, and settled in Magna, Utah. He worked in vacuum repair shops.  He was mechanically very gifted and could repair nearly anything.  He generously used this talent to help his friends, family, and sometimes strangers. He was always ready and willing to help when someone was in need. He spent many evenings and weekends working on faltering washers, dryers, cars, and all manner of broken things.

Eventually Lanier and Darla welcomed their son Sean to their family and moved to Draper for ten years before permanently settling in Saratoga Springs. Lanier worked for a medical equipment manufacturer, and after that job was moved overseas, he secured a new job as a forklift operator by showing them his certificate commemorating "Five Years of Perfect Attendance".  He enjoyed driving the forklift and took pride in his precision driving: "I can pick up a dime with this thing".  It was always important to him to be very honest and to do a good job, no matter what he was doing.

Lanier enjoyed chess and was very good at games of strategy.  His children remember losing to him by large margins in Cribbage and Monopoly.  As a young man, he loved his 1969 candy apple red Ford Mustang, which he sold as he prepared for his LDS mission.  He drove the car on many youthful adventures around Denver and had many stories of fun and misadventure during this period. He loved to tell stories from his past, and would regularly point out houses and buildings he had insulated or where he had sold a vacuum.

Lanier is survived by his wife Darla;  two sons, Nicholas (Kara) Johnson, of Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Sean Johnson, of Saratoga Springs, Utah; four beautiful grandchildren, Henry, Georgia, Philip, and Arthur; brother; Gus (Rosanne), and sisters, Reba Short, Kim Jarvis, and Gail (Kim) Perkins.

He is preceded in death by his sister, Linda Sprague, niece Dieja Jarvis, and his brothers-in-law, William Sprague, Lee Short, and Alan Jarvis.

Lanier's family would like to thank all of the caregivers and medical professionals who have provided caring and compassionate service for him in the last years of his life. We would especially like to thank the staff at Cascades at Orchard Park and Ability Home Health & Hospice.

Funeral services will be held Thursday, April 9, 2026 at the LDS meeting house at 2181 Harvest Moon Drive, Saratoga Springs, Utah. Viewing at 10:00 AM, and services at 11:00 AM, followed by interment in the Saratoga Springs Cemetery.