A live broadcast of the service can be found at

https://zoom.us/j/95760582592?pwd=RElUcFl6RG9KWDBVVXpzQlZ6eUZjZz09
Meeting ID: 957 6058 2592
Passcode: 2795

Robert James Sawatzki, beloved husband, father, grandfather, and friend passed away on Saturday, August 26, 2023, after a long battle with pneumonia.  He was born June 27, 1964 in Salt Lake City, UT to Gisela Gertrude Deus and Heinz Helmut Sawatzki; he was the fifth of six children.

He had a childhood filled with working in the family garden, feeding and taking care of his Dad's chickens, learning the cabinet/woodworking business and playing with friends and cousins.  He had an inquisitive mind, a love of building things, and learning how things worked by taking them apart.

Robert attended Granite High School, graduating in 1982.  He later served a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the  Indianapolis  Indiana mission.

He married Joelle Chase in 1986, and they had 3 children:   Ian (Misha) Sawatzki  (Woods Cross, Utah), Erin (Travis) Pessetto (Clearfield, Utah), and Madison (Tucker) Sawatzki (Roosevelt, Utah). They later divorced.  Robert has great love for his children.   He raised them in Centerville, Utah where they lived for many years.

Robert was a strong-willed person and had the fortitude to endure and triumph when faced with difficult challenges.  In 2004 his kidneys failed; in 2005 he was blessed to receive a kidney transplant from his older brother, Frank Sawatzki.

He was a hard worker and talented at working with his hands.  He had the privilege of working at the family business of "Heinz and Sons" in Salt Lake City for 20 years.  He assembled cabinets, and was instrumental in maintaining many of the company's machines.

In 2016, he married the love of his life, Karen Farnsworth Fishback and was sealed in the Mount Timpanogos Temple for time and all eternity.  They lived in Lehi, Utah.  He became the step-father to her four children:  Conor (Natalie) Fishback, Reuben (Brittney) Fishback, Joseph Fishback, and Bethany (Miguel) Rosales.  He loved being a grandfather to their children:  Liam, Ellie, Hank, Maggie, Elizabeth, Ben, James, and Montero.

Robert had many talents.  He loved music and sang in the church choir for many years.  He was curious by nature and loved to create wooden projects.  In October 2020 he and his wife, Karen, started a woodworking business called The Country Woodcutter where he was able to combine his passion for electronics and creating wooden plaques and gifts using a CNC machine and laser.

He gave freely of his time and talents to others, lending a helping hand whenever needed, and expecting nothing in return. He also served in multiple church callings and touched many lives by the way he lived and loved others.

He is preceded in death by his parents and survived by his dear wife, Karen, and his siblings:  Ingrid (Don) Gordon (West Valley City), Frank (Luana) Sawatzki (Farmington), Richard (Connie) Sawatzki (Herriman), Fred (Tori) Sawatzki (Bountiful), and Anne Marie (Carlton) Smith (Cleburne, Texas), mother-in-law, Mary Farnsworth (Mesa, AZ), along with many nieces, nephews, and Karen's siblings and extended family.

The funeral will be held at the LDS Lehi South Stake Center (600 South, 500 West, Lehi, UT) at 10:00 am on Saturday, September 2nd.  A visitation will be held the night before on Friday, September 1st from 7:00-9:00 pm at the Lehi South Stake Center in the Relief Society Room.  He will be buried in the Lehi City Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to the National Kidney Foundation (support.kidney.org)