John Lee Mangus

July 21, 1946 – Nov. 18, 2024

John Lee Mangus, 78, passed away November 18, 2024, in Lovell, surrounded by his family in the same home in which he was raised. 

John Lee was a pillar of the Lovell community. Throughout his life, he sought to serve others as a teacher, coach, friend and later as Bishop Mangus, President Mangus and Elder Mangus. Within his family, however, he will forever be remembered as a loyal and loving husband, father and grandfather.

John Lee was born in Lovell on July 21, 1946, to Clarence and Leola Mangus, the youngest of eight children. Young John learned hard work and responsibility from his parents. He spent his summers working just across the Montana border on the family ranch in Dry Head. 

Besides hauling hay and avoiding bears, John learned to hunt and fish, and he was an avid sportsman throughout his life. He graduated from Lovell High School in 1964 where he was active in sports, music and speech. 

John made the best decision of his life when he chose to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a missionary in the East Central States mission (1965-1967), he was assigned to labor in Columbia, Tennessee. It was there that he taught and baptized a beautiful, young, southern belle, Miss Patricia Anne Prentice. Upon informing his mission president that he had found his future wife, Elder Mangus was promptly reassigned a few hundred miles away. He served the remainder of his mission throughout east Tennessee and Kentucky. 

Since the mission rule required “no correspondence” with young women residing in the mission field, a plan was devised for communication between the two. Patricia could write to John Lee, but he replied only through letters to her family. This plan was highly successful, and the young couple were married soon after the mission was completed. 

John Lee and Patricia were married in the Salt Lake Utah Temple on October 17, 1967. They lived in Laramie, where John attended the University of Wyoming and Patricia worked to support the young couple. John distinguished himself by participating on the college speech and debate team, as he majored in mathematics. 

The young couple welcomed their first-born son, John Lee Jr., one year later in 1968. Upon graduating, John Lee accepted a teaching position in Evanston, Wyoming, where he taught English and was the speech and debate coach. In Evanston, the couple had a second son, Shane.

John Lee longed for his hometown of Lovell and wanted to return to his family. The young couple moved their small family back to Lovell, and John started his own trucking business, working side-by-side with his father hauling livestock throughout the western U.S. 

By 1978, John Lee and Patricia had five more children, Barry, Ryan, Desiree, Darcee and Brandon. John Lee built a house in Lovell and dedicated the remainder of his life to his family, community and church. He later changed careers again, operating a successful flooring business throughout the Big Horn Basin for more than 30 years.

To connect with his sons, John Lee sponsored and coached a Little League Baseball team, The Little Truckers. The team won multiple championships under his guidance. He later coached Lovell’s 13-year-old all-star team to their first-ever district championship and a trip to the state tournament. John was a true sports fanatic, closely following his favorite teams, the Lovell Bulldogs, Wyoming Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Dodgers and anyone playing against the Yankees.

John was an endless well of knowledge about all things pop-culture. He and Patricia would work the crossword puzzle from the newspaper each day, and they loved to sit together each evening watching Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy. Even as his children all achieved higher education, none of them could match John Lee for sheer breadth of knowledge. He inspired his kids to study, be inquisitive and to always seek out new experiences.

In the realm of community theater, John’s production of Broadway musicals was legendary. The historic thousand-seat Hyart Theatre would often fill for two or three nights each time he directed a show. He designed extravagant stage settings, such as building an entire riverboat on the stage for his production of Show Boat. His credits included Oklahoma, South Pacific, Sound of Music, Annie, Damn Yankees, Li’l Abner and Guys & Dolls, among many others. 

For 10 years, he was the high school drama and speech coach, where he recruited hesitant high school students to participate in his plays. Not to be outdone, John Lee took on his own acting roles such as Tevya in Fiddler on the Roof, Elvis in the Follies variety show and Jacob in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

John Lee faithfully served in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He accepted callings throughout his life and was a faithful home teacher. He was a bishop and a counselor in the stake presidency. In retirement, John Lee and Patricia fulfilled a lifelong dream in serving together in the mission field in Tucson, Arizona, as Elder and Sister Mangus.

Memories of John Lee will be forever cherished by his many friends and his ever-expanding family. 

He was preceded in death by his parents; six of his seven siblings, Clarence Fay, Kenneth, Shirley, Garnet, Sidra and Sandra; and grandchildren Joshua and Meghan. 

John Lee is survived by Patricia, his wife and best friend of 57 years, sister Sylvia, seven children, 44 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Visitation will take place Saturday, Nov. 23, at 9 a.m. in the West Chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Lovell. Funeral services will follow at 10 a.m. at the Lovell LDS Stake Center, with a procession and burial following at the Lovell Cemetery.