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E. Jay Lambert - 2/6/2012

Class of 1943

E. Jay Lambert, M.D.
“I have been so blessed. I’ve had a great life. I can’t complain.”
Dad left this world as our reigning champion on February 6, 2012. He was born in Helper, Utah on November 21, 1925 to Aleta Elvera Rasmussen and Joseph Hovey Lambert. He married Ila Lamoreaux, the love of his life, on September 5, 1950 in the St. George Temple.

Dad loved growing up at the Point of the Mountain, a vast open space of non-stop unimaginable fun with his three brothers, two sisters, and countless uncles, aunts and cousins. He loved his parents dearly and was certain that there were none better.

He was an outstanding all around prep athlete at Lehi High School participating in track, football, basketball, and boxing. He graduated high school early to join the United States Air Force as an aviator cadet and was proud to follow in the footsteps of his older brothers who were already serving in WWII.

Dad always gave credit to his older brothers for teaching him how to fight. He was invited to join the West Jordan Boxing Club under the tutelage of Marv Jensen whom he admired greatly and considered a dear friend. Marv said he had the “best reflexes of any boxer he had seen.”Prior to joining Marv, he won the Intermountain AAU tournament middle weight division in 1941 and heavy weight division in 1942. He valued the friends he made in boxing such as Gene and Don Fullmer and Rex Layne to name a few.

He went on to win the Intermountain AAU Championship in 1943; and was a two time Intermountain Intercollegiate champ and Intermountain AAU title holder. In 1947, he won the Intermountain Golden Glove Heavy Weight championship and the Intermountain Intercollegiate Heavy Weight championship and was given the Outstanding Boxer award. In 1948, he won the Intermountain AAU title which qualified him for the National AAU tournament in Boston. At the age of 22, he qualified for the 1948 Olympics in London, England. He considered it an honor to participate in the Olympics with the best athletes in the world. He lost in the quarter-finals by a controversial split decision, which the crowd booed for 15 minutes. Recently, he said, “I would have liked to have won at the Olympics, but that was not my life. What I really wanted to do is go to medical school.” Former heavyweight boxing champion and Utahan, Jack Dempsey wanted to manage his professional career. But dad had other ideas; instead he turned to professional boxing only to earn enough money to pay for medical school. With that goal accomplished and leaving a professional boxing record of 8-3-1 as well as the honor of fighting an exhibition match with Joe Louis in 1949, he traded his boxing gloves for surgical gloves and the practice of medicine.
Dad loved the surgery and the practice of medicine. He graduated from the University of Utah Medical School in 1954, beginning his general surgery residency at Sloan-Kettering Memorial Center in New York and finishing at LDS Hospital. He joined the staff of LDS Hospital in 1959 as a general surgeon. Dad loved the practice of medicine including house calls; meeting patients after hours to stitch up a laceration or reduce a dislocated shoulder; and considered many of his patients’ dear friends. He continued to practice medicine until his health forced him to retire in 1997. He kept his medical license until 2003 because he enjoyed keeping his mind stimulated by reading medical journals and taking the licensure exams.

Dad strongly felt the need to give back to the community because so many people had helped him. He happily gave charitable care to his patients experiencing hard times. For over 40 years, he volunteered as the ringside physician for the Golden Gloves Amateur Boxing in Utah and as the team physician for Granite High School football in the 70’s and 80’s. He was inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame in 1977.
His number one hobby was hunting with a rifle and bow. Archery became a passion where he spent countless hours assembling arrows with friends and family. In retrospect, the planning and experience of the hunting trips was more about getting family and friends together for an exciting adventure, than the actual hunt.

After retirement, Dad considered himself a “gentleman” farmer. Along with his brother Clyde and all their children they would plant 400 tomato plants and raise beef for all the family at the homestead at the Point of the Mountain. Dad approached life with enthusiasm and enjoyed making waffles and homemade syrup every Sunday for 50 years; as well as canning tomatoes with mom; making salsa with Clyde; and taking advantage of a good sale; Chapstick; “goodies”; going to Costco; Lambert and Rasmussen Family Reunions; and spending time with the family at the cabin on Flathead Lake in Montana. Recently, dad was thrilled to support his grandson Elliott on his LDS mission in Houston, Texas.

We are all better people because he taught us the value of education, humility, compassion, to be non-judgmental, honest, forgiving, positive and to have a sense of humor.

More important to Dad than all of his secular accomplishments was his immediate and extended family. He often said, “ I just love it when the family gets together.” He loved and cared for them with all his heart. He was always so much fun to be around. He made us all feel so treasured!

He is preceded in death by his parents; wife, Ila; daughter Stephanie; sister, Marian Fox; brothers, Joseph R. Lambert, Antone H. Lambert; and Clyde Elliot Lambert. He is survived by his sister Martha Hoyt (Cedar City) and children, Victoria Lyn Johnson (Lary), Kalispell, Montana; Michael Jay Lambert, SLC; Emily Ann Bullock (Ken), SLC; and grandchildren: Jay Tyler Johnson(Sara),Kalispell, Montana; Lindsay Ann Johnson Wilson (Travis), Kalispell, Montana; Andrew Griffin, SLC; Elliott Greyson Bullock, Houston, Texas; and great-grandson Connor Jay Wilson, Kalispell, Montana.

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