John Henry Ibarguen died on October 24, 2019 in his home in Ogden, Utah. He was sharp until the end, completing his beloved daily crossword the morning of his death. 

He was born Juan Enrique Ibarguen on March 25, 1941 to Ricardo Ibarguen and Grace Martin in Sommerville, MA. Quique, as he was known as a child, grew up in Cantel, Guatemala, which helped form his life-long devotion to Latin America culture. He loved growing up in the highlands of Guatemala with a large family of siblings (especially because of all the birthday parties—sapos verdes). Later in life, he moved to Florida and graduated from Boone High School, where his proudest moments were his mediocre clarinet work and leading the marching band in the wrong direction during a football game (or at least these were his favorite stories to tell).

In his twenties he moved to Los Angeles, California to strike out on his own. In the summers, he was a proud grocery bagger at Ralphs, and an excellent pickle packer at the pickle plant to earn money for college. He earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from the Universidad de las Americas in Mexico City. Later he studied for a Ph.D at the University of Michigan, where he completed his course work in Pre-Colombian Latin American History and a gigantic dissertation that was constantly edited but never submitted.

In Mexico City, he met his future wife, Julia Keck (now Julia Burns), in a History of Spain course, where she sat next to him because he was obviously the best student and also the best looking, with a great head of hair. They were married in 1966. They lived in Mexico City for two years on Calle de Shakespeare (Shak-a-spay-ar-ay, as Henry loved to say), where Henry also studied judo, in which he eventually received a black belt. His judo, unfortunately for us, was often practiced on unsuspecting family members.

In 1970, his son Dan was born and soon after in 1971 he was offered a teaching opportunity at Weber State College (which he thought was pronounced Webber, until he arrived) where he taught full time for 43 years, eventually becoming an Emeritus professor at his retirement in 2013. To state it quite simply, Henry loved everything about teaching in the history department at Weber State, including all of the lasting friendships he made with his colleagues over the years and the thousands of students with whom he shared his passion, curiosity, and love for his discipline.

In addition to history and Weber State, Henry loved soccer, devoting innumerable hours establishing the soccer community at Weber State and around the Ogden area—setting up countless soccer tournaments and the first indoor soccer league at Weber State. He coached all of his kid’s teams and could always be heard on the sidelines yelling for his players to kick it “Down dee line.” 

Henry’s daughter Kendra was born in 1973, and she was always his favorite (Craig’s writing this, by the way). He liked to call her “pumpkin” and Kendra Gracie. Craig, also often called Dan, was born in 1976. They all have fun memories of cruising around Ogden in the infamous bump mobile (our VW bus) and carousing around Weber State on the weekends. Henry was a wonderful Dad and grandfather, who ingrained in his children and grandchildren empathy, kindness, and love of family. 

Henry was an experienced traveler and an expert at losing at least one important item on every trip he went on, leading to more challenges and adventure. He loved Mexico, traveling more than once across the entire country by car, and had extensive visits across all of Latin America (including visiting Cuba on an educator’s tour during the embargo). He loved to take his family on trips all around the United States and Latin America, and always made an effort to visit his widely dispersed family, wherever they were. 

Speaking of family, he was devoted to his extended family and was never happier than when he was attending an Ibarguen family reunion, chatting with his brothers and sisters and their families, eating great meals, playing soccer and volleyball and telling many knee slapping, foot stomping tales.

Henry was a generous, sweet person, whose door was always open to family, friends, and anyone who needed help or kindness. In remembering him, please have a good meal (but please not one with flour tortillas), tell stories, and remember the love he displayed to all who knew him. 

In lieu of flowers or other donations, please consider making a gift to Weber State University’s Oportunidad scholarship for first generation college students. 

Come join us between 1-4 PM on 11/23/19 to celebrate Henry's life and share some stories and memories at Javier's Authentic Mexican Food at 4874 Harrison Blvd, South Ogden, UT 84403.