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BRIGHAM CITY — It takes a special kind of person to find beauty in the middle of nowhere, especially in western Box Elder County.
Lynn Yeates was one of them.
"The only person who could tell me not to come out west is my wife. I would come out here every week if I could,” Yeates said during one of those trips back in 2007.
Yeates, the sheriff of Box Elder County, died Tuesday morning from a heart attack. He was 68.
Those fortunate enough to go on one of his rides to western Box Elder County learned there was actually a lot to see in 5,600 square miles of sagebrush.
"He knew this county inside and out,” said Lee Perry, who is a lieutenant with the Utah Highway Patrol and a state representative.
Perry grew up in Box Elder County, and thought he knew his home well, until he went on one of those rides.
"It's the amazing rocks and the amazing history of the railroad coming out here to Utah. There are amazing minerals and things out there that nobody knows about except for Lynn Yeates and a few others who he shared that wonderful little secret out there with,” said Perry.
Yeates knew about things you can't find in a tourism brochure; like how a certain rock at Lucin pond turns green at just the right moment, why Russians are buried at the old Kelton cemetery, and the best place to dig for crystals.
However, it's the people Yeates really loved.
He loved visiting Ivo Zdarksy, the only resident of Lucin, to talk about search and rescue operations.
Yeates knew most of the people who lived in this part of the county and would often stop by to see how they were doing.
"Most of the people out here are good people, hard-working people, they like what they do. They like living out here for the silence and they're good people,” Yeates said during that 2007 interview.
Arthur Douglas, a rancher in Howell, is one of them.
They were politically opposite but always were respectful to each other.
"He'd always salute me at the county fair wherever he would see me, and I said, ‘Why do you do that, sheriff?’ And he said, ‘Because you're the only Democrat in Box Elder County I know.’ And that was the kind of guy Lynn was,” Douglas said with a laugh.
Yeates was also involved in the local ambulance department and was an emergency preparedness coordinator.
He helped design a map grid where numbers corresponded to coordinates.
When someone in the western part of Box Elder County needed help, rescue crews could give medical helicopters a number on the map. Poor cellphone service in the area often prevented rescue crews from finding their own GPS coordinates.
Yeates helped locate more than 50 spots where people most often got hurt.
There is no doubt he saved lives in Box Elder County.
–Lt Lee Perry, UHP
“There is no doubt he saved lives in Box Elder County,” said Perry.
Yeates also had an album of old mugshots in his office. He felt it was something that connected the county to its historical roots.
He took his job seriously, but he also loved to have fun.
However, when his wife passed away two months ago, those who knew him best say he just didn't smile as much as he used to.
If anything, now, they believe he's smiling again.
"In a kind of a weird way, if there could ever be such a thing as a blessing, it would be a blessing to be with his spouse again,” said Perry.
Yeates won re-election as county sheriff this past November. He has been sheriff since 2007 and has been with the Box Elder County Sheriff’s Office since 1975.
He was sworn into office Monday.
