President Arthur F. Bruhn collection

Arthur Frederick Bruhn was born on September 30, 1916 to Frederick and Eleanor Guymon Bruhn in Parowan, Utah. He was raised in Panguich, Utah. Bruhn attended Garfield County High School and from 1935-1938 the University of Utah. On June 3, 1939, he married Lorna Chamberlain of Orderville, Utah. Together they had four children; Elizabeth, Eleanor, Marilyn and Michael.

Bruhn graduated with a BA degree from Brigham Young University in 1940 and received his MA in zoology from BYU in 1946. From 1940-1945, Bruhn taught science in several schools including Cedar City Junior High School and Parowan High School. He served as principal at Cannonville Elementary School in Garfield County. During the summers of these years, he was employed as a park ranger in Zions National Park and Cedar Breaks National Park. In 1945, Bruhn was a training instructor in the training division of Geneva Steel Works, U.S. Steel, in Geneva, Utah. As a member of the Utah State Parks and Recreation Commission, he was instrumental in getting Snow Canyon designated as a state park.

In June 1954, Bruhn interrupted his doctoral work at the University of Utah to return to his beloved Dixie Junior College, and take the helm as the ninth president during some of its most tumultuous years when it was facing closure. Rallying the communities in the area, he helped get the Dixiana Dorm built and the college was saved. Funding was made available to purchase the new campus on the east side of St. George. Construction began, and Dixie Junior College was moved to the new campus during Bruhn’s presidency.

Bruhn was diagnosed with incurable leukemia in December 1963. He spent a lot of time at the LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah receiving medical care including new treatments and medication. As his body weakened he was determined to beat the disease, and he even ran the college from the hospital. His wife Lorna had been attending Dixie Junior College for several years, and she was to graduate in the spring of 1964. Bruhn was determined to attend her graduation held in the St. George Tabernacle. President Bruhn’s friends carried him up the steps and placed him in his robes on the stand. He watched his wife as she stepped through the D to receive her diploma. The audience stood to sing “The Hour is Growing Late,” and remained standing to pay their tribute to President Bruhn as he was carried down the stairs to the waiting car.

Bruhn passed away July 4, 1964, at the age of 47. He was certain that his cancer was caused by the nuclear testing in the desert. Before he died, Bruhn had his family promise him, that they would make sure that this didn’t happen to other families. A class action lawsuit was filed against the federal government by the residents of eastern Nevada, northern Arizona, and southern Utah. Bruhn’s wife Lorna joined the litigants in fighting for justice. Judge Bruce Jenkins ruled that the government had acted negligently and that Bruhn’s leukemia, along with others, had been triggered by exposure to fallout from the Nevada Test Site. Further litigation went on for years, and eventually cancer victims were compensated.

The Arthur Bruhn Memorial Foundation was incorporated in March 1983, which helped fund the Intermountain Cancer Center in St. George, Utah. The Intermountain Cancer Center serves as a resource to the medical community, the cancer patients, their families, and the community at large. It is designed to provide a place of serene tranquility with resources provided to help answer the hard questions about cancer and will provide trained volunteers to aid in vital person to person contact. This foundation is responsible for the Bruhn Library which is located in the cancer center, which provides the latest literature related to cancer treatment and research from around the world.

“Dixie President, 48, Dies of Leukemia, Salt Lake Tribune, 6 July 1964, pp. 27

Bruhn, Elizabeth, “He Left A Promise - The Legacy of Arthur F. Bruhn.” Spectrum Newspaper, 7 May 1987, Suppl. pp. 19-20.