David Stanley "Stan" Moulton

David Stanley “Stan” Moulton, 85, of Hondo, Texas, passed away peacefully at home on August 21, 2026.

Stan was born October 2, 1940, in Delta, Utah, the son of Grant and Manilla Moulton. He grew up on the family farm, where he learned early the habits of hard work, resourcefulness, and self-reliance that shaped the rest of his life.

As a young man, Stan served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in New England from 1960 to 1962. He went on to study physics at Brigham Young University and later earned a master’s degree in fuels engineering from the University of Utah in 1977.

Stan served his country as a weather officer in the United States Air Force. His path into service had a twist he loved to tell. Feeling a duty to serve and with no training options in the Air Force Guard, he had to enlist in the Army National Guard. Due to a minor health issue, his desired transfer to the Air Force was delayed until securing a commission through ROTC at BYU. Stan joked he “became an air force officer since [he] was not qualified to become an enlisted man.” After meteorology training, he was deployed to Vietnam in 1969, forecasting weather in support of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division (“Big Red One”). He continued in the Air Force Reserve for nearly twenty-two years, retiring with the rank of Major.

In June 1967, Stan married the love of his life, Lillis Whipple of Ajo, Arizona, in the Mesa Arizona Temple. Together they built a marriage of fifty-nine years, rooted in faith, family, and shared devotion. They raised five children. According to Stan, “they [were] all girls—except for four.” Lillis, who survives Stan, is a retired school teacher and a gifted organist and pianist. The two were partners in every undertaking, from building a homestead, raising a family, and serving for decades in their local congregation.

In his civilian career, Stan was a scientist and engineer of wide-ranging interests. He worked in uranium exploration in New Mexico, manufactured solid rocket fuel at Thiokol, produced integrated circuits at Signetics, and researched coal combustion at Argonne National Laboratory, before settling in San Antonio in 1982 to join Southwest Research Institute, where he worked on fuels and energy problems until his retirement in 2005. But retirement did nothing to diminish Stan’s lifelong love of experimenting, tinkering, and devising ingenious solutions to problems he encountered.

Stan and Lillis made their home on rural acreage near Hondo, Texas that they lovingly called “Sunshine House.” There, Stan deepened the love of the land he had developed as a boy on the family farm—planting and grafting an orchard of fruit trees, tending a large garden, and selling produce at local farmers’ markets.

Stan was a lifelong caver who belonged to the National Speleological Society where he explored and mapped newly discovered caves and helped found local chapters in Oklahoma and Utah.

Faith was the center of Stan’s life. A lifelong Latter-day Saint, he served faithfully in many callings—branch president, high councilor, and ward clerk among them—and he and Lillis directed the Church’s San Antonio Employment Resource Center, helping others find work. He gave generously of his time in the temple and in his community, and in his later years kept a daily journal of gratitude, recording the blessings, small and large, of an ordinary and extraordinary life.

Stan was preceded in death by his parents, Grant and Manilla Moulton; by his brothers and sisters; and by his son, Heber Kimball Moulton, in 2011.

He is survived by his beloved wife of 59 years, Lillis Moulton; his four children and their spouses — Travis Kent (Lucy) Moulton, Wade Oliver (Heather) Moulton, David Isaac (Vanda) Moulton, and Merrily (Adam) Cannon; 12 grandchildren—Jonathan Edson (Nicole) Moulton, Melani Moulton, and Joshua James Moulton; Dallin Wade (Kaylee) Moulton, Jared Ryan (Heidi) Moulton, Aubrey (Korbin) Peterson, Benjamin Grant Moulton, and Eric Stanley Moulton; Jessica F. Moulton and Thomas David Moulton; and Paul Cannon and Seth Cannon; and three great-grandchildren—Oakley Anne Moulton, Rowan Wade Peterson, and Madeline Rahnena Moulton.

Funeral services will be held Friday, August 28, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Hondo, Texas, with a viewing beginning at 9:00 a.m. A graveside service with military honors will follow immediately at Hondo Cemetery.

In lieu of other tributes, the family suggests memorials be made to the Fisher House at San Antonio. To donate:

Main Page: https://www.fisherhouse.org/programs/houses/current-houses/texas-brooke-army-medical-center-san-antonio-military-medical-center-i-ii-iii-iv/

Wish List: https://fisherhouse.mindfulgiving.org/campaigns/joint-base-san-antonio-army-fisher-houses/products

Donations: https://connect.fisherhouse.org/BAMC/donate

Arrangements are by Guinn-Horger Funeral Home, Hondo.