William Allan Burk, 76, passed away peacefully at home in Salem, Utah on March 31, 2026 surrounded by family.

He was born on March 24, 1950 in San Juan, Puerto Rico to Ural Morris and Maria Cristina Sosa Burk, the second of two boys. His first language was Spanish. He learned English during his two years of Kindergarten, which he made up for by skipping a year of high school and graduating early.

At age 17, Bill left the island to attend Brigham Young University. He had a propensity to “rest his eyes” often during class, yet he was still able to answer any professor’s question when they tried to catch him sleeping. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in business and accounting, and a Juris Doctor degree from the J. Reuben Clark law school in its charter class of 1976.

After 4 years of running his own law practice in Provo and Heber City, Utah, and serving as Deputy County Attorney for Wasatch County, he joined the FBI where he served as a special agent, retiring after 27 years. During that time, he worked from the Salt Lake City, Miami, San Juan Puerto Rico, and Houston offices. One of his special assignments was hostage negotiator in Central and South America, which he enjoyed very much, but his favorite was working surveillance on the Special Operations Group quad in Houston.

Bill served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints in Uruguay from 1969 to 1971. A few months after returning, he married Patricia Mary Southward in the Salt Lake Temple. They are the parents of 7 children, 35 grandchildren and four, soon-to-be five, great-grandchildren.

Bill loved reading science fiction books and watching science fiction TV shows and movies. When Pat and Bill’s two favorite shows aired at the same time, they decided they’d take turns watching the shows on their new color TV. Somehow, though, Bill usually managed to watch his Buck Rogers on the color TV while Pat’s poor Waltons had to say goodnight to each other down in the basement on a black and white screen.

When his kids were young, he and Pat would drive the family across the island of Puerto Rico from San Juan to Cabo Rojo where his extended family still lives. He loved showing them the old sugar cane field, the little family-owned Tiendita (little store), and the family property, La Tuna, where they’d pick mangoes from the same trees he picked from as a boy. Then, they’d hit the beach and devour the mangos. Bill enjoyed carving rings out of nut shells and making little “Geekoos from the planet Umablah” out of quenepa seeds. He enjoyed sharing the details of his hostage-negotiation adventures as much as we enjoyed listening to them.

Bill was an incredibly generous person, always looking for opportunities to help others. He also had a gift for frugality and loved getting a "ganga" (good deal). While raising his family in Puerto Rico, he would take his family on summer trips to various places in the Caribbean and the United States. They traveled in style, eating at grocery stores and sleeping in tents in campgrounds until one very, VERY rainy night they decided to upgrade to cheap motels. He was a collector of original paintings from various artists in Central and South America, which he would bring home and lovingly display all over the walls of his home.

One of the most meaningful parts of his life was serving the Lord in callings within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. He served as Branch President, Bishop, High Counselor, District President, Stake President, Temple Sealer, and Temple President.

Upon retiring, Bill and Pat were able to fulfill their lifelong plan of serving missions together forthe church. They served in the employment office in Uruguay, the Area Office in Argentina, in the temple presidency in the Dominican Republic, as President and Matron of the Guatemala City temple, and as temple missionaries in Costa Rica. To Papa’s disappointment, their Costa Rica mission was cut short after only two weeks when they were sent home due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Bill is survived by his beloved wife Patricia and seven children. Cecilia Carter (David), Benjamin (Camille), Rebecca Brubaker (Shawn), Teresa Walker (Ben), Melissa DeLange (Ryan), Alicia Jackson (Jeremy), Daniel (Faith), 34 grandchildren, and 4, soon to be 5, great grandchildren.

He is preceded in death by his grandson, Lenny Gabe, his parents, and his brother, Morris.

Funeral Services will be Friday, April 3, 2026, 11:00 am in the Salem 13th Ward, 160 South 460 West, Salem. Family and friends may visit Thursday evening from 6:00-8:00 pm at Walker Sanderson Funeral Home of Provo, 85 East 300 South, Provo, or Friday morning at the church from 9:45-10:45 am. Interment will be in Salem City Cemetery.