Ivan Bracken Cannon

Ivan Bracken Cannon, 98, passed away on August 26, 2024, at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada. Born on January 31, 1926, in St. George, Utah, to Bayard Cannon and Aurora Jane Bracken, he grew up in the tiny town of Central, Utah, near Pine Valley. The youngest of five children, Ivan lived with his family in a 3-room house lit by a kerosene lamp and heated by a wood stove. He attended grade school in a one-room schoolhouse, then rode a bus to attend high school in St. George, graduating in 1943.

After graduation, with no work available in Central, Ivan found a job in Beatty, Nevada, mining minerals for cosmetics, but he soon returned to St. George to work in a Texaco station--his first experience with automobiles. At age 17, he joined the Navy and, never having been aboard a ship or on the ocean, was sent to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He served two years on the USS Santa Fe, which participated in every action in the South Pacific between 1943 and 1945, including the bombardment of Iwo Jima. Two months after the atomic bomb had been dropped, the Santa Fe docked at Nagasaki, where he witnessed the devastation that had befallen that city. Ivan was proud to have served his country on the ship that had the longest continuous tour of front-line combat duty of any ship in the US Navy, and he valued the lifelong friendships he made while serving.

After the war, Ivan studied auto mechanics at Dixie College, then worked building roads in St. George, driving a school bus on the same route he had ridden as a youth, and working at a garage. In 1950, he married Helen Canfield, who he had first met during high school. Helen was both his lifelong love, the mother of his five children, and his working partner until her death in 2014. In 1952, the family moved to the Las Vegas valley where Ivan worked in the Ford garage. Carpooling from Henderson to Las Vegas with two other young men, they delivered parts along Boulder Highway on their way home and began to talk about forming their own partnership to sell parts in Henderson. In 1954, they opened Basic Auto Parts on a shoestring budget. In 1957, they received an opportunity to buy Charleston Auto Parts, a struggling business. Dissolving their partnership, Ivan took Charleston Auto Parts, while the others kept Basic Auto Parts in Henderson. 

For close to 60 years, Ivan and Helen, along with their children who all joined the family business, built Charleston Auto Parts into a company consisting of 15 stores, a Freightliner dealership, and a distribution center. In 1992, they became a warehousing member of CARQUEST distribution group, distributing auto parts to CARQUEST jobbers and their company-owned stores. Ivan was one of a number of longtime entrepreneurs who grew their companies along with Las Vegas, and he was pleased to call many of them his friends. In 2015, the family sold the auto parts businesses to Advance Auto Parts, who also leased many of their buildings. Ivan continued to be active in retirement as they continued to develop and lease their properties. In 2020, Ivan married Virginia Acoba, and they enjoyed their companionship as they cared for each other during his last years. 

Aside from his work, Ivan most loved to spend time at his “gentleman’s farm” in Pinto, Utah, building things, gardening, taking care of his herd of cattle, moving a lot of dirt, and maintaining his ties with Utah friends and relatives. He will be remembered as an indefatigable worker, an honest, outspoken businessman, who was stubborn, generous, patriotic, and extremely loyal to friends and family.

Ivan was preceded in death by his parents, his siblings John, Max, Clara, and Wayne, his wife Helen Cannon, his son Oliver Cannon, and his grandson Justin Bush. Ivan is survived by his current wife, Virginia Acoba Cannon; his children, Ronald Cannon (Connie), Laura Cannon, Bayard Cannon (Barbie), and Jacqueline Cannon Smith (Michael); 13 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren, 2 great-great-grandchildren, and a loving extended family.

Visitation will be Friday, September 13th, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2275 E. Tropicana Avenue, Las Vegas, NV 89119. A second visitation will be Saturday, September 14th, from 9:30-10:30 a.m., at the same location. The funeral service will follow at 11:00 a.m. Interment will be Monday, September 16th at 11:00 a.m. (UT time) in Central, UT.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Spilsbury Mortuary, 110 S. Bluff St., St. George, UT. Friends and family may honor Ivan with contributions to The Huntsman Cancer Foundation, Salt Lake City, UT. They are invited to sign Ivan’s online guest book at www.spilsburymortuary.com