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PROVO - From the back room of his home on Ash Avenue, J. LaVar Bateman had a perfect view of Provo's towering Y Mountain. And when the sun hit the mountainside just right, he often watched silently as the alpenglow bathed the slopes in hues of red and gold. Helen, his wife of nearly 60 years, said the scene put her husband at peace.

On Wednesday, the Brigham Young University pioneer in speech and communications died there quietly on his bed. He was 85.

Family and friends called Bateman a great communicator, a man with no enemies and one who put service to others before himself.

For 36 years, the father of five taught public speaking and coached debate at BYU, where he served on the First Honors Program Council, chaired the University Forum Assemblies and officiated at the helm of the communications department.

"He loved communications and he loved the speech program," said Brenda Butterfield, director of BYU's communications advisement center. "He loved teaching speech, he loved giving speeches and he was a wonderful mentor."

During World War II, Bateman served as a U.S. naval officer at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and spent the first nine months of his married life with Helen Mae Ream on the island.

When they moved back to Provo, the couple built their home on Ash Avenue by quarrying, cutting, dressing and laying 65 tons of rock transported from Idaho.

"We always worked as a team," Helen said, noting some of their best memories were made while traveling abroad with their family in a Volkswagen camper. "He loved everyone. He was a people person."

In 1984, a year before retiring from BYU, Bateman suffered a serious stroke. Doctors said he would never walk again and told his wife and children he might not survive.

He not only lived through the ordeal but went on with Helen to live overseas, serving three missions - in Australia, Vietnam and Hawaii - for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

They also spent 10 years hosting missionaries at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City.

The couple traveled to more than 65 countries and directed dozens of BYU travel-study tours to Europe. Bateman also was a member of Rotary International for 51 years.

"He extended himself to everyone," said his daughter, Kathy Peterson. "He tried to make everyone in the room comfortable."

A memorial service to honor Bateman is scheduled for 3 p.m. today at the Oak Hills Seventh Ward LDS chapel, 1038 N. 1200 East in Provo.