When Devin and Wendy Lamb moved to Southern Utah in 2020, they brought with them a quieter season of life. Their four children were grown or nearly grown, careers had shifted, and they were looking forward to being closer to family and enjoying the beauty and pace of St. George. They also brought a lifetime of remarkable experiences, from military deployments and international business to humanitarian service and raising a family grounded in faith, patriotism, and community.
Their story began decades earlier in Tucson, Arizona.
After serving a mission in Japan and graduating from BYU with a business degree, while also commissioning as an officer through the BYU ROTC program. Devin accepted a position with Morgan Stanley in Tokyo
While attending military intelligence officer training in Arizona, he met Wendy at a University of Arizona dance.
“I always get in trouble when I tell this story,” he joked. “A buddy and I started going to all the church institute dances because I was ready to settle down and get married.”
The plan worked quickly.
Shortly after meeting, they began dating and were soon engaged. Devin returned to Japan for work while Wendy remained in Arizona. Their engagement took place across continents, long before email or video calls were common, and the couple exchanged handwritten love letters until he returned three days before their wedding.
Soon after, Wendy boarded a plane to begin married life in Japan.
“It was a lot of change,” she laughed.
What was originally supposed to be a short stay before a transfer to London turned into two years living abroad. Their oldest daughter was born in Japan, and the experience helped shape the adventurous, resilient spirit that would define much of their family life.
Eventually, the couple settled in Northern California, where they would spend the next 25 years raising four children. While he built a successful career in investment banking and finance, he also quietly continued another lifelong commitment: military service.
For three decades, he served in the Army Reserve and National Guard, balancing civilian life with deployments, military leadership roles, and national service.
“It always felt like two parallel lives,” Wendy said. “Investment banking and military intelligence don’t usually go together.”
Yet for him, the combination worked.
“I loved having my day job and then occasionally going off and doing something completely different,” he said.
That “something different” included deployments during Desert Storm and Afghanistan, leadership roles with the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, casualty operations for the state of California, and eventually serving as California’s Director of Intelligence.
One of the assignments that impacted him most was overseeing casualty operations for California during the height of the wars overseas. His team worked directly with families after the loss of a service member, helping them navigate both grief and the practical realities that followed.
Later, during his deployment to Afghanistan in 2018 and 2019, he served as the senior intelligence officer advising military leadership during operations targeting Taliban leadership and helping bring opposing sides to the negotiating table.
“We felt proud that we helped move things toward a settlement and an end to the war,” he said.
Almost immediately after returning home, COVID struck, and he was called into another major assignment — helping coordinate the California National Guard’s response alongside state leadership. From staffing overwhelmed care facilities to organizing food distribution efforts, the work once again focused on serving people during moments of uncertainty.
Through every stage of military life, Wendy was the steady force at home.
While raising four children, she devoted countless hours volunteering in schools, teaching art classes, supporting church and community activities, and keeping family life moving during deployments.
When her husband deployed to Afghanistan for a year, she found ways to stay busy and positive.
“I decided I needed a project,” she said. “So I took all the kitchen cabinet doors off, sanded them, painted them, and refinished the entire kitchen.”
She also planned a three-week East Coast history trip with the children while he was overseas, determined to create meaningful memories despite the distance.
Together, the couple credits military life with strengthening their family and giving their children a deep appreciation for service and country.
“I think our children are probably extra patriotic,” Wendy said. “They understand sacrifice differently.”
That patriotism has only grown through their travels and years living abroad.
“We’ve been blessed to travel a lot,” she explained. “And every time we come home, I just think, ‘I love America.’ I think people sometimes take for granted what we have here.”
Both believe the freedoms Americans enjoy come with responsibilities: to serve others, contribute locally, and strengthen their communities.
“What I’ve been talking about a lot lately,” he shared, “is focusing on where you can contribute. Usually, that’s local — your neighborhood, your community, your circle of influence. We can’t just assume someone else is going to fix everything.”
Today, life looks a little different than it once did. Their children are now spread throughout Utah with growing families of their own, and summers are often spent gathering together at their family cabin in Lake Tahoe or remembering years of Fourth of July celebrations in Rigby, Idaho — complete with croquet, river floating, bonfires, fireworks, and family baseball games.
Now settled in Stone Cliff, they continue to value faith, family, service, and the freedoms that make those things possible.
For them, living a meaningful American life is not about titles or recognition. It is about showing up where you are needed, serving with integrity, and leaving your community stronger than you found it.
