Vern Adix, 83, retired professor of theater at the University of Utah, died March 25, 1996, in a South Salt Lake care center where he had been a resident a number of years.
Professor emertitus since retiring in 1982, Mr. Adix was the set designer and technical director at Kingsbury Hall and Pioneer Memorial Theatre beginning in 1943.He was well known as the director of the Youth Theater, part of the theater department program at the U. He wrote, adapted and directed many children's plays, and in 1966 he formed a summer children's theater company that produced children's plays in repertory.
Mr. Adix taught hundreds of students to make and use puppets for use in their professional and personal lives. He designed all the sets used in the Summer Festival productions, which began with the 1947 Centennial Production of "Promised Valley" at the U.
Mr. Adix was also known as an actor, and his wife, the former Shauna McLatchy, played in some of his productions. He played Noah in "In Search for Noah's Ark," which was produced as a movie. The production is now available on videotape.
In the 1960s Mr. Adix designed the sets and toured with a U. group that presented "Annie Get Your Gun" in a number of South American countries. He played Santa for a number of parties at the university and at the care center.
Mr. Adix was inducted into the Pioneer State Theater Hall of Fame in 1994, which capped a long career at the U.
A private burial was held Tuesday at Valley View Memorial Park. Friends are welcome to gather at the Adix home from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday, March 29.