Obituary: Shirley Melvin Jeppson

Shirley Melvin Jeppson 3/7/1917 ~ 10/20/2005 Shirley Melvin Jeppson passed away at his home in Provo on October 20, 2005 of causes incident to age and Parkinson's disease. He was 88 years old. Melvin was born in his grandparent's log and frame house in Brigham City, Utah on March 7, 1917. His parents were August Franz Jeppson and Esther LaVerna Forsgren. He was one of 10 brothers and sisters. As a boy, he worked during the spring, summer and fall at the Jeppson dry farm in Buist, Idaho, and spent winters in Brigham City. During the Great Depression, Melvin helped to support his family by plowing fields, renting pastureland, and driving cattle. He graduated from Box Elder High School in 1935. He attended the LDS Business College in Salt Lake City from 1937 to 1939 and became skilled as typist, in shorthand, and in other secretarial skills. Melvin worked as a secretary in Salt Lake City for The Lang Company, the General Credit Company and the US Department of the Interior. After passing the civil service test he was hired as a clerk in the Passport Division of the Department of State in Washington D.C. He also attended George Washington University and Boston University. He was drafted into the US Army on July 13, 1942. He underwent basic training at Fort Douglas, Utah, Camp Chaffee, Arkansas, and Camp Ellis, Illinois. He served in the Pacific Theater in Honolulu, Hawaii and on Okinawa, and then on mainland Japan with the Occupation Forces at the end of the war. Melvin was honorably discharged from military service on January 28, 1946, with the rank of Sergeant. In March of 1946, Melvin returned to work as an adjudicator in the Passport Division in Washington D.C. In Washington he met and courted Helen Higginson; they were married by Elder Ezra Taft Benson in the Salt Lake LDS Temple on June 23, 1948. In November 1949, he was named Director of the Boston Passport Agency. He was transferred to the San Francisco Passport Agency as Director on January 25, 1956. Melvin retired after 40 years of government service on December 27, 1980. Melvin was a devoted member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His maternal great-grand-father, John E. Forsgren, was the first LDS missionary in Sweden (with Erastus Snow). Melvin served variously as the Sunday School Superintendent of the Cambridge (Massachusetts) Branch, and in the San Francisco (California) Stake as one of the Presidents of the Seventy, Stake Mission President, and as a member of the high council. He served as bishop of the Daly City Ward from May 1976 to June of 1981. After his retirement, Helen and he were called as church service missionaries to manage the Church Employment Office in San Francisco. They moved to the Oak Hills area of Provo, Utah in March 1989. Melvin is survived by his wife, Helen Higginson, and six children: Sheryl Ann Lloyd, Alta Loma, California; Marilee Van Wagenen (Sterling), Woodland Hills, Utah; David (Patti), Livermore, California; Carole Sue Allan, Salem, Oregon; Douglas (Rain), Lehi, Utah; Laurelyn (Terry) Briggs, Las Vegas, Nevada. He is also survived by his brother Don (Helen), Murray, Utah and sisters Maude Richards (Rollo), and Lavern Lindsay, both of Orem, Utah. Melvin and Helen have 25 grandchildren and 14 great-grand-children. Funeral Services under the direction of Walker Sanderson Funeral Home of Orem, will be held at the Oak Hills 9th Ward, 2000 North 1500 East Provo, at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 22. Friends may call prior to the funeral from 9:00 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. Burial will be in the Brigham City Cemetery. Condolences may be sent to the family at: www.walkerfamilymortuaries.com