Leo Preston
Vernon
1925 ~ 2010
Leo Vernon passed away on Tuesday morning June 8 in his home surrounded by his wife and children. He was 84 years old.
Leo was born on October 10, 1925, in Roosevelt, Utah, to William Morley and Roseltha Bingham
Vernon. He was the fourth of five children. After one year the family moved to Kanab, Utah, and then four years later they moved to Orem where Leo's father was hired to teach music at Lincoln High School. As a child Leo worked on the family farm but soon became interested in music. He started playing piano at age six and then the trumpet at age eight, playing in the school band. At the same time he was active in sports playing both tennis and football in high school. Leo and his friend Bob Fountain won the state tennis
championship, and he played football with two of LaVell Edward's brothers.
Academically Leo became interested in chemistry, and at BYU he studied chemistry until 1944 when he joined the U.S. Army and was trained as an X-Ray technician. Leo was assigned to Calcutta, India, but instead of serving in a military
hospital he was asked to join the
music corps. His duties included playing reveille and taps for the camp every day, and playing in the
Army band where he soon became the conductor. In 1946 Leo was
released from military service and enrolled again at BYU where he graduated in 1948 with a degree in chemistry finishing second in his class. Before graduation he married his high school sweetheart Fern Trunkey in the Salt Lake Temple, being sealed by Elder Harold B. Lee. Then it was off to other universities for graduate and research work. The first stop was Ames, Iowa, where Leo earned a doctorate in biochemistry. Then to Madison, Wisconsin, for post doctoral research, and finally to St. Louis for photosynthesis research at Washington University. In 1954 Leo accepted an invitation to join the BYU Chemistry faculty and moved his family back to Utah. He and Fern and their small but growing family were happy to be home again, but it did not last too long. In 1960 Leo was eligible for a sabbatical leave and was offered a grant to spend one year at the Nobel Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. Instead of returning to BYU Leo took the position of Director of the Kettering Research Labs in Yellow Springs, Ohio. This position lasted for ten years until BYU again invited Leo back to serve under President Dallin Oaks as
Director of Research and Assistant Academic Vice President.
When Dallin Oaks was released as President, Leo went back into the Chemistry Department and taught for five additional years. It was at this time that he formed the Leo Vernon Band playing both piano and trumpet. He also made somewhat of a career change moving away from photosynthesis to cancer research with emphasis on treatment of cancer with compounds isolated from plants. In this effort he was joined by Murray Rawson and Hartman Rector Jr. Although Leo retired from BYU in 1991, he continued cancer research until 2004 giving lectures in scientific meetings around the world. The results of his research in the fields of photosynthesis and cancer research have been published in more that 150 scientific articles. Leo was recently awarded a U.S. Patent relating to his cancer research. Leo and his family were always active in the LDS Church. His first leadership position was serving as bishop of the Fairborn, Ohio, ward for seven years. Later he was called as a counselor in the Cincinnati Stake presidency under John Taylor. After moving back to Provo, Leo was called to the stake high council and then became the first president of the BYU 13th Stake. His most recent church callings include playing piano for the Oak Hills 9th Ward High Priests, and contributing to the ward newsletter each month. He also kept the Leo Vernon Band busy playing for weddings and church dances. The later years of his life included building a summer home near Strawberry Reservoir, snow and water skiing, and playing racquetball twice a week at BYU. He always enjoyed family activities with children and grandchildren, and was convinced that all of his grandchildren were smart. One thing they will always remember about Leo was that he seemed to have a joke for any occasion about any topic.
Leo is survived by his wife Fern and their five children: Richard (Helen) in Alpine; Elise Pearlstine (Leonard) in Cooper City, Florida; Marty (Sally) in Spanish Fork; Jill Murphy (Jim) in Orem; and Eric (Angie) in Highland. These five children and their posterity (24 grandchildren, 28 great grandchildren) are the jewels in Leo and Fern's crown.
We will miss our patriarch but we know he is in a better place and waiting for us there.
There will be a viewing on Sunday June 13 from 7-9 at the Sundberg Mortuary, 495 South State Street in Orem. The funeral will be the next day June 14 at the Oak Hills 9th ward LDS meetinghouse located at 1960 North 1500 East in Provo. There will be a viewing from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. and the funeral at 11:00 a.m. Interment will be in the Orem City cemetery.