Marshall Joseph Perkins Sr

Marshall Joseph Perkins Sr., passed away at the age of 95, on May 9, 2022, with his children by his side. He was born March 23, 1927, to Joseph Marshall and Esther Jensen Perkins, in Lima Montana. He was the oldest of six children. Marshall was raised in Bountiful, Utah and graduated from Davis high school where he excelled in football and tennis. He graduated early, and went to Stanford University for a semester. He joined the Army and served from 1945 to 1947. He returned home and then left to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Northern States Mission from 1947 to 1949. He attended BYU from Fall 1949 to June 1950.

Marshall met Ruth Rohrbach on a blind date and they were married on June 2, 1950. They had five children: Marshall Jr, David, Tom, Lucy and Linda. The family lived in Salt Lake City, Chicago and Champaign, Illinois while Marshall pursued his college degree in Clinical Psychology and finally earned his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. Marshall was a Psychiatric Social Worker & Director of the Champaign County Mental Health Center for eleven years.  He moved the family back to Bountiful, Utah to be near his extended family and his beloved mountains. He was a clinical psychologist and worked for Granite Mental Health for twenty years before retiring. Marshall and Ruth were divorced after the children were grown. On February 4, 1998, Marshall married Avalon Burnett in the Mount Timpanogos Temple. They took many trips together and enjoyed dancing at church socials. Avalon passed away on February 13, 2015. He then moved in with his daughter, Linda, who took care of him for the next five years. Dad was diagnosed with Dementia/Alzheimer’s and moved into Legacy Memory Care for the last two years of his life where he passed away.

Marshall was an accomplished pianist, played the violin, avid golfer, played tennis and snow skied into his seventies. He traveled all over the world including Europe, Russia, India, Mexico, and Hawaii. He also went on a Mount Everest Alpine Trek in his sixties.

Marshall was a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and had a deep testimony of the gospel.  He served as a Stake High Councilman and other various teaching positions in the church during his lifetime. He served in the Salt Lake Temple as an Ordinance Worker for many years as well as the Provo Temple. He thoroughly enjoyed his temple work.

Marshall is survived by his children: Marshall Jr. (Janice), David (Nancy), Tom (Sally), Lucy Boyer (Dennis), and Linda. He is also survived by his sister JoAnne Selleneit. He has 18 grandchildren and 31 great-grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his wife, Avalon, his parents, and siblings: Merlin, Lorraine, Beverly, La Vina and grandchildren, Duke, and Jaime.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00am Saturday, May 14, 2022 at Lindquist’s Bountiful Mortuary, 727 North 400 East, Bountiful, Utah where a viewing will be held from 9:30-10:30am.  Interment will follow at the Bountiful City Cemetery.

Services will be live-streamed and may be viewed by scrolling to the bottom of Marshall’s obituary page on the day of the service.  Condolence may be shared at www.lindquistmortuary.com

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