Honoring...
Our gentle and giving father, husband, grandfather & friend, Orvill Paller, Jr., age 74, returned to the loving arms of his Heavenly Father on Sunday, July 26, 2020 at Utah Valley Hospital in Provo, Utah. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, August 1st, 2020 at 11AM at the Rose Park Center Ward, 868 N Star Crest Drive in Salt Lake City, UT. For those interested in paying their respects in person, a public viewing directly preceding the funeral services will begin at 9AM. For those who wish to attend virtually, the funeral service will also be live-streamed via Facebook. The funeral and viewing will be following LDS church and CDC guidelines for social distancing and health protection measures. The live-stream can be joined online at: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10158978806293313&id=750263312&ref=content_filter
Dad was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on March 24, 1946, to Orvill Paller and Hazel Walk. Orvill is preceded in death by his bride Judith, father Orvill, mother Hazel and brothers Neil, Walter and Raymond. He is survived by his children Orvill (Chelsea), John, Marian (Stephanie), Rebecca (Geoff) and his 9 grandchildren (Stuart, Samuel, Jacob, Daniel, Nathan, Bria, Enza, Owen and Lucas). He is also survived by his grandpets (Susie, Tom, Lady, Sophie, Cozy, Catso and Hash).
In July 1958, he and his mother converted to the LDS church. Later in his teens he graduated from John Oliver High School and earned his “Queen Scout”, the highest rank in the Canadian Boy Scouts. He later served his LDS mission in the Western States Mission. Following his mission, he attended college first at Dixie State College in Saint George, Utah and completed undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from BYU, in Provo, Utah.
After graduating with his undergraduate degree, he moved to Salt Lake City where he met his eternal partner and sweetheart, Judith “Judy” Langdon Murphy. They wed in November of 1973 in the LDS Salt Lake Temple and were inseparable until her death in March of 2016.
Dad is a legend for being a jack of many trades. He was an avid Scouter and served countless young men through Boy Scouts on the trail to Eagle Scout in the Great Salt Lake Council. He was awarded the prestigious Silver Beaver award and served in dozens of leadership positions through the years. His capstone achievement was spearheading the Rim-2-Rim-2-Rim Grand Canyon Hike with Troop 83 and his sons in 1988. His love for teaching youth also permeated into the Salt Lake City School District as a substitute teacher for over a decade.
Dad loved sports. He used his genius for numbers as a statistician for many KSL sports broadcasts and newspaper box scores. He also was a founding member of the “Sports Trivia Panel of Utah” on KSL Radio and wrote “Instate Wars” which chronicled the sports rivalries of Utah, BYU and Utah State. His favorite sports related activity though was taking in a BYU football game or any hockey or baseball game with his kids.
Dad is probably best known for his endless genealogical research he performed for Judy’s “Murphy” family, specifically the descendants of John Murphy Sr. of Bedford County, Virginia. Hundreds, if not thousands, of family members have been identified due to his work. He also served the LDS church as a temple veil & baptistry worker and many other church leadership roles.
Most important to dad was his commitment to being a father. For several years, his children had the great honor to have him coach soccer teams, cart them to ice skating lessons, gymnastics & tumbling classes, football practice, to and from school, early morning swim practice, basketball practice and games, boy scouts, girl scouts, assisting in delivering newspapers at “o’dark-thirty”, and on and on and on. He literally never stopped supporting everything his children needed.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made to the Rose Park Center Ward Missionary Fund. Celebration memories, videos and tidbits can be shared on the Facebook event page, through Larkin Mortuary’s memorial page at www.larkincares.com or at thememories by KSL at thememories.com.
Dear Orvill, John, Marian, and Rebecca--I remember you all with affection. And with great affection for Judy and Orvill united again!!! A great time for both of them now. Judy has been waiting, maybe impatiently you think? So glad your dad is over his health issues now that he has crossed the veil, which is as real as dirt, real as summer and winter, real as everything we've all been told. We have some special family experiences that confirm that. So, this is simply a message of love and condolence and best, best wishes for all of your futures.--Jay and Janet Todd
Dear Orvill Jr. and Family,
On behalf of myself and my immediate family (wife Launa and daughters Sydney and Kaylee) I give sincere condolences on the passing of your father Orvill Paller Jr. I only really knew your father in the years since the passing of my mother, his first cousin, Shirley Buschau (Wutke), in 2006. Orvill did the reaching out to me then and immediately started sharing information and pictures about Shirley's mother Elsie Wutke (Walk) who was a sister to Hazel. It was a pleasure interacting with Orvill Jr. as he always wanted to share as much as he knew and to make sure that others had the chance to experience that knowledge too. I had a personal experience with Orvill Jr. that I'll never forget. At the end of 2007 I was trying to import a new Toyota Sienna minivan from a Denver dealership into Calgary given the strength of the Canadian dollar in those days but had run into trouble when the Canadian Insurance Bureau had talked Transport Canada into banning new vehicle imports from the U.S. (presumably to protect lucrative Dealership profits). I was working with a newly formed lobby group to pressure the Canadian Gov't to reverse what was obviously an unfair restriction and contacted Orvill Jr. to see if there was some way to try a workaround since the vehicle was actually built and been delivered to the dealership. Although the workaround idea didn't fly and my purchase of the new Sienna fell through I was unexpectedly surprised that Orvill Jr. took the step of calling a U.S. Senator (Orrin Hatch?) to plead my case and got a powerful politician looking into the situation from the U.S. end. Anyways the long and the short of it was the Canadian Gov't DID reverse the banning of vehicle imports and I was able to import a 4 month old Sienna a couple of months later and very possibly some credit is due to that call made by Orvill Jr.. I offer that story up to show the huge extent that Orvill Jr. went to give help, even to a cousin he didn't have much history with. I know my Mother Shirley and her folks Elsie and Roy are now being blessed and tickled by Orvill Jr.'s presence. He was a good and super generous man and I am very grateful for the all too brief time of knowing him and receiving the benefits of his genealogy work and beyond the call personal help!