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In Memory

Barbara Perkins (Jacobsen) - Class of 1939

St. George, UT Barbara Perkins Jacobsen, a distinguished educator, World War II veteran and world traveler, passed away March 19, 2010, after a short illness. She was 87. She was born June 19, 1922, the youngest child of David Hunter and Carrie Romina Munk Perkins. She graduated from Utah State Agriculture College in May 1943 with a major in English, minors in music and speech, and with a secondary school teaching certificate. Eleven years later, Barbara and her husband, Gene Samuel Jacobsen, became the first married couple to receive MS Degrees from USAC in the School of Education. Barbara also did graduate work at Sacramento State, Haile Sellassie University and the University of Utah. After her first teaching job in Tooele, Barbara joined the WAVES in August 1944, and went to Boot Camp at Hunter College in New York City. She was one of forty WAVES selected to be a member of the Singing Platoon. She was a gunnery instructor, trained at the Great Lakes Naval Training Base in Chicago, IL, Gunners Mate School in Gulfport, and Fire Controller's School at Lake Union in Seattle, WA, where she was reunited with Gene, her high school sweetheart, who was in an Army Hospital after surviving the Bataan Death March and spending three and a half years as a Japanese POW. They married on Nov. 10, 1945, in Seattle. The marriage was later solemnize in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple. The couple dedicated their lives to serving their church, country, education and their family. Barbara was an English teacher in schools in Montpelier, ID; Logan and Salt Lake City, UT; and Berkeley and Davis, CA. A member of the National Committee for the Accreditation of University Programs for the Preparation of Teachers, she established development reading programs in Salt Lake City Schools and in Singapore, and Saudi Arabia. She served on many education committees, and conducted in service programs for the Singapore Ministry of Education. She was on the Council of the Utah Teachers of English Association, was chairman of several English Departments, and got the "Teacher of the Year" Award. In 1994, her name was placed in the YMCA Women's Hall of Fame. She also served as a member of the Governor's World War II Commemorative Committee. She and her husband served LDS missions in Harare, Zimbabwe, and the Salt River Indian Reservation, AZ. She was a chorister, Relief Society Teacher and Visiting Teacher Supervisor, and also directed many dramatic productions at her ward. Barbara was president of WAVES of the Wasatch, a captain of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, a delegate to both the county and state GOP conventions. She toured all 50 states and the world. She loved life and lived it to the fullest. She was preceded in death by all five siblings and her eternal companion. She is survived by their three children: Michael Gene (Pam) Jacobsen of Pleasant View, UT, JoAnn Jacobsen Wells (Joe Leverich) and Sue (David) Vircchrilli of Murray, UT; nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be held Wednesday, March 24, 2010, at11:00 a.m. at the Southgate LDS 1st Ward Chapel, 3381 S. Mullberry Dr., St. George, Utah. Visitation, Wednesday from 10:00 to 10:45 a.m. at the chapel, prior to services. Interment will be Thursday, March 25, 2010 at the Murray City Cemetery. Arrangements entrusted to the care of Metcalf Mortuary, (435) 673-4221. Please visit our website at www.metcalfmortuary.com for condolences, complete obituary and funeral listings. The family expresses appreciation to the doctors, nurses and therapists at IHC Acute Rehabilitation Center in St. George for the loving care they gave our mother. 
 
Published in Salt Lake Tribune on Mar. 21, 2010