Mourning the Passing of Friends: Forthcoming Funeral Service

 "What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. 

All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.”

~ Helen Keller

JAN EUGENE WYNN

Jan Eugene Wynn reunited with his sweetheart and eternal companion, Sherleen, on June 9, 2024. He was devoted to his family and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He truly loved serving the Lord and was busy performing ordinances in the temple until the day before his passing. 

Jan was born in Rexburg, Idaho, on February 13, 1937, to Eugene Woodrow Wynn and Edith Isabell Snarr Wynn. He was raised on a farm learning the value of hard work. He fondly remembers playing with his siblings and Snarr cousins. Jan attended schools in Idaho and Oregon and graduated from Ontario High School in Ontario, Oregon, where he excelled in basketball, track, and math classes. 

After high school graduation and two years of college, Jan was called to serve a 3-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Northern Far East Mission, serving the people of Japan. He loved the Japanese people and continued to maintain many friendships with the Japanese people he met throughout his life. During his mission, the length of Asian missions was shortened to 2½ years.

After Jan’s mission in Japan, he continued attending the University of Idaho and earned two bachelor's degrees, one in civil engineering and the other in mathematics. While at the University of Idaho, he had several jobs. One was to cook for a sorority house. He has always joked about his potato peeling skills that he learned from that. He also learned to give haircuts in college. He purchased a nice set of hair clippers and up until his passing he maintained a select clientele that preferred his buzz cuts. 

Following graduation, Jan was employed as a mathematician for the Thiokol Chemical Corporation in Brigham City, Utah. During this time, he met the love of his life, Sherleen Newton. They were married and sealed for time and eternity on August 26th, 1963, in the Logan Utah Temple, by his grandfather, Abner C. Snarr. 

They began their married life in Logan, Utah, where he pursued a master’s degree in mathematics at Utah State University and later earned his doctorate in mathematics at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. With his doctorate, he was hired as a mathematics professor at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, where he continued his career, except for taking a sabbatical for a year at BYU Hawaii. Living in Hawaii was a great social and cultural experience for his family. Jan enjoyed his career at BYU, teaching over 12,000 students, and was awarded Mathematics Teacher of the Year in 1997. He was very popular among the students for his witty humor and creativity in teaching mathematics, including his very-well known mathematical “vest trick.”

Jan and Sherleen valued self-sufficiency, emergency preparedness, and teaching their children to work, so they built a home and created a small farm on 2 1⁄2 acres in Mapleton, Utah. On their farm, they had a family milk cow, raised their beef, pigs, chickens, and honeybees, and grew an orchard with several fruit trees and two extensive vegetable gardens.

Jan had a strong testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and served faithfully in many Church callings, including bishop in the Mapleton 4th Ward. In 2003, he and Sherleen met with Thomas S. Monson, where he received the sealing power and authority to serve as a sealer in the Provo Temple and then later in the Payson Temple. 

Jan was actively involved in the Sons of the Utah Pioneers. He always enjoyed working in his garden, especially growing tomatoes, raspberries, and a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. He loved to share math riddles and provide individual tutoring to family and friends.

In 2014, Jan and Sherleen sold their farm in Mapleton and moved to Payson, Utah. They enjoyed spending their last few years meeting new friends and neighbors and continued to serve in the Payson temple. 

 Jan was able to return to Japan in 2018 and visit many places within his mission. In anticipation of the trip, he studied for hundreds of hours to perfect and update his Japanese and after 60 years was again fluent in Japanese.

Jan is survived by his children, Michelle (Randy) Stevens, Santaquin, Utah; Michael (Brooks) Wynn, American Fork, Utah; Angie Allphin, Payson, Utah; Bruce (Barbara) Wynn, Burnsville, Minnesota; Mark (Delinda) Wynn, Boise, Idaho; Miriam (Aric) Overson, St. George, Utah; brother, Alden (Tami) Wynn; sisters, Mary Suzanne Peterson and Georganna (Lynn) Barton; 22 grandchildren, and 21 great-grandchildren with 2 more on their way.

Jan is preceded in death by his wife, Sherleen Newton Wynn; his parents, Eugene Woodrow Wynn, and Edith Isabell Snarr Wynn; his brother, G. Brent Wynn; sister, Dixie Isabell (Don) Leavitt; sisters-in-law, Colleen (Alden) Wynn, Marilyn Newton, and LouAnn (Steve) Bessinger; and great-granddaughter, Alta Wynn Metz.

Family and friends are invited to a visitation on Friday, June 21, 2024, from 6-8:00 pm, and Saturday, June 22, 2024, from 9:30-10:30 am, with the funeral service beginning at 11:00 am. All will be held at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints located at 1138 East 100 South in Payson, Utah. Interment will be in Payson Cemetery, 400 North 800 East, Payson, Utah. 

Arrangements are entrusted to Walker Funeral Home. Condolences may be offered at www.WalkerMemorials.com.