Vernon Lockwood Anderson
1919 - 2014
VETERAN

Early Life: Vernon was born August 11, 1919, in San Mateo, Florida, the fifth of George William and Hilda Bell (Tilton) Anderson's eleven children. Though life took him far and wide, in a sense he was never far from home. His memories of the bygone Florida of his barefoot youth remained undimmed into his tenth decade.
Life's Work | Service | Interests: As a freshman football player at Brigham Young University, he met Joyce Margaret Roberts. They were married June 12, 1942, in Salt Lake City and became the parents of eight children. She died October 4, 1963. He married Elna Idonna (Shellenberger) Bybee August 21, 1965, in Provo, Utah. She died December 26, 1998. He married Geraldine "Gerry" Ruth (Moore) Carnahan May 12, 2001, in Ocala, Florida. While serving in the Unites States Army in Germany during and after World War II, he fell in love with the German language. Gifted with an uncommonly retentive mind and an ear for language and music, he earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Utah and a doctorate from Stanford University in Germanic languages. After teaching at Eastern Illinois State College in the early 1950s, he joined the faculty at Brigham Young University in Provo in 1956, where he taught until 1966. He later taught at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. He twice took two-year breaks from teaching. From 1963 to 1965, he worked for the U.S. State Department in Salvador, Brazil, where he added Portuguese to his linguistic repertoire, and from 1966 to 1968 served as a Peace Corps director in Caracas and Valencia, Venezuela. These sojourns in South America provided life-changing experiences for his children. When their mother passed away while the family was in Brazil, their father's native optimism and enthusiasm for living abroad served to temper their grief. Possessed of a rich baritone made richer by formal training, he became a polished interpreter of German lieder. His comic renderings of folk tunes brought laughter to four generations of children. As a young father, he sang opera while bathing his long-suffering children and, in the days before he died, hummed songs in his sleep. Music, language, and his religious faith were the touchstones of his life, but nothing defined him more than his guileless goodwill toward people of every stripe and station. Vernon L. Anderson, 95, died December 31, 2014, in Orem, Utah.
Survived By: His loving wife, Geraldine "Gerry" Anderson, of Orem, UT; seven children: Julie (Robert "Bob") Allphin, of Orem, UT; Colette (Tom) Gill, of Evergreen, CO; Vern Anderson Jr., of Salt Lake City, UT; David Anderson, of Salt Lake City, UT; Susan (John) Schilling, of Mattoon, IL; Jonathan Anderson, of Riverton, UT; Laurence Anderson, of Salt Lake City, UT; five stepchildren: Diana F. Bybee Anderson, Richard C. B. Bybee, Ariel Jane Bybee, Dr. David B. Bybee, Stephanie D. Bybee Percival; three brothers: David Anderson, Wesley Anderson, Lorry (Parnell) Anderson; grandchildren: Rob (Amy) Allphin Jr., Christina (Randy) Smith, David (Susan) Allphin, Laurie (Jim) Loveland, Daniel (Lisa) Allphin, Ryan (Elycse) Allphin, Benjamin Allphin, Angela (Dan) Court, Tracey (Josh) Whitby, Brianna (Skyler) Hokama, James Gill, Christian (Rebecca) Anderson, Eric Anderson, Mandy (Cortney) Smith, Dane (Stacy) Anderson, Jennie Anderson, Justine (Julio) Zuniga, Marshall Anderson, Felicity Anderson, Jane Bobet, Ryan (Giuliana) Schilling, Jordan (Kayce) Schilling, Brittany (Peter) Hecker, Cameron (Kendra) Schilling, Angelique Anderson, Saw (Marci) Anderson, Owen (Ashley Hathaway) Anderson, Fernando Anderson, Christina Danielle (Shane) Hakala, Justin Cotonuts, Elijah Lehi; numerous great-grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.
Preceded In Death By: His parents; two wives, and daughter, Martha Joy Anderson.
Arrangements & Obituary: © 2014 | Walker Sanderson Funeral Home
Services: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Location: Heatheridge Ward Chapel | Orem, Utah
Interment Orem City Cemetery

Bio compiled by: Annie Duckett Hundley