Joseph Smith Jacobs

Joseph Smith Jacobs, PhD 1909 ~ 2007 Joseph Smith Jacobs, PhD., died Tuesday, March 20, 2007, of congestive heart failure. Born February 25, 1909, in Ogden, Utah, Smith was the fifteenth child of Henry Chariton Jacobs and the eighth child of Emma Rigby Jacobs Williams. Both his parents were children of stalwart and prominent pioneer families. Smith grew up in Ogden, graduated from Ogden High School and attended Weber Junior College prior to attending Brigham Young University, from which he graduated in 1930. After serving a French-Belgium mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Smith was asked to stay in Hanover, Germany to study the German Language by day and continue serving as a missionary at night. After his extended mission, he returned to Provo and, while pursuing his graduate studies at BYU, he taught at Dixon Junior High School. In 1936, he returned to Ogden where he taught English and French at Central Junior and Washington Junior High schools prior to serving as principal of Hopkins and Bonneville Elementary schools, as assistant superintendent of Ogden City Schools and then as Superintendent of the Utah State Industrial School in Ogden in the early '50s. While in Ogden, he also served as chairman of the Juvenile Protection Committee, was secretary to the Utah Mental Health Association, was president of the Ogden City Recreation Board and was a member of the Ogden Kiwanis Club. In Salt Lake City, Smith served as Supervisor of Secondary Schools for the Salt Lake City Schools. In 1950, he received his PhD from the University of Utah. After moving to San Diego, California, in 1953, Smith served as the director of Pupil Personnel Services for the San Diego County Department of Education. His professional activities there included serving as vice-president and then president of the San Diego Mental Health Association, participating in a number of district, sectional and statewide conferences and seminars on child growth and development and on school administration and serving as a member of the Mental Health Association of San Diego County School Administrators. He also served as a member of the San Diego County Health Services Coordinating Committee for five years. In Carlsbad, California, Smith served as the Superintendent of the Carlsbad Union Schools. While in Carlsbad, he also served on the Board of Directors of the Boy's Club of Carlsbad and was a member of the Carlsbad Rotary International and the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce. Smith and his family then moved to Fall River Mills, California, where he served as Superintendent of Fall River Joint Unified School Districts before returning to San Diego to serve as Principle of La Mesa Elementary School until his retirement in 1974. Smith was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ. In addition to serving a mission, he served in various capacities in priesthood quorums, as a member of the Sunday School General Board, as a Gospel Doctrine teacher, as a teacher-trainer instructor, as a seminary teacher and as a High Counselor in four Southern California stakes. After returning to Utah in 1988, he served as an ordinance worker in the Provo Temple for seven years. He also served a term as a member of the BYU Emeritus Association Board, and he received the Alumni Association's Special Recognition Award in 1996. He is survived by his beloved wife of 67 years, the former Leone Perry, of Preston, Idaho, and four children: Janet Rex, of Springville; LuJean (Wendell) Walker, Weiser, Idaho; Dr. Alan K. Jacobs, Anza, California; and Dr. Dean R. Jacobs, Chapin, South Carolina; and 26 grandchildren and 60 great-grand-children. Smith was preceded in death by son-in-law, N. Dale Rex, two daughters-in-law, Georgene S. Jacobs and Traci Jacobs, two infant grandsons, and his parents and 14 siblings. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, March 24, 2007, at 10 a.m. in the Sharon First Ward Chapel, 641 South 400 East, Orem, Utah. Interment will follow at the Salt Lake City Cemetery, 4th Avenue "N" Street, Salt Lake City, Utah. Condolences may be sent to the family at: www.walkerfamilymortuary.com