Daughter of Otto Stuart Murphy and Marian Louise Langdon
Married Gerald John Heindl, 25 August 1965, at Madeira, Hamilton, Ohio
Married Orvill Paller, 15 November 1973, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Obituary - Our sweet, beloved wife, mother, sister, and grandmother, Judith Langdon Murphy Paller, age 76, peacefully returned home to the loving arms of her parents, sister, and Father in Heaven on Thursday morning, March 31, 2016, at Heritage Care Center in American Fork, Utah.
Mom was born on December 20, 1939, at Christ Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio, the oldest of three children born to Otto Stuart Murphy Jr. and Marian Louise Langdon. In her youth Mom attended Concord Elementary in Cincinnati, Ohio. Grandpa Murphy and “Nana” first lived on Montgomery Road in Cincinnati and later, when Mom was about 10, the family moved to their brand-new home at 6830 Michael Drive in Kenwood. Mom was proud to bring her four children to Cincinnati in July 1984 and to show them where she had grown-up and to sleep in the home of her childhood. Mom often spoke fondly of summer vacations in Wilmette, Illinois, at the home of her grandparents, Buel and Harriet Langdon, where she spent time at the beach on Lake Michigan with cousins or at various YWCA summer camps.
Later, while attending seventh and eighth grades at Indian Hills Jr. High School, Mom’s life was forever changed by a beloved English teacher, Robert Rhein, with whom she developed a friendship that endured for more than 40 years. “Uncle Bob” instilled in Mom a love for English and a love for words that continued with her throughout her entire life. For fun Mom loved to read the dictionary, the thesaurus, or anything having to do with the etymology of words. She proudly displayed a large dictionary in her room at the care center for everyone to see and admire. Mom graduated from Indian Hills High School in 1957; her classmates said that she had a special ability to make everyone laugh no matter the circumstances.
Mom continued her study of English and journalism at Bowling Green State University, where she graduated with a degree in journalism in 1961. Later in life Mom learned from her mother that her Grandfather Langdon – a career newspaper man – was so proud of Mom’s decision to study journalism that he had personally set aside all of the funds to pay for her college education. While at Bowling Green, Mom joined the Chi Omega sorority; later in life, she would often burst into song for her children, singing various Chi Omega tunes. From 1961 to 1962 Mom worked as an assistant publicity director at the American Institute of Baking in Chicago.
On August 25, 1965, at Madeira, Ohio, she married her first husband, Gerald John Heindl; they would later divorce in September 1972.
From 1962 through 1973 Mom worked as an associate editor at the University of Illinois Press in Urbana, Illinois.
In February 1968, while working at the University of Illinois Press, Mom’s life changed forever when two missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints knocked on her apartment door. A few short days after meeting the missionaries, Mom was in the car en route to Burlington, Iowa, when “all of a sudden, a ‘feeling’ came over me, starting at my head and working down to my feet – it was then that I knew that what the missionaries were saying was true.” On Mom’s first Sunday in church she encountered her eventual life-long friend and then co-worker, Suzie Chapple, and was introduced to her dear bishop, Joseph Larsen – a man whom she considered one of the greatest that she had ever known.
On March 1, 1969, Mom was baptized a member of the Church by Suzie’s husband, Richard Chapple, and confirmed a member of the Church the following day by Elder Darrell Burnett. Mom once wrote, “I love this beautiful Church with all my heart and soul, and each day I thank the Lord for giving me this gift of membership in His Church—the most precious gift I own.” In the last few weeks of her life, Mom talked a lot about having “long conversations with Heavenly Father”; indeed, Mom had an abiding testimony that God hears and answers our prayers.
In 1973, Mom was encouraged by her then LDS stake president, Joseph Larsen, to interview for a copy editor position at the Ensign magazine in Salt Lake City. Mom accepted the position at the Ensign and subsequently relocated to Salt Lake. It was there, while attending a Hawaiian Luau social activity at an LDS single’s ward at the University of Utah, that Mom and Dad first met. Mom and Dad fell in love and were married and sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple on November 15, 1973.
Mom and Dad spent their first years of marriage residing in the Capitol Hill area of Salt Lake City. It was there that they welcomed their first two children to their home – Orvill Stuart in 1974 and John Ephraim in 1976. After John’s birth, Mom and Dad moved to Taylorsville, Utah, where they welcomed their first daughter, Marian Hazel in 1977.
In 1978, just prior to the birth of their youngest daughter, Judith Rebecca, Mom and Dad moved into their brand-new home in the northwest part of Salt Lake City. Mom and Dad made their home on 900 North for the next 32 years. As Mom’s health began to decline, a difficult decision was made in October 2010 to sell their home on 900 North and to relocate to a more suitable condominium in American Fork. Despite the move to American Fork, Mom and Dad’s heart and home was always with their cherished friends of the Center Ward in Salt Lake City.
In 1986, Mom’s dear friend Jay Todd, managing editor at the Ensign magazine, invited her to consider an open position at the magazine as an assistant editor. Mom made the supreme sacrifice in order to provide for our family and accepted the position. Later, in 1989, Mom was promoted to the position of associate editor – a position that she held for nearly 20 years until her retirement in 2009. Mom loved and treasured her friendships and associations at the Ensign. She and the ladies at work talked playfully about jointly retiring to the “Enfeebled Editors Home” (aka the Heceta Head Lighthouse at Florence, Oregon). When Mom and Dad celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in 1998, Mom got her wish and was able to spend the night at Heceta Head.
Mom’s life was rooted in sacrifice and service to others. She sacrificed everything that she possessed – including her own physical health – on behalf of her husband and four children. Mom spent countless hours editing children’s school essays and papers and taught her children the importance of education. She never missed a soccer game, a music concert, or an ice-skating competition. Mom was deeply involved in various school community councils and for years volunteered at the children’s elementary schools. Over the years Mom served in various capacities in the LDS Church, including instructor for the Gospel Essentials Sunday School class, newsletter editor, ward publicity chairman, and visiting teacher.
Mom was loved, admired, respected, and cherished by all who knew her. She loved her husband, children, and grandchildren more than anything in this world, and, in turn, we loved her. Mom exemplified the Savior by loving everyone unconditionally and went out of her way to befriend all who crossed her path. She was kind, compassionate, and charitable to all. It grieved Mom deeply that in the last years of her life that her physical impairments prevented her from being of greater service to her family. Mom has now met her Savior and has been freed from her physical pains and infirmities – something she never once complained about. Thank you, Mom, for your selfless gift of love and service to each of us. We’re so grateful that you are finally able to rest from your pains and earthly cares. We will miss you constantly until we meet again at the Savior’s feet.
Mom is survived by her loving husband of 42 years, Orvill Paller Jr. of American Fork, Utah, and her four children: Orvill Stuart (Chelsea) of Orem, Utah; John Ephraim (Jenna) of Denver, Colorado; Marian Hazel of Draper, Utah; and Judith “Rebecca” (Geofferey) Dearing, West Jordan, Utah. She is also survived by six grandchildren: Stuart Aikele, Samuel Hyrum, Jacob Clark, Daniel Langdon, and Nathan Lewis Paller of Orem, Utah; and Bria Faith Paller of Denver, Colorado. Mom is also survived by her younger brother, Dennis Murphy (Cynthia Fujikawa) of Los Angeles, California, and brother-in-law, Robert Richmond of Massillon, Ohio.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Otto Stuart Murphy Jr. and Marian Louise Langdon, and sister, Susan Murphy Richmond; as well as by one grandson, James Elias Paller.
Mom talked about wanting to rock babies at the hospital after she retired – we’re sure that she now is able to rock her grandson James in heaven. As Mom would want to say to each of us: “Goodnight Nurse!”
Viewings will be held on Monday evening, April 4, 2016, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. and on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 from 11:00-11:45 a.m. at the Rose Park Center Ward building, 868 North Star Crest Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, April 5, 2016, at noon in the Rose Park Center Ward, 868 North Star Crest Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah. Internment will immediately follow the services at Mount Olivet Cemetery, 1352 East 500 South, Salt Lake City, Utah.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made on Mom’s behalf to the LDS Church Perpetual Education Fund or to the LDS Church General Missionary Fund.
Married Gerald John Heindl, 25 August 1965, at Madeira, Hamilton, Ohio
Married Orvill Paller, 15 November 1973, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Obituary - Our sweet, beloved wife, mother, sister, and grandmother, Judith Langdon Murphy Paller, age 76, peacefully returned home to the loving arms of her parents, sister, and Father in Heaven on Thursday morning, March 31, 2016, at Heritage Care Center in American Fork, Utah.
Mom was born on December 20, 1939, at Christ Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio, the oldest of three children born to Otto Stuart Murphy Jr. and Marian Louise Langdon. In her youth Mom attended Concord Elementary in Cincinnati, Ohio. Grandpa Murphy and “Nana” first lived on Montgomery Road in Cincinnati and later, when Mom was about 10, the family moved to their brand-new home at 6830 Michael Drive in Kenwood. Mom was proud to bring her four children to Cincinnati in July 1984 and to show them where she had grown-up and to sleep in the home of her childhood. Mom often spoke fondly of summer vacations in Wilmette, Illinois, at the home of her grandparents, Buel and Harriet Langdon, where she spent time at the beach on Lake Michigan with cousins or at various YWCA summer camps.
Later, while attending seventh and eighth grades at Indian Hills Jr. High School, Mom’s life was forever changed by a beloved English teacher, Robert Rhein, with whom she developed a friendship that endured for more than 40 years. “Uncle Bob” instilled in Mom a love for English and a love for words that continued with her throughout her entire life. For fun Mom loved to read the dictionary, the thesaurus, or anything having to do with the etymology of words. She proudly displayed a large dictionary in her room at the care center for everyone to see and admire. Mom graduated from Indian Hills High School in 1957; her classmates said that she had a special ability to make everyone laugh no matter the circumstances.
Mom continued her study of English and journalism at Bowling Green State University, where she graduated with a degree in journalism in 1961. Later in life Mom learned from her mother that her Grandfather Langdon – a career newspaper man – was so proud of Mom’s decision to study journalism that he had personally set aside all of the funds to pay for her college education. While at Bowling Green, Mom joined the Chi Omega sorority; later in life, she would often burst into song for her children, singing various Chi Omega tunes. From 1961 to 1962 Mom worked as an assistant publicity director at the American Institute of Baking in Chicago.
On August 25, 1965, at Madeira, Ohio, she married her first husband, Gerald John Heindl; they would later divorce in September 1972.
From 1962 through 1973 Mom worked as an associate editor at the University of Illinois Press in Urbana, Illinois.
In February 1968, while working at the University of Illinois Press, Mom’s life changed forever when two missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints knocked on her apartment door. A few short days after meeting the missionaries, Mom was in the car en route to Burlington, Iowa, when “all of a sudden, a ‘feeling’ came over me, starting at my head and working down to my feet – it was then that I knew that what the missionaries were saying was true.” On Mom’s first Sunday in church she encountered her eventual life-long friend and then co-worker, Suzie Chapple, and was introduced to her dear bishop, Joseph Larsen – a man whom she considered one of the greatest that she had ever known.
On March 1, 1969, Mom was baptized a member of the Church by Suzie’s husband, Richard Chapple, and confirmed a member of the Church the following day by Elder Darrell Burnett. Mom once wrote, “I love this beautiful Church with all my heart and soul, and each day I thank the Lord for giving me this gift of membership in His Church—the most precious gift I own.” In the last few weeks of her life, Mom talked a lot about having “long conversations with Heavenly Father”; indeed, Mom had an abiding testimony that God hears and answers our prayers.
In 1973, Mom was encouraged by her then LDS stake president, Joseph Larsen, to interview for a copy editor position at the Ensign magazine in Salt Lake City. Mom accepted the position at the Ensign and subsequently relocated to Salt Lake. It was there, while attending a Hawaiian Luau social activity at an LDS single’s ward at the University of Utah, that Mom and Dad first met. Mom and Dad fell in love and were married and sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple on November 15, 1973.
Mom and Dad spent their first years of marriage residing in the Capitol Hill area of Salt Lake City. It was there that they welcomed their first two children to their home – Orvill Stuart in 1974 and John Ephraim in 1976. After John’s birth, Mom and Dad moved to Taylorsville, Utah, where they welcomed their first daughter, Marian Hazel in 1977.
In 1978, just prior to the birth of their youngest daughter, Judith Rebecca, Mom and Dad moved into their brand-new home in the northwest part of Salt Lake City. Mom and Dad made their home on 900 North for the next 32 years. As Mom’s health began to decline, a difficult decision was made in October 2010 to sell their home on 900 North and to relocate to a more suitable condominium in American Fork. Despite the move to American Fork, Mom and Dad’s heart and home was always with their cherished friends of the Center Ward in Salt Lake City.
In 1986, Mom’s dear friend Jay Todd, managing editor at the Ensign magazine, invited her to consider an open position at the magazine as an assistant editor. Mom made the supreme sacrifice in order to provide for our family and accepted the position. Later, in 1989, Mom was promoted to the position of associate editor – a position that she held for nearly 20 years until her retirement in 2009. Mom loved and treasured her friendships and associations at the Ensign. She and the ladies at work talked playfully about jointly retiring to the “Enfeebled Editors Home” (aka the Heceta Head Lighthouse at Florence, Oregon). When Mom and Dad celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in 1998, Mom got her wish and was able to spend the night at Heceta Head.
Mom’s life was rooted in sacrifice and service to others. She sacrificed everything that she possessed – including her own physical health – on behalf of her husband and four children. Mom spent countless hours editing children’s school essays and papers and taught her children the importance of education. She never missed a soccer game, a music concert, or an ice-skating competition. Mom was deeply involved in various school community councils and for years volunteered at the children’s elementary schools. Over the years Mom served in various capacities in the LDS Church, including instructor for the Gospel Essentials Sunday School class, newsletter editor, ward publicity chairman, and visiting teacher.
Mom was loved, admired, respected, and cherished by all who knew her. She loved her husband, children, and grandchildren more than anything in this world, and, in turn, we loved her. Mom exemplified the Savior by loving everyone unconditionally and went out of her way to befriend all who crossed her path. She was kind, compassionate, and charitable to all. It grieved Mom deeply that in the last years of her life that her physical impairments prevented her from being of greater service to her family. Mom has now met her Savior and has been freed from her physical pains and infirmities – something she never once complained about. Thank you, Mom, for your selfless gift of love and service to each of us. We’re so grateful that you are finally able to rest from your pains and earthly cares. We will miss you constantly until we meet again at the Savior’s feet.
Mom is survived by her loving husband of 42 years, Orvill Paller Jr. of American Fork, Utah, and her four children: Orvill Stuart (Chelsea) of Orem, Utah; John Ephraim (Jenna) of Denver, Colorado; Marian Hazel of Draper, Utah; and Judith “Rebecca” (Geofferey) Dearing, West Jordan, Utah. She is also survived by six grandchildren: Stuart Aikele, Samuel Hyrum, Jacob Clark, Daniel Langdon, and Nathan Lewis Paller of Orem, Utah; and Bria Faith Paller of Denver, Colorado. Mom is also survived by her younger brother, Dennis Murphy (Cynthia Fujikawa) of Los Angeles, California, and brother-in-law, Robert Richmond of Massillon, Ohio.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Otto Stuart Murphy Jr. and Marian Louise Langdon, and sister, Susan Murphy Richmond; as well as by one grandson, James Elias Paller.
Mom talked about wanting to rock babies at the hospital after she retired – we’re sure that she now is able to rock her grandson James in heaven. As Mom would want to say to each of us: “Goodnight Nurse!”
Viewings will be held on Monday evening, April 4, 2016, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. and on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 from 11:00-11:45 a.m. at the Rose Park Center Ward building, 868 North Star Crest Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, April 5, 2016, at noon in the Rose Park Center Ward, 868 North Star Crest Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah. Internment will immediately follow the services at Mount Olivet Cemetery, 1352 East 500 South, Salt Lake City, Utah.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made on Mom’s behalf to the LDS Church Perpetual Education Fund or to the LDS Church General Missionary Fund.
Daughter of Otto Stuart Murphy and Marian Louise Langdon
Married Gerald John Heindl, 25 August 1965, at Madeira, Hamilton, Ohio
Married Orvill Paller, 15 November 1973, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Obituary - Our sweet, beloved wife, mother, sister, and grandmother, Judith Langdon Murphy Paller, age 76, peacefully returned home to the loving arms of her parents, sister, and Father in Heaven on Thursday morning, March 31, 2016, at Heritage Care Center in American Fork, Utah.
Mom was born on December 20, 1939, at Christ Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio, the oldest of three children born to Otto Stuart Murphy Jr. and Marian Louise Langdon. In her youth Mom attended Concord Elementary in Cincinnati, Ohio. Grandpa Murphy and “Nana” first lived on Montgomery Road in Cincinnati and later, when Mom was about 10, the family moved to their brand-new home at 6830 Michael Drive in Kenwood. Mom was proud to bring her four children to Cincinnati in July 1984 and to show them where she had grown-up and to sleep in the home of her childhood. Mom often spoke fondly of summer vacations in Wilmette, Illinois, at the home of her grandparents, Buel and Harriet Langdon, where she spent time at the beach on Lake Michigan with cousins or at various YWCA summer camps.
Later, while attending seventh and eighth grades at Indian Hills Jr. High School, Mom’s life was forever changed by a beloved English teacher, Robert Rhein, with whom she developed a friendship that endured for more than 40 years. “Uncle Bob” instilled in Mom a love for English and a love for words that continued with her throughout her entire life. For fun Mom loved to read the dictionary, the thesaurus, or anything having to do with the etymology of words. She proudly displayed a large dictionary in her room at the care center for everyone to see and admire. Mom graduated from Indian Hills High School in 1957; her classmates said that she had a special ability to make everyone laugh no matter the circumstances.
Mom continued her study of English and journalism at Bowling Green State University, where she graduated with a degree in journalism in 1961. Later in life Mom learned from her mother that her Grandfather Langdon – a career newspaper man – was so proud of Mom’s decision to study journalism that he had personally set aside all of the funds to pay for her college education. While at Bowling Green, Mom joined the Chi Omega sorority; later in life, she would often burst into song for her children, singing various Chi Omega tunes. From 1961 to 1962 Mom worked as an assistant publicity director at the American Institute of Baking in Chicago.
On August 25, 1965, at Madeira, Ohio, she married her first husband, Gerald John Heindl; they would later divorce in September 1972.
From 1962 through 1973 Mom worked as an associate editor at the University of Illinois Press in Urbana, Illinois.
In February 1968, while working at the University of Illinois Press, Mom’s life changed forever when two missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints knocked on her apartment door. A few short days after meeting the missionaries, Mom was in the car en route to Burlington, Iowa, when “all of a sudden, a ‘feeling’ came over me, starting at my head and working down to my feet – it was then that I knew that what the missionaries were saying was true.” On Mom’s first Sunday in church she encountered her eventual life-long friend and then co-worker, Suzie Chapple, and was introduced to her dear bishop, Joseph Larsen – a man whom she considered one of the greatest that she had ever known.
On March 1, 1969, Mom was baptized a member of the Church by Suzie’s husband, Richard Chapple, and confirmed a member of the Church the following day by Elder Darrell Burnett. Mom once wrote, “I love this beautiful Church with all my heart and soul, and each day I thank the Lord for giving me this gift of membership in His Church—the most precious gift I own.” In the last few weeks of her life, Mom talked a lot about having “long conversations with Heavenly Father”; indeed, Mom had an abiding testimony that God hears and answers our prayers.
In 1973, Mom was encouraged by her then LDS stake president, Joseph Larsen, to interview for a copy editor position at the Ensign magazine in Salt Lake City. Mom accepted the position at the Ensign and subsequently relocated to Salt Lake. It was there, while attending a Hawaiian Luau social activity at an LDS single’s ward at the University of Utah, that Mom and Dad first met. Mom and Dad fell in love and were married and sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple on November 15, 1973.
Mom and Dad spent their first years of marriage residing in the Capitol Hill area of Salt Lake City. It was there that they welcomed their first two children to their home – Orvill Stuart in 1974 and John Ephraim in 1976. After John’s birth, Mom and Dad moved to Taylorsville, Utah, where they welcomed their first daughter, Marian Hazel in 1977.
In 1978, just prior to the birth of their youngest daughter, Judith Rebecca, Mom and Dad moved into their brand-new home in the northwest part of Salt Lake City. Mom and Dad made their home on 900 North for the next 32 years. As Mom’s health began to decline, a difficult decision was made in October 2010 to sell their home on 900 North and to relocate to a more suitable condominium in American Fork. Despite the move to American Fork, Mom and Dad’s heart and home was always with their cherished friends of the Center Ward in Salt Lake City.
In 1986, Mom’s dear friend Jay Todd, managing editor at the Ensign magazine, invited her to consider an open position at the magazine as an assistant editor. Mom made the supreme sacrifice in order to provide for our family and accepted the position. Later, in 1989, Mom was promoted to the position of associate editor – a position that she held for nearly 20 years until her retirement in 2009. Mom loved and treasured her friendships and associations at the Ensign. She and the ladies at work talked playfully about jointly retiring to the “Enfeebled Editors Home” (aka the Heceta Head Lighthouse at Florence, Oregon). When Mom and Dad celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in 1998, Mom got her wish and was able to spend the night at Heceta Head.
Mom’s life was rooted in sacrifice and service to others. She sacrificed everything that she possessed – including her own physical health – on behalf of her husband and four children. Mom spent countless hours editing children’s school essays and papers and taught her children the importance of education. She never missed a soccer game, a music concert, or an ice-skating competition. Mom was deeply involved in various school community councils and for years volunteered at the children’s elementary schools. Over the years Mom served in various capacities in the LDS Church, including instructor for the Gospel Essentials Sunday School class, newsletter editor, ward publicity chairman, and visiting teacher.
Mom was loved, admired, respected, and cherished by all who knew her. She loved her husband, children, and grandchildren more than anything in this world, and, in turn, we loved her. Mom exemplified the Savior by loving everyone unconditionally and went out of her way to befriend all who crossed her path. She was kind, compassionate, and charitable to all. It grieved Mom deeply that in the last years of her life that her physical impairments prevented her from being of greater service to her family. Mom has now met her Savior and has been freed from her physical pains and infirmities – something she never once complained about. Thank you, Mom, for your selfless gift of love and service to each of us. We’re so grateful that you are finally able to rest from your pains and earthly cares. We will miss you constantly until we meet again at the Savior’s feet.
Mom is survived by her loving husband of 42 years, Orvill Paller Jr. of American Fork, Utah, and her four children: Orvill Stuart (Chelsea) of Orem, Utah; John Ephraim (Jenna) of Denver, Colorado; Marian Hazel of Draper, Utah; and Judith “Rebecca” (Geofferey) Dearing, West Jordan, Utah. She is also survived by six grandchildren: Stuart Aikele, Samuel Hyrum, Jacob Clark, Daniel Langdon, and Nathan Lewis Paller of Orem, Utah; and Bria Faith Paller of Denver, Colorado. Mom is also survived by her younger brother, Dennis Murphy (Cynthia Fujikawa) of Los Angeles, California, and brother-in-law, Robert Richmond of Massillon, Ohio.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Otto Stuart Murphy Jr. and Marian Louise Langdon, and sister, Susan Murphy Richmond; as well as by one grandson, James Elias Paller.
Mom talked about wanting to rock babies at the hospital after she retired – we’re sure that she now is able to rock her grandson James in heaven. As Mom would want to say to each of us: “Goodnight Nurse!”
Viewings will be held on Monday evening, April 4, 2016, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. and on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 from 11:00-11:45 a.m. at the Rose Park Center Ward building, 868 North Star Crest Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, April 5, 2016, at noon in the Rose Park Center Ward, 868 North Star Crest Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah. Internment will immediately follow the services at Mount Olivet Cemetery, 1352 East 500 South, Salt Lake City, Utah.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made on Mom’s behalf to the LDS Church Perpetual Education Fund or to the LDS Church General Missionary Fund.
Married Gerald John Heindl, 25 August 1965, at Madeira, Hamilton, Ohio
Married Orvill Paller, 15 November 1973, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Obituary - Our sweet, beloved wife, mother, sister, and grandmother, Judith Langdon Murphy Paller, age 76, peacefully returned home to the loving arms of her parents, sister, and Father in Heaven on Thursday morning, March 31, 2016, at Heritage Care Center in American Fork, Utah.
Mom was born on December 20, 1939, at Christ Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio, the oldest of three children born to Otto Stuart Murphy Jr. and Marian Louise Langdon. In her youth Mom attended Concord Elementary in Cincinnati, Ohio. Grandpa Murphy and “Nana” first lived on Montgomery Road in Cincinnati and later, when Mom was about 10, the family moved to their brand-new home at 6830 Michael Drive in Kenwood. Mom was proud to bring her four children to Cincinnati in July 1984 and to show them where she had grown-up and to sleep in the home of her childhood. Mom often spoke fondly of summer vacations in Wilmette, Illinois, at the home of her grandparents, Buel and Harriet Langdon, where she spent time at the beach on Lake Michigan with cousins or at various YWCA summer camps.
Later, while attending seventh and eighth grades at Indian Hills Jr. High School, Mom’s life was forever changed by a beloved English teacher, Robert Rhein, with whom she developed a friendship that endured for more than 40 years. “Uncle Bob” instilled in Mom a love for English and a love for words that continued with her throughout her entire life. For fun Mom loved to read the dictionary, the thesaurus, or anything having to do with the etymology of words. She proudly displayed a large dictionary in her room at the care center for everyone to see and admire. Mom graduated from Indian Hills High School in 1957; her classmates said that she had a special ability to make everyone laugh no matter the circumstances.
Mom continued her study of English and journalism at Bowling Green State University, where she graduated with a degree in journalism in 1961. Later in life Mom learned from her mother that her Grandfather Langdon – a career newspaper man – was so proud of Mom’s decision to study journalism that he had personally set aside all of the funds to pay for her college education. While at Bowling Green, Mom joined the Chi Omega sorority; later in life, she would often burst into song for her children, singing various Chi Omega tunes. From 1961 to 1962 Mom worked as an assistant publicity director at the American Institute of Baking in Chicago.
On August 25, 1965, at Madeira, Ohio, she married her first husband, Gerald John Heindl; they would later divorce in September 1972.
From 1962 through 1973 Mom worked as an associate editor at the University of Illinois Press in Urbana, Illinois.
In February 1968, while working at the University of Illinois Press, Mom’s life changed forever when two missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints knocked on her apartment door. A few short days after meeting the missionaries, Mom was in the car en route to Burlington, Iowa, when “all of a sudden, a ‘feeling’ came over me, starting at my head and working down to my feet – it was then that I knew that what the missionaries were saying was true.” On Mom’s first Sunday in church she encountered her eventual life-long friend and then co-worker, Suzie Chapple, and was introduced to her dear bishop, Joseph Larsen – a man whom she considered one of the greatest that she had ever known.
On March 1, 1969, Mom was baptized a member of the Church by Suzie’s husband, Richard Chapple, and confirmed a member of the Church the following day by Elder Darrell Burnett. Mom once wrote, “I love this beautiful Church with all my heart and soul, and each day I thank the Lord for giving me this gift of membership in His Church—the most precious gift I own.” In the last few weeks of her life, Mom talked a lot about having “long conversations with Heavenly Father”; indeed, Mom had an abiding testimony that God hears and answers our prayers.
In 1973, Mom was encouraged by her then LDS stake president, Joseph Larsen, to interview for a copy editor position at the Ensign magazine in Salt Lake City. Mom accepted the position at the Ensign and subsequently relocated to Salt Lake. It was there, while attending a Hawaiian Luau social activity at an LDS single’s ward at the University of Utah, that Mom and Dad first met. Mom and Dad fell in love and were married and sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple on November 15, 1973.
Mom and Dad spent their first years of marriage residing in the Capitol Hill area of Salt Lake City. It was there that they welcomed their first two children to their home – Orvill Stuart in 1974 and John Ephraim in 1976. After John’s birth, Mom and Dad moved to Taylorsville, Utah, where they welcomed their first daughter, Marian Hazel in 1977.
In 1978, just prior to the birth of their youngest daughter, Judith Rebecca, Mom and Dad moved into their brand-new home in the northwest part of Salt Lake City. Mom and Dad made their home on 900 North for the next 32 years. As Mom’s health began to decline, a difficult decision was made in October 2010 to sell their home on 900 North and to relocate to a more suitable condominium in American Fork. Despite the move to American Fork, Mom and Dad’s heart and home was always with their cherished friends of the Center Ward in Salt Lake City.
In 1986, Mom’s dear friend Jay Todd, managing editor at the Ensign magazine, invited her to consider an open position at the magazine as an assistant editor. Mom made the supreme sacrifice in order to provide for our family and accepted the position. Later, in 1989, Mom was promoted to the position of associate editor – a position that she held for nearly 20 years until her retirement in 2009. Mom loved and treasured her friendships and associations at the Ensign. She and the ladies at work talked playfully about jointly retiring to the “Enfeebled Editors Home” (aka the Heceta Head Lighthouse at Florence, Oregon). When Mom and Dad celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in 1998, Mom got her wish and was able to spend the night at Heceta Head.
Mom’s life was rooted in sacrifice and service to others. She sacrificed everything that she possessed – including her own physical health – on behalf of her husband and four children. Mom spent countless hours editing children’s school essays and papers and taught her children the importance of education. She never missed a soccer game, a music concert, or an ice-skating competition. Mom was deeply involved in various school community councils and for years volunteered at the children’s elementary schools. Over the years Mom served in various capacities in the LDS Church, including instructor for the Gospel Essentials Sunday School class, newsletter editor, ward publicity chairman, and visiting teacher.
Mom was loved, admired, respected, and cherished by all who knew her. She loved her husband, children, and grandchildren more than anything in this world, and, in turn, we loved her. Mom exemplified the Savior by loving everyone unconditionally and went out of her way to befriend all who crossed her path. She was kind, compassionate, and charitable to all. It grieved Mom deeply that in the last years of her life that her physical impairments prevented her from being of greater service to her family. Mom has now met her Savior and has been freed from her physical pains and infirmities – something she never once complained about. Thank you, Mom, for your selfless gift of love and service to each of us. We’re so grateful that you are finally able to rest from your pains and earthly cares. We will miss you constantly until we meet again at the Savior’s feet.
Mom is survived by her loving husband of 42 years, Orvill Paller Jr. of American Fork, Utah, and her four children: Orvill Stuart (Chelsea) of Orem, Utah; John Ephraim (Jenna) of Denver, Colorado; Marian Hazel of Draper, Utah; and Judith “Rebecca” (Geofferey) Dearing, West Jordan, Utah. She is also survived by six grandchildren: Stuart Aikele, Samuel Hyrum, Jacob Clark, Daniel Langdon, and Nathan Lewis Paller of Orem, Utah; and Bria Faith Paller of Denver, Colorado. Mom is also survived by her younger brother, Dennis Murphy (Cynthia Fujikawa) of Los Angeles, California, and brother-in-law, Robert Richmond of Massillon, Ohio.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Otto Stuart Murphy Jr. and Marian Louise Langdon, and sister, Susan Murphy Richmond; as well as by one grandson, James Elias Paller.
Mom talked about wanting to rock babies at the hospital after she retired – we’re sure that she now is able to rock her grandson James in heaven. As Mom would want to say to each of us: “Goodnight Nurse!”
Viewings will be held on Monday evening, April 4, 2016, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. and on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 from 11:00-11:45 a.m. at the Rose Park Center Ward building, 868 North Star Crest Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah. Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, April 5, 2016, at noon in the Rose Park Center Ward, 868 North Star Crest Drive, Salt Lake City, Utah. Internment will immediately follow the services at Mount Olivet Cemetery, 1352 East 500 South, Salt Lake City, Utah.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made on Mom’s behalf to the LDS Church Perpetual Education Fund or to the LDS Church General Missionary Fund.
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
