Mervin Norman Salvesen

Mervin Norman Salvesen
May 5, 1922 - July 11, 2015
Mervin Norman Salvesen passed away July 11, 2015. He was born May 5, 1922, in the family home at the mouth of Blacksmith Fork Canyon, east of Hyrum, to Norman Hans and Katie Nielsen Salvesen. He was the fourth of eight children. His father was the superintendent of the Utah Power and Light hydroelectric plant on the Blacksmith Fork River where he and his siblings grew up in the company home nearby. He loved camping, hunting and fishing, and family was very important to him.
Mervin attended Millville Elementary School and South Cache High School, where he met his sweetheart, Jane Bailey Wyatt. After high school Mervin served two years in the Northern States Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Soon after returning home Mervin and Jane were married April 19, 1944, in the Logan LDS Temple. During that first year of marriage he worked for Union Pacific Railroad on a rail crew for 65 cents an hour for eight to ten hours a day, six and sometimes seven days a week.
Mervin spent the first three years of marriage living in Wellsville at which time he took over his father's rocky farm east of Hyrum - the farm his Norwegian grandfather had homesteaded years before. With the help of his father he built a small house on the farm on what is now known as Hollow Road. They lived there for 15 years and farmed and milked a small herd of cows. He also worked for Utah Power and Light, retiring in 1983 as a hydroelectric plant first operator at the Cutler Hydro Electric Plant in Beaver Dam, Utah. Since living in the small farm home he built and lived in several homes at the mouth of Blacksmith Fork Canyon.
As a young couple Merv and Jane while serving on an "Old Folks" committee made lifetime friends with eight other couples who to this day still meet once a month for dinner and socializing. Dad also held many other callings in the church including Young Men's advisor, ward clerk, counselor in bishopric, high priest group leader and high counselor, holding many of these positions for numerous years and dearly loving the people he served.
Mervin is survived by seven sons; Michael (Karalee) of Nibley, David (Vicky) of Cedar City, Norman (Vicki) of Mission Viejo California, Richard (LaDawn) of Nibley, James (Stephanie) of Brigham City, Ronald (Cheralynn) of Hyrum and Douglas (Raylyne) of Hyrum. He is survived by 34 grandchildren, 56 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. He is also survived by one sister-in-law, Norma Salvesen (Lyman), Hyrum, and was preceded in death by siblings Alda (Daniel) Walters of Wellsville, Grant of Hyrum, Cleo (Hal) Wright of Smithfield, Reba (William) McFerran of Arcadia California, Dean (Phyllis) of Salt Lake City, Delores (Ferris) Weeks of Smithfield, and Lyman (Norma) of Hyrum. Mervin was also preceded in death by his parents, and by his sweet companion of 67 years.
Funeral services will be held at noon Friday, July 17, at the Nibley Stake Center located at 450 West 3701 South Nibley, Utah. Friends and Family may call from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, July 16 at Allen-Hall Mortuary, 34 East Center Street, Logan, and prior to services Friday at the church from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Interment will be in the Hyrum City Cemetery.
The Salvesen family thanks Dr. Michael J. Stones and Intermountain Homecare Hospice workers (Anna and crew) for their loving and special care of Mervin. Condolences and memories may be expressed with the family online at www.allenmortuaries.net .