Evan Leon Ivie's Obituary
Evan’s life began in humble circumstances. He was born on the Ashby Fox Farm in American Fork, Utah, on 15 May, 1931. His mother, Ruth, was the oldest daughter of Robert L. Ashby, a prominent member of the community. She met his father, Horace Leon Ivie, at BYU, when they found they had the same birthday, March 7. It was depression times and after serving a mission in the Southern States, his father taught school, moving his family to Ririe, and Montpelier, Idaho, Huntsville, Hyram and Lindon, Utah.
During World War II his father was employed in Washington, D. C., so they moved there in 1944, locating on Utah Street in Arlington, Virginia. Here they were instrumental in constructing the first chapel in the area and his mother became Stake Primary President. Evan and his sister, Joy, were enrolled in prestigious, Washington-Lee High School, where they were Valedictorian and Salutatorian upon graduation. After graduating High School in 1949, Evan received a scholarship to William and Mary, but chose to attend Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
Evan graduated with the first Electrical Engineering Class at BYU in 1956. Then was given a scholarship to Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, for a Master’s Degree, before joining the Air Force in Washington, D. C., where he first became acquainted with a computer. His assignments there were top secret, but significant to security efforts during the Cold War era. He received a Ford Foundation Scholarship to M.I.T. in Boston and spent 6 years there, graduating with 7 children (the largest number known for a student) in 1966. Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, claimed his attention for the next 13 years, where he was involved with initial development of the UNIX operating system. In 1979 he decided to return to his Alma Mater as a professor of Computer Science and received many Teacher of the Year Awards.
In 1992 he received a Fulbright appointment as Computer Science Professor at the Polytechnic Institute in Kiev, Ukraine. Ukraine had just broken ties with the U.S.S.R. and the new LDS Mission President, Howard Biddulph, had just moved to Kiev, to initiate missionary work in 15 branches, where they baptized 100 people every month. A truly new and rewarding Adventure.
In 1997 he was asked to help with the LDS Sesquicentennial celebration at BYU, organizing his computer students and other volunteers to process about 4,000 pedigree charts, with pictures and stories of their ancestors for visitors to the celebration.
After serving as Bishop of the Thirteenth Ward in Provo, for 5 years, and retirement from BYU, he was called to the West/East German Mission as a Humanitarian Aid Director for 37 surrounding countries. Evan always liked to drive to new places, so he traveled to many countries by automobile instead of flying, achieving many new adventures. But he was always in God’s hands and rescued from strange situations, and accomplished much good in those countries.
Upon return from the mission he volunteered for the BYU Semester at Nauvoo experiment, and was appointed Director until they closed the program in 2006. During that time he was privileged to visit the Palmyra area, Independence and Adam-ondi-Ahman areas many times with students. The enthusiasm of students is always rewarding. He loved Nauvoo so much, he purchased a home and remained there for 17 years, before returning to Cove Point Retirement Community in Provo, Utah, to live out his last days. With mounting health problems, he needed the support of family in the Utah area.
He graduated from earth life on 2 March 2020 at Provo, Utah, USA and has gone hence to continue his work in genealogy and family history, promising to help from the other side in solving the problems of his family pedigree. Evan is survived by his wife of 63 years, Betty Jo Beck, 11 children (Dynette, Mark, Joseph, Robert, Ruthann, Rebecca, John, James, Mette Marie, Emily, Peter), 47 grandchildren and many great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held at the chapel on 4220 Foothill Dr. in Provo, on Saturday, March 7 at 11:00 a.m. Viewing is at 9:30 a.m.
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