Jean Eileen Perkins' Obituary
Jean Eileen Perkins
Our mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, and friend, Jean Eileen Perkins, died Sunday, November 23, 2025, at age 77. She passed away after a life serving and loving God, her family, and the many individuals she ministered to in her life. She was the daughter of Douglas R. Duncombe and Betty G. Willis Duncombe.
Jean was born on July 2, 1948, in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. When she was young, her family moved from Kitchener to Solomonville, Arizona, traveling many miles by train while she and her sisters were sick with the measles to a new country she would call home. Eventually her family moved to Washington Terrace, Utah where she was blessed to meet a teenage boy driving his go-cart back and forth over the watering hose at the church where her father was custodian. That boy was Robert Wayne Perkins. He asked Jean to a dance when she was 14 years old, and he was 16 - they have been in love and together ever since. Jean married Wayne on May 24, 1968, in the Salt Lake Temple.
Jean attended Weber College and worked as a Licensed Practical Nurse when her children were young. Her true vocation in life, though, was being a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She was blessed to be at home to love, nurture, and raise her children and give herself fully to them. She loved to spend time with them and Wayne, at home and in the mountains camping. Jean enjoyed serving the women around her and was often asked by her church leaders to minister to her fellow sisters who needed a friend. She often found people who needed her, and she would take them under her wing and serve them sincerely, willingly, and diligently.
Since Wayne’s passing in 2021, Jean has missed him dearly and has longed for and looked forward to the day they would be together again. In her last days of life, she spoke frequently of the anticipated joyful reunion with Wayne when she would leave this mortal life.
Jean is survived by her three children, Tammy (Bard), Greg (Traci), and Jeff (Sharon); 10 grandchildren and their spouses; eight great-grandchildren; and her sisters Kathy (Mike), Diane (Milt), Jo-Ann (Dean), and Linda (John).
Jean was preceded in death by her husband, friend, and eternal love, Wayne; her father and mother, Douglas and Betty; her younger sister, Karen, and her younger brother, Jerry; and her grandson, Samuel.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, November 29, 2025 at the Syracuse 7th Ward building, 1625 S 1100 W, Syracuse, Utah 84075. A viewing will be held from 9:00-10:15 AM, with the funeral service following at 10:30 AM. A brief interment service will be held at the Bern Cemetery in Bern, Idaho, later that day at 3:00 PM.
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