Rudolph Theodore "Ted" Varga Jr.'s Obituary
Rudolph Theodore “Ted” Varga Jr, a resident of Orem, Utah, age 78, passed away surrounded by his loving family on September 13, 2017. He was born January 18, 1939, in Inglewood, California, to Rudolph Theodore Varga and Verda Price. He lived in Los Angeles until the 4th grade then moved to Salt Lake City, Utah for one year. After that, his family moved to Buena Vista, California, then finally to Tuscon, Arizona where he graduated from Catalina High School in 1957. He served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in South Africa from 1958 to 1960. He then went to College for one year and as he was about to be drafted into the Army he joined the Army Reserves 1961. He met the love of his life, Myrna Maughan, in August of 1961 and they were Married and Sealed in the Logan, Utah Temple on April 8, 1963. In spite of the little college education he had, his self-education allowed him to work as a draftsman, then a computer programmer using punch cards to write the first program to calculate dimensions of safety ladders on the outside of water tanks for Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel (PDM), working there for 20 years taking his family from Provo, Utah, where David was born, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,where Charlene was born, then to San Jose, California,where Daniel was born. He finally settled his family in Orem, Utah. The last few years while working at PDM he a member of the HP 1000 Users Group Board of Directors which took him to a number of places around the world, including London, England in April of 1983 when he and Myrna went together for two weeks and celebrated their 20th anniversary. After retiring from PDM, he worked for Sperry in Bountiful for one year. Then went on to work for Eaton Kenway in Salt Lake City as their project manager, then worked as a project manager for Auto-Soft in Bountiful and Salt Lake City where he worked on material handling in wafer fabs, traveling the world working in various clean rooms in Connecticut, on a project for Pratt and Whitney; Raleigh, North Carolina; Milan,Italy; South Korea for Samsung; Germany, Singapore, Taiwan, and Texas, for Texas Instruments. He would Install software programs at each of these places, then train their clients on how to use them until he was forced to "retire" at the age of 61 doing a number of projects from home after that. His favorite accomplishments in life other than his utilizing his creative talents for calligraphy, playing the piano, and building models, among other things, were his callings he had in the Church along with being a missionary. He served in the Bishopric of 3 different BYU wards, and also while he lived San Jose, as well as on the high council in both California, and Orem, Utah. He also served as a Gospel Doctrine Teacher, and Ass't Stake Financial Clerk and numerous other callings. He worked for seven years as a temple worker in the Mount Timpanogos Temple, his favorite place on Earth. He was always willing to lend a helping hand to his family, neighbors, and friends in times of need, eager to solve problems whenever called upon. He loved talking to people wherever he went and was genuinely interested in them no matter who they were. He also had a passion for the stars which went from stargazing outside at night to virtual stargazing with the advancement of modern technology. He had a wonderful sense of humor and always looked for the positive in everyone and everything. He is survived by his loving wife of 54 years, Myrna Maughan Varga, his 3 children, David (Meg), Charlene (Captain Moroni), and Daniel (Julie), 12 grandchildren, 1.5 great grandchildren, and 4 brothers; David, John, Henry, and Jim. Funeral Services will be held Saturday, Sept. 23rd, 2017, at the Orem, Utah North Stake Center, 1000 N. Main St., Orem UT 84057. Viewing: 9-11 a.m., Funeral: 11:30 a.m. Interment at East Lawn Memorial Hills, Provo Utah.
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