Jerry Robert McPheeters

Jerry Robert McPheeters, 76, passed away on December 3, 2022 in Salt Lake City, Utah surrounded by loved ones. There will be a viewing in his honor Friday, December 9 from 5-7 at the Edgehill Church Building located at 1750 S. 1500 E. We encourage you to wear a Hawaiian shirt in celebration of his life! A small graveside service will be held at a later date.

Jerry was born on February 23, 1946 in Salt Lake City, Utah and was the oldest child of Harry Edward McPheeters and Ruth Pressler McPheeters.

Jerry grew up in Sugarhouse. He spent the majority of his life in the same house his dad built. He joined the Army National Guard and took pride in serving his country for 24 years. He was then issued an Honorable Medical Retirement.

He met his sweet wife, Nancy Whitehead, while working as a grease monkey at a gas station. They married on February 12, 1971 and were later sealed for all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple. They were happily married for nearly 53 years. Jerry would have been lost in life without his sweet Nancy. She took care of him in every way. Their love story only got stronger and sweeter over the past 6 months as he struggled with his health and mobility. He never wanted her to leave his side while he was in the hospital and she didn’t want to. The hospital staff basically had to kick her out to go home for a good night's rest after sleeping in the room recliner and his hospital bed for a straight 2 weeks. She will miss him dearly and will look forward to reuniting with him one day.

What is there to say about Jerry? A tough-as-nails, son-of-a-gun with grit, tenacity and the work ethic of a mule. Jerry was old school. He liked to get his hands dirty. A real life MacGyver. A grandpa for the ages!

Jerry could be intimidating. When first meeting him, his quiet, but stalwart nature sometimes made him hard to read. But once you really got to know the guy, you could see a heart as big as the St. George desert that he loved.

Taking trips with his family was one of Jerry’s greatest joys. His son and daughters fondly remember endless trips to Disneyland and St. George. He eventually bought a home there so he could invite his grandkids to spend days with him in the cherished warmth of Southern Utah. He loved spending time at his home in St. George, but he loved being with his family more and would be eager to return home to Salt Lake if none of his grandchildren had joined him down south.

Jerry was a walking contradiction. He loved taking his kids and grandkids to Disneyland, but hate, hate, HATED crowds! With each new visit to Disneyland, he would shake his head and say, “There’s too many people in the world nowadays.” But, he loved seeing the kids and grandkids happy…so he continued to plan those Disney trips!

He was extraordinarily frugal, but somehow seemed to own almost everything you could ever imagine. He had a passion for cars, and owned many classic automobiles, but it was a rare occurrence in which he wouldn't complain about the price of gas. Jerry was a gentle, soft spoken man.

Jerry was quiet, maybe even shy at times. He abhorred the limelight. He hated to be singled out for anything. I think his worst nightmare was getting called on in church to have to share his thoughts or feelings. He would hate the very notion that we were writing this long obituary about him to share with the world.

Jerry could be gruff and blunt at times. It has been said that he was just like his father. He certainly mellowed in his temper over the years, but we can remember times of his frustration when choice words were said and those choice words were, of course, swear words of the choicest kind. However, he never ever was short with his children or grandchildren. These were his greatest treasures in the world. It was interesting to see him really tone down his temper and soften as he got more and more grandchildren. His grandkids probably would never guess he had a temper at one time.

Jerry was very giving of his resources and his time. He was extremely forgiving and never held animosity towards anyone. He never wanted to cause waves and always supported and loved his children and grandchildren regardless of their choices or decisions in life. What we always loved about Jerry and respected is that he never wore his faith or religion on his sleeve. He was a man that accepted everyone from all walks of life and the way he lived his life will be judged more by how he treated his fellow men in communication and action, than by his callings or leadership in his church. Jerry was a true disciple of Christ, and will be remembered as such.

If there was one thing Jerry had, it was a heart of absolute gold for his own kids and his grandkids. Everything else in life came second to him. He loved and savored every moment with his grandkids. He spoke of them often. He rarely missed one of their games, concerts, plays, anything. Other commitments were always put aside to see his grandchildren. He constantly bragged about them and shared stories about them with others that may not have even been interested.. The pride for the family he had created was insurmountable.

As I mentioned Jerry was thrifty and stingy. He cursed the thought of wasting anything. He would often ask what his children had paid for something, like a car or a bed, and you always felt you had to estimate to the lower side. He loved to hear that you had got a great deal and weren't ripped off. You never wanted to disappoint him by having him think less of you for getting "taken." He detested buying anything new, thus his love for the Deseret Industries and yard sales. I don't know how many times he drove around to yard sales and the DI in his beloved St. George, but for him, it was never enough. He developed this love for finding garbage relics to his grandkids. They loved shopping for worthless treasures with him and it would be one of the first things that they would ask to do when they went to his house in St. George with him.

Some might have considered Jerry a "hoarder." But I'll tell you what, if ever one of his grandkids needed anything for a school project, a costume or really ANYTHING, they only needed to go get it from grandpa's house. He took great pride in having anything they ever needed and I could tell he would love it when they would call and ask him, "Grandpa, do you have a (fill in the blank)?" And he would almost always certainly reply, "Of course I do.”

Jerry was a man of simple tastes. His favorite food was a plain cheeseburger with ketchup only. He had a boundless love for Coke. More specifically, he had a boundless love for ice, mixed with Coke. More specifically, he had a boundless love for pebble ice mixed with Coke. While he loved the taste of Coke, I think he loved chewing ice more. He always had a mug of Coke in his hand. Always. And don’t even suggest Diet Coke! It had to be regular, fully leaded, sugared Coke. I’m sure he improved the value of Coca Cola’s stock a few points during his lifetime.

Jerry could fix anything. Plumbing, electrical, car care... you name it, he could fix it. In fact, Jerry was almost always working on several projects at once. He could not sit still and had to be doing something with his hands.

Jerry made many crazy contraptions over the years. One such contraption was a "weed burner." Essentially, it was a flamethrower, connected to a propane tank on a cart that he would use to burn weeds. Often, these contraptions would take a turn for the worse, like the time he spilled gasoline on the weeds first, to make them burn faster, and accidentally set himself on fire. Another contraption that Jerry invented was an apparatus used to save all the wasted, soapy water from the washing machine. He MacGuyver’d an invention that would take the water from the washing machine out of the house and dump it into his vegetable garden. No wonder their tomatoes always tasted like Tide.

It seemed as though Jerry was an inventor at heart. He loved watching Shark Tank, mostly I think because he would think to himself, "I COULD HAVE INVENTED THAT!"

One thing that Jerry had going for him was that he was a very handsome man. His movie-star good looks, with dimpled cheeks. There were several occasions that Jerry was in public in which someone would come up to him and tell him that he looked like Clint Eastwood. He had a rugged attractiveness to him. He was like a city cowboy with calloused hands and an unrefined, but dapper smile.

The grandkids adored their grandpa McPheeters. Our hearts break most for them. They never passed up a chance to visit him at his home. They loved being around him, helping him with his old cars or learning how to do different projects around the house. Grandpa McPheeters rarely, if ever, came to visit just to visit. He almost always brought with him a home improvement or car project to teach the grandkids when he was there. From changing brake pads to carpentry, the grandkids learned so much more than we could have ever taught them.

Jerry despised flying, but loved Hawaii. He was able to go one time in his life, but wore Hawaiian shirts often to remind him of that wonderful place. One of my most fond memories of Jerry will always be going to Hawaii with him. We visited the Polynesian Cultural Center together and sat in the audience of the Tonga show. Jerry ALWAYS liked to have the best seats available, so we sat up front. Little did we know that we would watch in astonishment when Jerry would be called up on stage to dance with the performers?! We looked at each other like, “WHAT IS THIS SHY, LOW KEY, APPREHENSIVE MAN GOING TO DO UP THERE?!” We watched in astonishment as he jumped in full bore! He even put on the coconut bra, skirt and went all in, shaking his hips and grooving his body. I only wish his grandkids could see a video of this astonishing and shocking display from introverted and soft, grandpa McPheeters!

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Jerry was the tenacity and vigorous way in which he lived through pain for the last 20 or so years of his life, for one and only one reason: the simple joy of being with his family. His back had been reduced to near nothing, having been rebuilt and rebuilt again with rods of steel and iron. As Darth Vader once said, "I am more machine than man now." The same was true with Jerry. He endured years and years of monumentally colossal pain to spend those years with his family. Near the end, his back curved over worse than Quasimodo and in astounding pain, he did everything he could just to spend another day, week, month, maybe year with those he loved.

The most challenging thing to watch was this man that had been so active his entire life - building, working, improving things - lost more and more ability to do the things he loved.

Even as an older man, you could take one look at Jerry’s hands and see that he had lived a long life of service. His hands were not smooth and clean. They were hands that had been battered and frayed by a life of service. The countless oil stains, scars, burns and entrenched dirt on his hands could never be removed, no matter how much scrubbing. But one look at his hands and one could see the compassionate effort he put into helping others for 76 years. Jerry was not an observer of life; he was an eager participant, most eager to get his hands dirty for the benefit of others.

Jerry would be incredibly embarrassed to see an entire essay written about him - only to be shared with hundreds, maybe thousands of people. If he was still with us, there is no way that he would allow this tribute to such a wonderful and unique human. But here's the thing... We don't want his legacy to be lost on our kids or on their kids. We don't want his gravesite to just be another gravesite that they visit on Memorial Day. He deserves to be remembered. And if there is one thing that he would want to be remembered for most, it's that he loved his kids and his grandkids with such a deafening love that they couldn't forget him if they tried. This is the true treasure of Jerry and one that will likely carry on for generations to come. We love you Jerry! Thanks for allowing us all to be part of your journey here on earth! We look forward to a warm reunion in the life to come!

Jerry is survived by his wife, Nancy and his children Tamara (Mike), Lori (Mike) Epperson, Cathi (Abram) Yospe, and Michael (Erica) McPheeters. Also his grandchildren, Nathan and Alex, Brandon (Alayna) Epperson, Ashley (Jake) Petersen, Ryan, Brooklyn, Madison, and Boston Epperson, Lincoln, Calder, and Portland Yospe, Cohen and Cecilia McPheeters, and Max and Boston Wetzel. And his great grandson, Jack Epperson.