Scott Jacobson Halladay

Scott Jacobson Halladay, beloved teacher and devoted family man, passed away Friday, March 24, 2023, after more than a decade of living with Parkinson’s. He was 83 years old. 

Born on February 11, 1940, in Manti, Utah, Scott was the third of six children born to Wilford Meeks Halladay and Vilate Helen Jacobson. Hallmarks of his character blossomed early as a child in Spanish Fork. He never missed a day of school, and learned the value of hard work laboring on feedlots or on farms—often hoisting 100lb bags of grain all day. His commitment to hard work prepared him for enlisting with the National Guard, which he did at age 17.

At BYU, Scott was an enthusiastic member of the Oratorio Choir and the Intercollegiate Knights service club, where he’d often light the Y during football games using oiled mattresses they had to haul up the mountainside. The Knights also helped raise the money for the “Enter To Learn, Go Forth To Serve” signs that still stand on BYU’s campus today as a motto for the school, and a testament to one who lived that motto every day of his life. 

It was on his mission to the Great Plains for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where he first experienced the joy of teaching others the tenets of his deeply-held faith, a passion he’d eventually turn into a long career in Church Education. 

His time in the National Guard lasted for 23 more years after his mission, where he racked up more than 60 air jumps along the way, and received multiple accommodations. He retired from military service having achieved the most senior enlisted rank possible of Command Sergeant Major. 

He met his first sweetheart Doris Jean Allred at BYU and they married in 1966. She saw him through two advanced degrees there, and together they raised a family while Scott worked as a Jr. High and High School religious instructor for the Church in Utah. Eventually came a transfer to Simi Valley, California, where for 26 years, Scott and his family thrived, and he transitioned to teaching college-aged students and taking on more administrative roles.

After Doris’s death, Scott was introduced to his second sweetheart, Toni Rae Peterson, whom he married in 1998. He joined Toni Rae in Arizona, and braved the waters of blending into a big family, as well as the hearts of everyone in it. 

Effortlessly social and energetic, it became the family joke that Scott never went anywhere without running into someone he knew, but this was because he made it his aim to get to know, and remember, everyone he met. For holidays, he always brought his infectious smile along with a big bowl of orange Jell-O salad—his own personal contribution. And he never knew a family get together or a church gathering he could bear to miss.

After retirement, he and Toni Rae served three full-time missions for the Church where his commitment to service led him to humanitarian projects in the jungles of Borneo, temple work in Uruguay, and compassionate service to needy families in Utah. He eventually became a Patriarch in the Church, which came with the opportunity to once again serve the youth by administering blessings to them. It was, for him, a sacred duty. 

He collected hats, enjoyed yard work, and loved seeing a classic movie on TV he seemed to know everything about (including who starred in it, and how tall they were!). He was a gifted teacher, an ideal neighbor, a devoted family man, and the life of any party. It was his genuine curiosity and endless questions about others that ultimately endeared them to himself. Or maybe it was orange Jell-O salad.

Scott is preceded in death by father Wilford Meeks, and mother Vilate, his first wife Doris, his brother Jon and his dear sister Ann. Survived by his wife Toni Rae, his sisters Kay, Julie, and his brother Kim, and his children Shaun and Lisa, Eugene, Marie, Toni, Jim, John, Elizabeth, Emily, and Joseph, as well as 35 grandchildren and 13 great- grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, March 31, 2023, at the Foxboro Stake Center, 954 West 1100 North, North Salt Lake, Utah. A viewing will be held from 8:45-9:45 a.m. at the church prior to services. Interment will take place at 2:30 p.m. at the Manti City Cemetery, 50 South Main Street, Manti, Utah.

Services will be streamed live on the Russon Mortuary & Crematory Facebook page and on this obituary page. The live stream will begin 10-15 minutes prior to the services and will be posted below.

Services will be streamed live on Russon Mortuary & Crematory and this obituary page.