Grandpa E

Today is my dad's birthday.

Daniel Bruce Epperson was born January 22, 1959 in San Jose California, the 6th child of Martin Epperson and Veda Florine Smith. His parents eventually divorced (after 3 more children) and by the time my dad was 13, he was living with his mom and step-father, Evan Jay Rasmussen (Jay). Jay became more of a father to my dad than his own father, and eventually he was sealed in the temple to my Grandma an Grandpa Rasmussen.

My dad was mostly raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but I don't think he was totally active until his teen years. Although he moved around the country a lot, his mom and Jay settled in Las Vegas, where my dad spent his teen years. He graduated high school and was called to serve a mission for our church in the Hamburg, Germany Mission. He served for two years from 1978-1980.

After his mission, my dad attended Brigham Young University, where he eventually met my mom, Cindy Lee Shafer. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple on June 12, 1981. They went on to have 9 children: Daniel Bruce (1982), Crystal Pauline (1983), Julie Alise (1986), Whitney Lee (1988), Evan Scott (1990), Benjamin James(1992), Samuel Brian(1994), Gordon John(1996), and Sharolynn Nicole(2000).

My parents now have 13 grandchildren (2 are in heaven), and six of their 9 children have been married in the temple (the goal for Mormons, since we believe temple marriage enables marriage to last for eternity). All of my brothers who have been old enough have served missions (one is still serving, one is getting ready).

Professionally, my dad worked lots of different jobs including as a painter, a diaper delivery man, a union worker in a plant, a construction worker, and eventually setting into a career as an electrician. He became a master electrician and worked for many years in the Church Office Building in downtown Salt Lake City as an electrician. In 2003, he switched over to a similar job as an engineer in the Salt Lake Temple. The Temple is an old building and requires lots of maintenance. My dad is SO proud of his work there!

While I was growing up, my parents worked hard so that my mom could be a full time mom to all of us. It was important to them that we have the benefit of a full-time mom, and they made it work for many years. To make ends meet, my dad took on many side jobs. I seem to remember that lots of people cheated him out of fair wages, or didn't pay when and what they agreed to. Many Saturday mornings my dad would wake me up early and ask me to go with him on an all-day job. Often he would either give me money for helping, or pay for school supplies and other things that I needed. He even traded jobs so I could take piano lessons.

I always knew my dad was proud of me. He bragged about my grades to people and tried many times to prompt me to become a lawyer (I'm glad I didn't, many of my law-school friends had a tough time finding a job since graduation time occurred right about the time the economy collapsed in 2009).

My dad has had lots of trials. But he has always tried his best to serve Jesus Christ and be a good example for us. He taught us the Gospel and hard work.

Happy Birthday, Dad!