J. TODD JENKINS

I was born in Jacksonville, Florida on December 30, 1957 to Joseph Jennings Jenkins and Nancy Jane Light Jenkins.  I attended K through 4th grades in Jacksonville.  My father was called to preside over the Great West Central States Mission, headquartered in Billings, Montana from 1967 to 1970.  I attended 5th through 7th grades in Billings schools.  I really enjoyed my three years in Montana.  I had never seen a mountain or snow before. 

After my father was released from the mission, we returned to Jacksonville for one year, where I attended 8th grade.  While in Montana, my father was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.  Upon returning to Florida, Dad found the heat and humidity accellerated his Multiple Sclerosis.  His doctors advised him to move to a dry, cooler climate.  In 1971 we moved to Provo, Utah.  I went 9th through 12 th grades in Provo, graduating from Provo Senior High School in 1975. 

I always wanted to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  During the time from graduation and April 1977, I worked as a dishwasher at what was then Utah Valley Hospital.  I also attended B.Y.U. as a music major.  I was able to earn all of the money I needed to finance my mission and served from April 1977 to April 1979 in the Tennessee Nashville Mission.  I loved it! 

I had done a little work for Berg Mortuary during my high school years, and knew from that time I wanted to be a funeral director.  Upon my return from Tennessee, I promptly went down to Berg Mortuary and applied for position as an apprentice funeral director and was hired.  I did not return to B.Y.U., but pursued my career as a funeral director instead.  I have worked in funeral service full time since 1979.  I attended Cypress College of Mortuary Science in Cypress, California, graduating in 1983.  Following graduation, I worked in California for eight more years and then in South Carolina for nine years.  I returned to Berg Mortuary in January 2000 and have enjoyed being back in Utah very much. 

In June 1979, I met the lovely Gayle Yates.  I knew immediately I could not let her slip away.  We were married in the Provo LDS Temple in January 1980. We are the parents to three very wonderful children, Caitlin, now 22, working as a Vista Leader for Americorps - Vista and preparing for a mission call; Jeffrey, now 19, who has worked as a maintenance man for Berg Mortuary since he was 13 and will enter the M.T.C. in June 2010, then bound for the Florida - Tallahassee Mission; and Douglas, now 17, who will graduate from Springville Senior High School in May 2010.

I have loved my career.  It has been an honor to serve families at a most personal time in their lives for the past 30 plus years.  It is rewarding to have a family come to you with a heavy burden and have them leave having had the burden lightened through the service we render to them.  Berg Mortuary is a very fine service establishment.  I cannot picture myself working for a finer funeral family.  Under the leadership of Carl Berg, the families we serve receive premium service second to none while offering this service at a most reasonable cost.