Stanley Nixon

Stanley Reed Nixon was born May 30, 1926 in Los Angeles, CA, to St. Clair and Lyle Glazier Nixon. He was the second of four children. He passed away October 20, 2020 from circumstances due to old age.

Reed graduated from Venice High School in California in 1943. He joined the Navy and was inducted into the V12 Program at Cal Tech. In 1945 he received an Electrical Engineering Degree and was then stationed at Pearl Harbor as an Ensign and decoding officer under Admiral Nimitz. He left the Navy in 1946 to teach mathematics at Brigham Young University where he met Joyce Laura Johnson, his eternal sweetheart. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1947. Ten days after their marriage Reed left to fulfill a 2-year mission in western Canada. One year later Joyce joined him as his missionary companion for the duration of their mission. Following their mission Reed began his employment with Telluride Power Company in Richfield, Utah. Reed and Joyce and their young family moved to Oakridge, TN, where Reed enrolled in the nuclear energy program and became a nuclear engineer. Reed was on the staff of Admiral Rickover in the development of the nuclear reactor on the Nautilus Submarine, the first application of nuclear energy outside of the atomic bomb. After several career moves Reed was employed in the management at North American Aviation (NAA). Reed was on the small team that completed the merger of NAA and Rockwell International. This was the largest corporate merger in the world up to that time.

In 1973, Reed moved his family to Provo, UT, to help organize the Eyring Research Institute. While there he served on President Ronald Reagan’s task force for the space shuttle. Following his time at Eyring he began several entrepreneurial activities with his sons in construction and land development, a long-distance telephone service, and mortgage brokering. Reed retired in 1989 and began many years of full-time church service. He and Joyce served seven missions together covering five continents.

Reed had a great passion for scouting and served thirty-two years as an adult scout leader in various capacities, many in Woodland Hills, CA. He has served as a Bishop, Branch President three times, District President at the Provo Missionary Training Center, and Mission President of the Wisconsin, Milwaukee Mission from 1992 until 1995. Reed’s most recent church service has been related to Family History in many varied areas.

Reed is survived by his wife Joyce, married seventy-three years, as well as his sons and their spouses; Mark R. and Sheryl (Brown), Robert D. and Tamara (Masterson), Clair J. and Laura (Newman), Evan G. and Cheryl (Loftus), and Carl B. Nixon.

Reed is also survived by a brother and sister-in-law, Richard S. and Loretta (Dalby) Nixon and a sister and brother-in-law, Maline (Nixon) and Marion Hansen. Reed was preceded in death by his youngest son, Jay H. Nixon, an older brother, James Nixon, as well as his parents, St. Clair and Lyle G. Nixon. Reed and Joyce have twenty-six grandchildren and eighty-eight great grandchildren.

The family would like to thank Canyon Home Health for their tender and sympathetic hospice care for Reed. In lieu of flowers consider contributing to the LDS Philanthropies.

The family will gather for interment at the Orem City Cemetery Saturday, October 24, 2020.

Condolences may be expressed to the family on this page.

For those unable to join us in person, you may view the Services HERE