Bio for E. Jed Barton

After returning from the Mission in November of 1978, I attended Utah State University and graduated with a degree in Marketing. I then moved south to the University of Utah for a Masters degree in Business Administration. Still single at that point, I decided to stay somewhat close to Zion where the marriage prospects seemed brighter so took a job in southern Idaho with Westinghouse Electric. This proved fortuitous when I met the girl of my dreams, Jill Hart, on a weekend trip home to Logan. She is from there and was attending Utah State at the time.

A few months after we were married in 1985, I took a job with a small financial services company near Salt Lake. This also allowed Jill to complete a master’s degree in Audiology at the University of Utah. We now have four children—Joshua (16), Hayden (13), Wesley (11) and Jessa (6)—and are expecting a fifth in late October which means I will be traveling to the reunion alone.

One piece of personal advice that I remember receiving from President Muren in my final missionary interview was to go where the Lord needed me. After a couple of years of living in Farmington it became apparent that the Salt Lake valley was not “the place” where we were most needed so we started looking at overseas possibilities. The desire to switch countries on a regular basis must have been a bug I picked up in C.A. In 1989 I joined the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Through work assignments with USAID we have spent the last 14 years living in Nairobi Kenya, La Paz Bolivia, Kathmandu Nepal and now Lima Peru where I am currently the USAID Regional Controller for Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. We have enjoyed experiencing a variety of cultures and serving the Lord as needed no matter what group of our Father in Heaven’s children we happen to be living amongst. One of the highlights of our time in Kenya was having President Muren show up unexpectedly for a branch fireside.

As a Missionary I served in Fesitranh, Honduras, Managua and Granada Nicaragua, San Pedro and Desamparados Costa Rica, La Chorrera Panama and Balboa Canal Zone. My companions were Mike Barkdull, Richard Clutter, Kieth Gardner, Kevin Benson, Kent England, Miguel Aguilar, Mario Zelaya, Brent Romney, Terry Howard, Gerald Shelley, Klay Clawson (twice), Richard Lambert, John Edwards, Bruce Theurer and James Ness.