Washington, Utah - E. Jay Hamblin, age 86, returned to his Heavenly Father on November 25, 2013 at 7:00 a.m. He was born in St. George, Utah, on March 18, 1927, to Edwin Obed Hamblin and Josephine Jarvis Milne Hamblin. When he was two years old, his family moved to Murray, Utah. He attended Murray High School and graduated in 1945. He was active in sports very early in his childhood. He played football, basketball, baseball and performed in track. He played for the State basketball championship in 1944 and was named as one of five First Team All-State players in his Junior and Senior year.

He joined the Navy at age 18 and attended boot camp at The Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Chicago, Illinois, and then attended a Radio Technician school in Chicago. When the war with Japan ended Jay was transferred to Camp Pendleton in Long Beach, California, then to Pearl Harbor, and onto Cavite in the Philippines where he was assigned to the USS Scribner an APD (Amphibious Destroyer). The ship then cruised to Teinsen, Tsingtao, and Shanghai, China. They sailed from there to Haiphong in what was at that time French Indo China, and later became North Vietnam. Aboard the ship was a high ranking naval officer who was in charge of repatriating hundreds of thousands of Japanese prisons of war in the Pacific area.

On his way back to the United States his ship stopped at Eniwetock where the United States was about to drop a nuclear bomb on dozens of Japanese ships to determine its effect. From there his ship sailed to Pearl Harbor, cruised to San Diego, and then proceeded through the Panama Canal to Philadelphia. His last stop was Charleston, South Carolina where the ship was decommissioned. He was honorably discharged and returned home.

When he returned home he attended Brigham Young University on a basketball scholarship. In 1948, BYU won the Skyline basketball championship. The next year he was a walk-on for the football team and became the starting left half back.

He married his college sweetheart, Shirley Ann Rowe, in the Logan Temple on August 2, 1948. After graduating from Brigham Young University in 1950 he was recruited to play football with the New York Giants, but instead accepted a position as head basketball coach, track coach and assistant football coach at Morgan High School in Morgan, Utah. He was also the Morgan County Recreation Director. After two years, he moved back to Murray and worked for the Duce Sporting Goods Store. He then became a Life Insurance agent for New York Life. After a short time with that company he applied for a job with The Coleman Company as a Sales Representative in Montana and was hired. The family lived in Great Falls, Montana for two years and he was then promoted to Regional Sales Manager and was transferred to Bellevue, Washington where the family lived for three years. He was then promoted to National Sales Manager for The Coleman Company and the family moved to the company headquarters in Wichita, Kansas. After two years in this position the company revised their entire sales structure and he was transferred to Van Nuys, California as a Zone Manager overseeing a sales force in eight western states. After five years he was transferred back to Bellevue, Washington where he retired from Coleman Company after thirty-seven and a half years. Jay was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He served in most every position in the church except in the Primary and Relief Society. He served as Bishop twice. After retirement he and his wife served an eighteen-month mission as an LDS Employment Resource missionary in Bellevue, Washington.

In 2003, he and his wife moved to Coral Canyon in Washington, Utah where they enjoyed the sunshine, their new home, neighbors, and church. Jay loved to golf, fish, hunt, and painting. He was the author of a fiction spy novel titled Double Exposure.

Jay is survived by his four children, Jody (John) Sears, Herriman, Utah, Randy Jay (Nancy) Hamblin, Coupeville, Washington, Susan(Paul) Lawrence, Issaquah, Washington, and Scott Edwin (Carrie) Hamblin, Issaquah, Washington; 23 grandchildren; and 26 great grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his wife, Shirley Anne Rowe, his father, Edwin Obed Hamblin, his mother Josephine Jarvis Milne Hamblin and four brothers; Merlyn, Duane, Franklin, Lee, and two sisters, Edna Hamblin Reynolds and Veva Hamblin Riding.

He will be missed by his family and many friends.

Funeral services will be held Tuesday, November 26, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. at the Coral Canyon LDS 1 ^st Ward C hapel, 1950 North Coral Canyon Blvd., Washington, Utah. A visitation will be held Tuesday at the Chapel, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.,prior to services. Interment will be at the Washington City Cemetery. Arrangements entrusted to the care of Metcalf Mortuary, (435) 673-4221.

In lieu of flowers, donations preferred to Kids2Families, http://www.kids2families.org/ or 18834 SE 42 St. Issaquah, WA 98027.