Ginger Durbin

Ginger Durbin passed away at her home in Shelley, surrounded by family, on February 15^th. She was 50.

Ginger was born July 15, 1973 to Val Ray Denton, a social work administrator from Driggs, and Kaytherine Heinze Denton, a schoolteacher and office administrator from Ogden. She was the second of their two daughters, and they lived at the same home on South Park Ave in Shelley while growing up. She graduated from Shelley High School in 1991 and briefly attended Ricks College in Rexburg and Provo College. She worked briefly as a waitress in West Yellowstone restaurants and later as a dental assistant.

The first time she saw Darren Durbin in the hallways of Shelley High School, she turned to her friend and said she would marry him. They were married May 1, 1992, in the Idaho Falls Temple. They had five children together – Andrew, Erin, Willson, Lindsey, and Aimee – and lived in West Yellowstone, Provo, Shelley, Idaho Falls, and Denver, before settling into their current home in Shelley, a block away from where Ginger grew up. There, she taught piano lessons to hundreds of students over the course of 20 years.

She was a natural musician and could play any song on the piano by ear on request. She loved many hymns and religious music, the Great American Songbook, classic country, and baroque and classical orchestral works. She served as a church organist and provided music for many funerals and other events.

Ginger was drawn to the idea of self-sufficiency and the agricultural life, and she kept chickens and an annually expanding vegetable garden in her backyard, decorated with a sign with the words to the primary song: “The Prophet said to plant a garden // so that’s what we’ll do.” She similarly adorned her décor, photo albums, and calendars with the words of songs that were most important to her.

She had an incredible energy, wild sense of humor, and unabashed enthusiasm that embarrassed her kids, made her friends laugh, sometimes flustered restaurant staff, and even caught the attention of game show producers: she won prizes on The Price is Right and Let’s Make a Deal in 2005 and 2012.

Ginger loved to serve and knew how to connect with people and make them feel loved and cared for. She served in Relief Society, YW, and Primary Presidencies, and loved those she taught and served. She was a fervent believer in the power of prayer and built a relationship with her Father in Heaven in this life. She said about prayer and about life’s other spiritual challenges that “the way to gain a testimony of something is by doing it – and being diligent.”

She is survived by her husband, Darren; her five children, Andrew Durbin of Provo, Erin (Tyler) Yokoo of Idaho Falls, Willson (Brooke) Durbin of Mapleton, Lindsey Durbin of Provo, and Aimee Durbin of Shelley; three grandchildren, Sydney Jane and Kilee Ann Durbin of Mapleton and Millie May Yokoo of Idaho Falls; her older sister, Heather (Doug) DePriest of Cedar City; and her father, Val Ray Denton of Shelley She is proceeded in death by her mother, Kaytherine Heinze Denton.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 A.M. Saturday, February 24, 2024, at the Shelley South Stake Center (675 South Milton Ave.). The family will meet with friends for a visitation Friday evening from 6:00 P.M. till 7:30 P.M. at Nalder Funeral Home (110 West Oak Street) in Shelley and Saturday morning from 9:30 A.M. till 10:40 A.M. at the Shelley South Stake Center. Burial will be at the Hillcrest Cemetery in Shelley.

Those who would like to participate in the funeral service remotely are invited to view the service on a live broadcast at https://www.shelleysouthstake.org/wards/7th/

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