Six New Members, New President of the Seventy; New Presiding Bishopric

The opening session of Saturday’s April 6 general conference was marked by the First Presidency announcement of the calling of Elder Wm. Grant Bangerter of the First Quorum of the Seventy to the Presidency of that Quorum, the release of the Presiding Bishopric—Bishop Victor L. Brown, Bishop H. Burke Peterson, and Bishop J. Richard Clarke—and the calling of the released Presiding Bishopric to the First Quorum of the Seventy.

The First Presidency also announced the calling of three other members to the First Quorum of the Seventy—Elder Hans Benjamin Ringger of Switzerland, Elder Waldo Pratt Call, Sr., of Mexico, and Elder Helio da Rocha Camargo of Brazil—as well as the calling of Elder Robert D. Hales of the First Quorum of the Seventy as Presiding Bishop, with Bishop Henry B. Eyring as First Counselor and Bishop Glenn L. Pace as Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric.

The additions to the First Quorum of the Seventy bring active membership in that quorum to fifty-three. There are also seven General Authorities Emeritus from the First Quorum of the Seventy.

Elder Wm. Grant Bangerter was called to the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Elder G. Homer Durham on January 10. A member of the quorum since its organization in 1976, Elder Bangerter will be serving in its presidency for the second time.

Prior to his calling, he had been serving as a member of the Church’s North America Northeast Presidency. He continues as Executive Director of the Temple Department.

Elder Bangerter began his service as a General Authority in April 1975 as an Assistant to the Council of the Twelve. Since that calling, he has served as President of the International Mission, Managing Director of the Genealogical Department, and Area Supervisor for Brazil, Colorado, and Nevada.

He served a mission to Brazil from 1939 to 1941 and returned there to serve as mission president from 1958 to 1963. In 1974, he was called by the First Presidency to open the Portugal Lisbon Mission. It was from this position as mission president that he was called as a General Authority.

He and his wife, the former Geraldine Hamblin, have five sons and five daughters. Three of the children were born to his first wife, Mildred Lee Schwantes, who died in 1952. Elder Bangerter is from Granger, in the Salt Lake Valley.

Elder Wm. Grant Bangerter, appointed to the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy.

Elder Victor L. Brown, who had served as Presiding Bishop since April 1972, has been appointed president of the Salt Lake Temple, effective 1 June 1985. He succeeds Elder Marion D. Hanks, another member of the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy, who was recently assigned as Executive Director of the Church’s Correlation Department.

Elder Brown has served as a General Authority since 1961, when he was called as Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric. He previously served as a bishop and a counselor in a stake presidency in Denver, Colorado.

As Presiding Bishop, he had responsibility for seven major Church departments. He has also served as a director, trustee, or adviser to several educational, cultural, civic, and business institutions or organizations.

Elder Brown is a native of Calgary, Alberta. He and his wife, Lois Kjar Brown, are the parents of three sons and two daughters.

Elder Victor L. Brown and Elder H. Burke Peterson have received new assignments—Elder Brown, president of the Salt Lake Temple, and Elder Peterson, president of the Jordan River Temple.

Elder H. Burke Peterson has been appointed president of the Jordan River Temple, succeeding President Donovan H. Van Dam on June 1.

Elder Peterson had served as a regional representative, stake president, and bishop before his calling as First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric on 6 April 1972. He was a consulting civil engineer in Phoenix, Arizona, at the time of his call.

He is a native of Salt Lake City. He and his wife, Brookie Cardon Peterson, have five daughters.

Elder J. Richard Clarke has been appointed president of the South Africa Cape Town Mission, an area in which he served a mission as a young man. He will begin his service there on July 1.

A General Authority since October of 1976, when he was called as Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, Elder Clarke has served as a bishop, stake mission president, stake president, and regional representative in his native Idaho.

He was an executive for a major insurance company before his calling as a General Authority.

He and his wife, Barbara Jean Reed Clarke, have eight children.

Elder J. Richard Clarke will serve as president of the South Africa Cape Town Mission.

Bishop Robert D. Hales had been serving as president of the Church’s North America Southwest Area and as First Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency at the time of his calling to the Presiding Bishopric. He has been a General Authority since he was sustained an Assistant to the Council of the Twelve in 1975.

He had been a regional representative for five years prior to his call as a General Authority. He had also served as a branch president, bishop, high councilor, and stake president. He was president of the England London Mission from 1978 through 1979.

Prior to his calling as a General Authority, he was vice-president of Chesebrough Ponds’, Inc., and had served in executive positions for the company in the United States and Europe. He and his wife, Mary Elene Crandall Hales, have two sons.

Bishop Robert D. Hales was appointed Presiding Bishop.