Elder R. Conrad Schultz

Of the Seventy

Elder R. Conrad Schultz has enjoyed playing basketball since he was young, so it was a surprise to everyone—himself included—when he quit his Oregon high school team as a senior. “At the time I didn’t know why I needed to quit,” he says. “But now I know.”

The day after he left the school team, a friend invited him to play for his ward team. Although not a Church member at the time, young Conrad agreed, and he helped take the team to the All-Church tournament in Salt Lake City. They placed among the top teams in the tournament, and afterward team members were able to attend a banquet where the featured speaker was Joseph Fielding Smith, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

“When I came back from the tournament, I wanted to know more about the Church,” says Elder Schultz. “So I took the missionary discussions.” While fasting and praying, he received a strong witness that Joseph Smith was a prophet and the Book of Mormon was the word of God. He was baptized shortly thereafter, in 1956. Two years later, in June 1958, he commenced his service in the Gulf States Mission.

Born in North Bend, Oregon, on 11 March 1938, Elder Schultz is the son of Ralph Conrad Schultz and Dorothy Bushong Schultz. He has lived in his home state for most of his life. He earned his bachelor’s and juris doctorate degrees at the University of Oregon and has practiced law throughout his career. In June 1961 he married Carolyn Lake in the Salt Lake Temple; the couple now have five children and eight grandchildren. He and his family enjoy camping, fishing, and attending sporting events together. “I can’t express how important family unity is,” he says. “It is a great thing in our lives.”

Prior to his call to the Second Quorum of the Seventy, Elder Schultz served as a bishop, stake president, and president of the Colorado Denver South Mission. “Missionary work is the touchstone of my heart,” he says. “It is so important to me because of how it has blessed my own life.”