Elder James M. Dunn

Of the Seventy

“Like many others, I’ve built my testimony day by day, one brick at a time,” observes Elder James M. Dunn, recently called to the Second Quorum of the Seventy. “The spiritual stirrings I felt as a little boy have matured over time through service and doing what I was taught to be right.”

Born on 16 April 1940 in Pocatello, Idaho, to Billy E. and Melba Meyers Dunn, Elder Dunn and his five siblings grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, “having all the opportunities and blessings that a Latter-day Saint child could have.”

After serving a mission in Uruguay, Elder Dunn married Sandra (Penny) Barker in the Salt Lake Temple on 7 August 1963. He had admired and respected Penny since they had worked together as class officers in high school. In their early years of marriage, Elder Dunn served as a commissioned officer in the Utah National Guard, pursued a Latin American studies degree at Brigham Young University, and received a law degree from the University of Utah.

In his demanding profession as a trial lawyer, Elder Dunn learned that one less client or fewer billed hours were small prices to pay for his active Church service, which included callings as high councilor, bishop, stake president, mission president, and Area Authority Seventy.

As the father of six daughters, Elder Dunn says, “I have a special life; daughters and dads have a unique connection.” This connection was strengthened when his family served with him in Colombia, where he was a mission president. He and his wife and daughters returned home fluent in Spanish and spiritually strengthened.

Upon receiving his new calling, Elder Dunn commented: “One wonders why these things happen, what life will be like in the next years. But from past callings I know that serving will be a tremendous blessing. Over the years, the Church has been at the center of all the good things in my family and in my life.”