Called to Serve

The 169th Semiannual General Conference

At the Sunday afternoon session of the 169th Semiannual General Conference on October 3, 1999, President Gordon B. Hinckley bid farewell to the Salt Lake Tabernacle as a meeting place for general conference. With a few exceptions, Latter-day Saints have met in the Tabernacle for conference for the past 132 years. President Hinckley said, “If present plans hold, this is the last time we will meet in this Tabernacle for general conference. … We anticipate that next April we will meet in a new hall as we usher in a new century and a new millennium.” The new Conference Center, located on a block adjoining Temple Square, will seat 21,000 people.

During the sustaining of Church officers, Elder Ben B. Banks was sustained as a member of the presidency of the Seventy, and Elders Joe J. Christensen and Andrew W. Peterson were designated emeritus members of the First Quorum of the Seventy.

The Primary general presidency was reorganized with Coleen K. Menlove as the new general president and Sydney S. Reynolds and Gayle M. Clegg as counselors. Sister Menlove is a former elementary school teacher and is married to Dean Menlove. Sister Reynolds, a former PTA president and volunteer for the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival, is married to Noel Reynolds. Sister Clegg has taught elementary school in the United States and Latin America and is married to Calvin Clegg.

Called to the Primary general presidency are (left to right) Sydney S. Reynolds, Coleen K. Menlove, and Gayle M. Clegg.

Photography by Jed Clark