Remembering President Boyd K. Packer (1924–2015)

As a young man in Brigham City, Utah.

Serving as a bomber pilot in World War II (left).

On his wedding day with his wife, Donna, 1947.

With his wife, Donna, and the oldest 8 of their 10 children.

After joining the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in April 1970 (top right).

Talking with President Thomas S. Monson at general conference, 1984.

Working on a painting, a favorite hobby along with making wood carvings of birds and other animals.

When President Boyd K. Packer first had his picture in the newspaper because of an important position he had been given, one of his high school teachers was apparently pretty surprised and said, “That just proves that you can’t tell by looking at a frog how high he is going to jump!”

“The image of that frog, sitting in the mud instead of jumping,” said President Packer, “illustrates how inadequate I have felt when facing the responsibilities that have come to me.”¹

But face them he did, and he has blessed millions of people in the process.

For example, every time you look at a footnote in the scriptures, you’re witnessing the work of a committee that President Boyd K. Packer participated in with other members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Those references were created without the use of a search engine but rather with a large team, hours of hard work, a love of the scriptures, and a lifetime of study. The project included tens of thousands of footnotes, the Topical Guide, the Bible Dictionary, maps, and new chapter headings.

Not only did President Packer have a love for the scriptures, but he also had a love for teaching them. He wanted to teach seminary and did so for years, later becoming supervisor over the Church’s seminaries and institutes.

Teaching seminary strengthened his great love for the youth of the Church, and he spoke to them directly on numerous occasions. He taught boldly and with love—love for God, love for the people, and love for the doctrine. He was frequently called a master teacher.

Speaking in one of more than four decades of general conferences as an Apostle.

President Packer made it easy to understand the gospel through his analogies. If you’ve seen “Spiritual Crocodiles” (lds.org/go/crocodiles8NE) or “The Mediator” (lds.org/go/Mediator8NE), you’ll know why.

Despite all he has done, President Packer never considered himself better than anyone else. In fact, he said on multiple occasions that “as General Authorities of the Church, we are just the same as you are, and you are just the same as we are. … No member of the Church is esteemed by the Lord as more or less than any other.”²

Yet President Packer did speak of the witness and testimony of the Savior he had as a special witness: “I have the witness that would qualify me for the calling I have. I’ve had it since I met the First Presidency those many years ago” when called as a General Authority.³

In one of his final conference talks, he would again bear a powerful testimony of the Lord:

“After all the years that I have lived and taught and served, … there is one great truth that I would share. That is my witness of the Savior Jesus Christ.

“Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon recorded the following after a sacred experience:

“‘And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!

“‘For we saw him’ (D&C 76:22–23).

“Their words are my words.

“I believe and I am sure that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that He lives. …

“I bear my witness that the Savior lives. I know the Lord. I am His witness.”⁴

Notes

1. Boyd K. Packer, “The Weak and the Simple of the Church,” Ensign, Nov. 2007, 7.

2. Boyd K. Packer, “The Weak and the Simple,” 9.

3. Boyd K. Packer, “The Weak and the Simple,” 9.

4. Boyd K. Packer, “The Witness,” Ensign, May 2014, 97.

A Family Man

President Packer said twice in recent conferences, “The end of all activity in the Church is to see that a man and a woman with their children are happy at home, sealed for eternity” (“The Plan of Happiness,” Ensign, May 2015, 26).

Family truly was a focus for him. As an artist, he let his 10 children paint on his canvases or carve on his woodcarvings, recognizing that their relationship was more important than the artwork itself. And if his children needed to reach him, they were always able to do so, even if that meant him leaving a meeting with the Quorum of the Twelve to answer their call, even when they were adults (from an interview with Allan F. Packer, May 1, 2015).

Other Facts at a Glance

• Born September 10, 1924, in Brigham City, Utah, USA (60 miles [100 km] north of Salt Lake City)

• The 10th of 11 children

• Contracted polio at age 5, which would affect his health his entire life

• Earned a doctorate degree in education

• Served as president of the New England Mission

• Became a General Authority at age 37

• Served for over 53 years as a General Authority—the fifth-longest service in the Church’s history

• Worked on the 1981 LDS scriptures, which provided cross-references to all the standard works

• Became President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in February 2008, after serving as Acting President since June 1994

• Made 273 visits to 81 countries outside the USA