Because he had been retired and out of the public eye for more than 20 years, the name of William Edwin Berrett is perhaps an unknown quantity to many Utahns. But for the youths of many generations, he helped lay the foundation of an legacy that endures to this day.
Berrett, who died this week at age 91, was a pioneer in the seminary and institute program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which provides weekday religious instruction to hundreds of thousands of LDS college and high school students.Although he was trained as a lawyer, graduating from the University of Utah with high honors, and serving as a special prosecutor for the U.S. Office of Price Administration during World War II and later as an assistant U.S. attorney in Fairbanks, Alaska, his real love was teaching.
His involvement with the seminary system began in 1925 when he was principal at the Roosevelt High School seminary. The church seminary program had begun barely a dozen years earlier. At the time, the entire system was reaching 10,376 high school students.
By the time Berrett retired in 1970 as a vice president of Brigham Young University and administrator of seminaries and institutes of religion, enrollment had grown to more than 190,000 and the stage was set for explosive growth that reached 451,000 in 1993.
During his decades with the program, Berrett left an indelible mark on the system as a gifted administrator, a teacher, a writer and a leader deeply admired and loved by those who worked with him. He had warmth and wit tempered by a rock-solid sense of dedication. He was an accomplished public speaker. LDS Church President Joseph Fielding Smith once said after a Berrett talk: "That was the finest sermon on the Lord Jesus Christ and the Atonement that I ever heard."
Berrett was a prolific writer, authoring many books, texts and manuals used in the Church Education System and also served as an editor. His book, "The Restored Church" was considered a classic and was a standard teaching text in the seminaries for a generation. He also was once an editorial writer for the Deseret News. After his retirement, he wrote an extensive history of the seminary and institute program.
By any measure, Berrett led a rich and full life of service to others. But his faithful work with the seminary and institute program of the LDS Church continues to exert an influence on thousands of young people all over the world.