Saturday morning's solemn assembly included the sustaining of several new LDS general authorities and auxiliary leaders, as well as the release of several others.
Sustained as new members of the First Quorum of the Seventy were Elder Dennis B. Neuenschwander, Elder Andrew Wayne Peterson and Elder Cecil Osborn Samuelson Jr.Patricia Peterson Pinegar, formerly second counselor in the Young Women General Presidency, was released from that call and sustained as the new general president of the Primary. Sustained with her were Anne Goalen Wirthlin, first counselor, and Susan Lillywhite Warner, second counselor. Bonnie Dansie Parkin was sustained as second counselor in the Young Women General Presidency.
New members of the Sunday School General Presidency were also called: Elder Charles Didier of the Presidency of the Seventy was sustained as president, with Elder J Ballard Washburn as first counselor and Elder F. Burton Howard as second counselor.
Elder Neuenschwander had served in the Second Quorum of the Seventy since April 1991, most recently as president of the Europe Area. After teaching Russian at the University of Utah and Brigham Young University, he helped establish microfilming projects throughout Eastern Europe and has presided over missionary efforts in that area, as well as in parts of the former Soviet Union. He and his wife, LeAnn, have four children.
Elder Peterson is a native of San Francisco and has practiced dentistry in Salt Lake City since graduating from the University of the Pacific Dental School in 1974. He has served with the Boy Scouts of America, Utah Bolivia Partners, the Community Service Council and the Lowell Bennion Community Service Center. Church service has been as a regional representative, stake president, mission president and bishop's counselor. He and his wife, Christine, are parents of eight children.
Elder Samuelson is a native of Salt Lake City and has been senior vice president of Intermountain Healthcare. A physician with degrees from the University of Utah, he has served as vice president for health sciences at the U. and as dean of the school of medicine. Community service includes positions with local and national medical and hospital organizations. He has served as a regional representative, stake president, stake high councilor, branch president and missionary. He and his wife, Sharon, are parents of five children.
President Pinegar has served as second counselor in the Young Women General Presidency since April 1992 and earlier served on the Primary General Board. A native of Cedar City, she and her husband, Ed, have presided over the church's England South Mission and the Missionary Training Center in Provo. Active in local parent-teacher organizations, President Pinegar has also served as ward and stake Primary president and teacher, ward Relief Society president, counselor and teacher, ward Young Women president and teacher and counselor in a stake Young Women presidency. She and her husband have eight children.
Sister Wirthlin of Salt Lake City is a graduate of the University of Utah and has served the church in a variety of callings, including ward Relief Society and Primary president, counselor in a ward Young Women presidency and member of the Young Women General Board. She has also served with her husband, David, in presiding over the Germany Frankfurt Mission. They have six children.
Sister Warner is a native of Anaheim, Calif., and graduated from Brigham Young University. She has taught school in Provo and served the church as a member of the Primary General Board, stake Primary president, ward Young Women president, Relief Society president and Sunday School and Primary teacher. She and her husband, Terry, have 10 children.
Sister Parkin is a native of Murray and a graduate of Utah State University. She has been active in parent-teacher organizations and has served as a page on the floor of the Utah Senate. She has served the church as a member of the Relief Society General Board, stake Young Women president, ward Relief Society and Primary president, and as a Sunday School teacher. She and her husband, James, have four children.
In other action Saturday, Elder Hartman Rector Jr., who has served as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy since 1968, received emeritus status.
Released from the Second Quorum of the Seventy were: Elder Albert Choules Jr., Elder Lloyd P. George, Elder Malcolm S. Jeppsen, Elder Richard P. Lindsay, Elder Merlin R. Lybbert, Elder Gerald E. Melchin and Elder Horacio A. Tenorio.
Also released as members of the Primary General Presidency were President Michaelene P. Grassli, and her counselors, Sister Betty Jo N. Jepsen and Sister Ruth B. Wright.