Miller Francis Shurtleff, who once served as executive assistant to Agriculture Secretary Ezra Taft Benson, died at his home in McLean, Va., on Thursday, Nov. 17, 1994. He was 80 years old.
Mr. Shurtleff, a Salt Lake native, moved to Washington, D.C., in 1936 and married Alice E. Hawkins, Atlanta, Ga., in 1941. He then joined the Navy and was sent to the south Pacific in World War II.After the war, he returned to the nation's capital, working for the Department of Agriculture, eventually becoming executive assistant to Secretary Benson, who later became president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Mr. Shurtleff left the Department of Agriculture to work for the National Science Foundation for 10 years, serving in Washington, D.C., and New Delhi, India. He also worked for Washington State University in Sudan, Africa.
A lifelong member of the LDS Church, Mr. Shurtleff completed a mission in Southern States Mission, served as a bishop and stake president in Virginia and in 1972 was called to preside over the Southeast Asia Mission, based in Singapore. He worked in the Washington, D.C., temple during the 1980s.