Elder Sterling Welling Sill, 91, an emeritus general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died early Wednesday, May 25, 1994, of natural causes at his Salt Lake home.
An emeritus general authority since 1978 and formerly a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, Elder Sill was an assistant to the Council of the Twelve for more than 22 years. He was a prominent businessman, educator, popular speaker and prolific writer and was an insurance executive when he was called to be a general authority.Elder Sill was born March 31, 1903, in Layton to Joseph A. and Marietta Welling Sill. He received his early education in Davis County schools and was president of his senior class at Davis High School. He attended Utah State University and the University of Utah.
Beginning in 1924, he was a missionary in the Southern States Mission, serving as president of the Alabama District. Returning home in 1926, he taught school for a year in Davis County and then became a life insurance salesman.
Elder Sill married Doris Mary Thornley of Kaysville in the Salt Lake Temple on Sept. 4, 1929. They would have celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary this year.
In 1932, Elder Sill became assistant manager of the Salt Lake office of the New York Life Insurance Co. That same year at a convention in San Francisco, he became the first Utahn ever to address the National Association of Life Underwriters. Two years later, he was the first Utahn to receive the degree of certified life underwriter. He was president of the Utah State Association of Life Underwriters in 1935-36.
In 1940, he was appointed as inspector of agencies for New York Life's offices in seven Western states. In 1987 New York Life Insurance Co. honored Elder Sill for 60 years of service to the company. Gerald L. Ericksen, past general manager of the Utah office, said, "Sterling has had a very significant impact on the lives of his associates. He has been a fine example for thousands of people and a person who has left a great legacy that will long be remembered."
For 11 years Elder Sill was a member of the University of Utah Board of Regents. For four of those years he was chairman. In February 1983, he was a recipient of a U. Distinguished Alumnus Award. The Sterling W. Sill Home Living Center at the U. bears his name.
A prolific writer, Elder Sill was author of 47 books, including many on leadership. Some of the most well-known are "Leadership I," "Leadership II," and "Leadership III," and "The International Journal of Success." For 17 years he was the speaker on KSL Radio's "Sunday Evening on Temple Square."
Elder Sill was the first bishop of the Garden Park Ward in Salt Lake City and served on the Davis North and Bonneville Stake high councils. He was a Sunday School General Board member before he was called in 1954 as an assistant to the Twelve. He was sustained to the First Quorum of the Seventy in 1976.
In September 1978, he was named an emeritus member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Four years later, he underwent surgery for a quadruple coronary artery bypass graft.
One goal Elder Sill had set, but did not fulfill, was to serve as mayor of Layton. In August 1980, residents of Layton proclaimed a "Sterling W. Sill Day." At that time, Elder Sill was named honorary mayor for the day.
Survivors include his widow; a son, John Michael Sill, and his wife, Diane, Salt Lake City; a daughter, Mary Carolyn Knepper and her husband, Don, of Mesa, Ariz.; 17 grandchildren; many great-grandchildren; a sister, Marguerite Bourne, Farmington, Utah; a brother, Claude W. Sill, Idaho Falls; and Alice T. Evans, a sister-in-law and widow of the late Elder Richard L. Evans, Salt Lake City. A son, David Sterling Sill, died last July.
Funeral services are pending.