The young Utah State University student, Duane Gerrard, was anxious to get on the road, but would first learn an important lesson about prayer.
It was the late 1950s. He had enjoyed his weekend, visiting with his family and with his romantic interest - Kay Bennion. But as snow fell, he knew the trip from his home in Taylorsville, Utah, to Logan would be especially treacherous that Sunday night."Big snowflakes were falling; there was snow on the ground," Elder Gerrard remembered during a Church News interview. "It was about 10:30 and it took me about two hours to make the drive in those days, so I was anxious to get launched."
He started loading his car when his father, Leonard Gerrard, said, "Son, let's have family prayer before you go."
Elder Gerrard continued, "I thought, `Oh, no!' My dad used to pray for 5 to 10 minutes every time. He covered all the bases.
"Mother, father and I went into the big bedroom and knelt there at the side of the bed and he asked me to pray. I was relieved. I thought, `We'll get through this fast.' So I gave a quick prayer, bounced to my feet and was ready to leave."
Then his father walked out to the car with him.
"He knew I said a bad prayer," Elder Gerrard said. "It was terrible.
"He grabbed me by the shoulders, turned me to him and said, `Son, do you pray every day?' Well, you don't lie to your dad, so I said, `Just about every day, Dad. Whenever I have a test or a big athletic event or something.
"Then he said to me, `Promise me you'll pray every day, kneeling, out loud.'
"You know, that really hit me as I drove back to school that night. I thought about my future. The snow fell. It was a lovely drive. It was especially memorable because three days later my dad died."
The impact of that lesson on prayer has been a blessing for Elder Gerrard, 59, his wife, Kay, and their family. "I really made prayer a matter of deep concern then, and still do," he said.
The path he has followed has now led to a calling in the Second Quorum of the Seventy; he was sustained during general conference on April 5.
During the interview with the Church News, he and his wife radiated an affection for each other developed through the years since they first became acquainted in elementary school. Their nature was down to earth and cheerful.
Prayer, Elder Gerrard said, has helped in making decisions and enduring trials as he finished school, joined the Air Force and flew cargo planes throughout the world, including to Vietnam during the war there, became an airline pilot, helped Western Airlines through an economic crisis and became a key administrator, as well as a pilot, for Delta Airlines.
During the Vietnam War, he received flight training and ranked high in his class, so he could have opted to pilot fighter jets. "But for some reason - my wife and I prayed about it a lot - I picked multi-engine. My crew would drop troops behind the lines and take supplies in under fire, but it wasn't nearly as hazardous as it was for the fighter pilots."
Later in his life, while working for Delta, Elder Gerrard was asked to move to Atlanta, Ga., to be the airline's assistant manager for flight standards. But he was happy with his home in Kaysville, Utah, and piloting Delta flights in the western United States.
Without a doubt in his mind about what he wanted to do, he turned down the offer several times. But finally the executive vice president of operations who was trying to recruit him said, "You're a religious man," and asked Elder Gerrard to pray about it. He shared the suggestion with his wife and she agreed they should pray about it. The answer came back that he accept the position. Heeding that answer led not only to valuable work improving safety standards for Delta Air Lines, but also to his service as a regional representative in the North America Southeast Area during the six years he and his wife lived in Georgia.
Prior to his becoming a General Authority, Elder Gerrard's career as a pilot and in management for two major airlines was demanding on his time. He has also served faithfully in Church callings including area authority, regional representative, stake president and bishop.
When asked about husbands who are heavily involved in career and Church service, Sister Gerrard said, "As long as they're doing what they're supposed to do you just work along with them. The children have an example there, and that's what they need."
Elder Gerrard did find time to spend with his children, Sister Gerrard said, and what time he spent with them was valuable. "They knew if he wasn't there, he was doing something else he should be doing."
Added to the power of prayer in the life of Elder Gerrard is a positive work ethic. He developed that ethic as a youth living in Taylorsville, which at that time was a mostly rural part of the Salt Lake Valley.
His employment was primarily on the farms in the area. He also worked as a summer-relief garbage man (two bucks an hour and all you could eat, he chuckled) for Salt Lake County.
Elder Gerrard said that one farmer in particular, Bud Neilsen, was good to him and provided many work opportunities.
On one occasion, young Dewey, as he was called, was cleaning chicken coops for Bud. His boss told him, "You can clean those chicken coops about as fast as any man I've seen except for Ray Smith. Ray Smith can clean two of these in a day."
Elder Gerrard, who was doing about one coop a day, was five years younger than "handsome and strong as an ox" Ray Smith. But Elder Gerrard wouldn't back down from the challenge. It was difficult, but by refining his technique, working from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., and skipping all breaks except 30 minutes for lunch, he was finally able to consistently clean two coops a day.
A short time later he saw Ray at a dance. About the encounter, Elder Gerrard said with a laugh, "I told him, `You're not so smart, Smith.' He said, `Why?' I said, `I can clean two chicken coops a day.' He said, `Oh, I did that once. It just about killed me.' "
Laboring on the farms in the valley also led Elder Gerrard to his career choice. He cleaned a lot of ditches, cutting the weeds out and keeping the channel clear for the water to run through.
"When you clean out ditches, there is soft, moist, cool soil in the bottom of the ditch. While taking a break, you don't lie out on the bank in the hot sun. You lie down in the cool. I used to lie down there in the ditches to rest my back and would look up in the sky and these airplanes would fly over to land at the Salt Lake Airport. I used to think, `I'd love to do that.'
"Now I'm up there flying, looking down wishing I was lying in the ditch," he said with a laugh. It is obvious he has a passion for flying as well as for his family and his Church.
And now he is dedicated to serving the Lord, remaining prayerful and working diligently as a General Authority.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Elder Duane B. Gerrard
Family: Born in Murray, Utah, April 22, 1938, to Leonard and Mildred Bird Gerrard. Married Kay Bennion in the Salt Lake Temple, Sept. 11, 1959. Parents of eight children: Leslie (Douglas) Wach, Julie (George) Hyde, Brad (Marilyn), Michelle (Steven) Bodon, Michael (Adrienne), Jeff (Megan), Becky (Darren) Frandsen, and Jenni (Michael) Hamblin; 22 grandchildren.
Education: Bachelor's degree in aeronautical technology from Utah State University; graduate work at University of Hawaii and University of Southern California.
Military service: Retired U.S. Air Force major.
Employment: Pilot and administrator in various positions for Delta Air Lines including system manager for flight safety, assistant manager for flight standards and chief flight instructor, 1987-1997; pilot and administrator in various positions for Western Airlines including vice president of flight operations, system manager for flight standards/technical affairs, chief pilot, and project pilot for Western Airlines and Boeing during development of Boeing 767 aircraft, 1967-1987.
Church Service: area authority, regional representative, stake president, high councilor and bishop.