Funeral services were Tuesday for Virginia Pickett Backman, 75, wife of Elder Robert L. Backman, an emeritus general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Mrs. Backman, who served with her husband when he was called in the mid-1960s as president of the Northwestern States Mission, died Friday, June 4, 1999, in Salt Lake City.Services were in the Parleys 6th Ward chapel. Burial was in Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park.
Mrs. Backman, who traveled with her husband on many church assignments around the world, was born in Richfield. At age 8 she moved with her family to Salt Lake City. She graduated from East High School and attended the University of Utah.
She was president of the American Field Service for Highland High District. She served on Primary and Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association (now known as Young Women) stake boards and in various teaching assignments. Mrs. Backman loved working with young people and was beloved by missionaries who served in the mission field.
In 1957, she and her husband and their six daughters (they later had a seventh daughter) were named Utah winners in a nationwide search for an "All American Family." Their family was chosen by a national selection board of editors of the Book of Knowledge and members of the Boys Clubs of America.
She married Elder Backman July 5, 1941. The marriage was solemnized in the Salt Lake Temple.