Centenarians
Hazel Marie Reynolds Pierson of the Clifton 2nd Ward, Preston Idaho North Stake, celebrated her 100th birthday on Nov. 22. She was born in Murray, Utah, to Charles R. and Louise Brockbank Reynolds. She married Peter Wilford Pierson in the Salt Lake Temple on June 8, 1921. They have three children, 15 grandchildren, 45 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. Sister Pierson has held many Church positions including service with her husband as ordinance workers in the Salt Lake Temple for several years.
Frank Briant Stringham of the Hunter 35th Ward, Salt Lake Hunter Central Stake, celebrated his 100th birthday on November 20. He was born in Salt Lake City to John and Ettie May Penrose, grandson of Elder Charles W. Penrose. Brother Stringham was a wood carver and furniture maker and also made silk-wrapped bamboo fly rods. He married Ruth Scott in 1930 and has two children, eight grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. He was an accountant for a sugar company for 35 years and helped build the Cannon Stake Center in Salt Lake.
Leadership
Christopher D. Billings, a 16-year-old priest in the Silver City 1st Ward, Silver City New Mexico Stake, has been selected to attend the 2001 National Youth Leadership Forum on Law in Washington, D.C. Chris is a junior in high school while also taking classes at Western New Mexico University. He is president of the local FFA chapter and also FFA district vice-president and a member of the National Honor Society.
Professional
Luis Alfredo V. de Carvalho of the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Stake was recently honored with the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers-USA New Educational Technologies Award. He earned the award for development of Virtual City, a new computer therapy for psychiatric and neurological patients. The patient can walk through the virtual city, go shopping, take a taxi, listen to music and watch television in a virtual home that the patient decorates. The system was developed at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.