OGDEN — The late LDS Church President David O. McKay was a consummate educator who believed teaching was the most noble profession of all, speakers said at a ceremony Tuesday naming the Weber State University Education Building in his honor.
The honor accorded to President McKay was a fitting "reward for his love for this institution," said President Gordon B. Hinckley, who had a long association with President McKay as both served in the ranks of the general authorities of the church. President McKay was called to the Quorum of the Twelve in 1906 and became president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in April 1951. He died Jan. 18, 1970, at the age of 96.
His ties to WSU began when he was a teenager. Encouraged by his father to add to the eighth-grade education he had acquired in his hometown of Huntsville, he traveled down Ogden Canyon to attend classes at Weber Academy. Then one of a number of academies run by the church, it offered the equivalent of a high school education. He then became a teacher, a career temporarily interrupted when he was called as a missionary to Scotland. He subsequently completed his higher education at the University of Utah, where he also was a leader in student affairs.
In 1899, he returned to the academy as a teacher and three years later he became principal. "As a young married man, he was teaching for $900 a year," President Hinckley said. "He had a love for youth and a desire to see them make something of themselves."
During his tenure as head of the academy, President McKay took care of administrative responsibilities, taught and even led the band until a real musician advised him he ought to get someone qualified. He raised money to add buildings to the campus and was deeply involved in overseeing the rapid growth of the institution when he was called to be a member of the Quorum of the Twelve.
In an unusual departure from custom, church leadership allowed him to continue his association at the academy for several years while performing his church responsibilities, including 14 years as a member of the board of trustees. In 1933, the church turned the school over to the state and it began its evolution from Weber Academy to Weber State College to Weber State University.
The mission of the current College of Education, which includes preparation of teachers and research that focuses on the best ways to teach children, would have pleased President McKay, said David M. Greene, dean of the Jerry and Vicki Moyes College of Education. "So much is being accomplished in this building that will bear the name of David O. McKay."
The building houses undergraduate and graduate programs and the Melba S. Lehner Preschool. Currently, some 575 students are enrolled in the teacher preparation courses and some 220 in the master's program.
A grandson, Alan C. Ashton, former president and chief executive officer of WordPerfect, recalled his grandfather as a man who corrected his family's grammar and imbued them with a love and respect for education. "He was a loving, concerned man who was always mindful of others," Ashton said.
Former WSU president Rodney H. Brady also spoke, lauding President McKay for his dedication to teaching and the philosophy that "on the proper education of youth depends the purity of the home and the perpetuation of the nation."
Special guests at the dedication ceremony, held in the nearly full Austad auditorium of the Val A. Browning Events Center, were members of President McKay's family and representatives of the Ashton Family Foundation, the LDS Foundation and the Stewart Education, which have made significant contributions to the WSU education program.
Noting that no program honoring President McKay would be complete without music, Greene introduced the Club Heights Elementary School Choir, which sang the Olympic song, "Light the Dream." The smartly kilted Ben Lomond High School Bagpipe Corps also performed, playing the McKay clan song, "The White Banner of McKay."
Tours of the education building, now prominently marked with President McKay's name, followed the dedication rite.
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