T. EDGAR LYON: A TEACHER IN ZION; by T. Edgar Lyon Jr., BYU Press, 346 pages, $28.95. ($18.95 softbound)
For the thousands of University of Utah students who sat in his lively LDS history courses at the LDS Institute of Religion, "T. Edgar Lyon: a Teacher in Zion," by T. Edgar Lyon Jr., will be a pleasant surprise.
T. Edgar Lyon was a local institution. Along with his equally famous compatriot Lowell L. Bennion, Lyon gave generously of his time and intellect for more than three decades.
He was a well-read historian who believed strongly in teaching and writing authentic history, and he could make it come alive in the classroom. He also had a photographic memory that made him a fountainhead of information.
Although sons are not supposed to write about their fathers (for fear that the work will be biased), T. Edgar Lyon Jr. (Ted) has produced a down-to-earth, inside view of his father's life that is remarkably candid and interesting. He manages to capture the essence of a most unusual, gentle man while at the same time measuring his weighty influence.
One of T. Edgar Sr.'s former students, President Thomas S. Monson of the LDS Church First Presidency, recalled to the author that it was as a student in Lion's classes that President Monson "really learned the Gospel."
Using his father's oral history, a rich legacy of letters, major interviews with contemporaries and his own vivid memory, the younger Lyon builds the story of a young man in a hurry. The biggest surprise to most of Lyon's ardent fans will be the revelation that he was always painfully shy.
Yet, he majored in history at the U.; served a successful LDS mission to the Netherlands, constantly struggling with the Dutch language; earned a master's degree from the University of Chicago; married Hermana Forsberg, the love of his life; and he went back to the Netherlands as a 30-year-old mission president, with a wife, two children and twins on the way. (Later the Lyons had a second set of twins.)
Lyon received his call to be a mission president personally from LDS Church President Heber J. Grant, who asked how old he was. When he said he was 30, Grant said he'd been criticized for calling young and inexperienced mission presidents. "I'll tell the Twelve when we meet on Thursday that they don't have any reason to criticize me at all. I was a stake president when I was 24 and an apostle when I was 26. You're a mission president at 30. That's getting along in years."
He spent more than three decades teaching U. students at the LDS Institute of Religion. Initially, he and Lowell L. Bennion were the only two faculty members — through the 1940s, they taught every course themselves. They instructed 1,400 students, each spending an arduous 22 hours a week in the classroom. In addition, Lyon and Bennion spent most evenings overseeing activities of the church-sponsored fraternity, Lambda Delta Sigma.
Lyon was known for his open-door policy. In the Institute building, his office downstairs was always open and students continually walked in to ask him questions or seek his advice. It was miraculous that he got any writing done.
The younger Lyon also devotes a valuable chapter to describing T. Edgar Sr.'s unique, delightful and effective teaching techniques.
Lyon finished his career as historian for "Nauvoo Restoration, Inc.," headed by LeRoy Kimball. For 15 years, he researched old Nauvoo so that architects and builders could restore the city in a manner similar to that of famed Colonial Williamsburg. He died before he could finish his history of Nauvoo, leaving his notes and early chapters to Glen Leonard, another historian, whose major new history of Nauvoo will be published in June.
Enjoy the man and the book, and whatever you do, don't forget to read the footnotes; they're as fascinating as the text.
E-MAIL: dennis@desnews.com