You probably best know Clayton Brough as either the weekend weathercaster on KTVX, Ch. 4, or as an award-winning geography/journalism teacher at Eisenhower Junior High School in Taylorsville. However, he's also a successful writer of seven religious books dealing with doctrines and teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Brough, 52, a West Valley resident, has written a book on patriarchal blessings, another on the lost tribes, one on translated beings and four others.
Even though several of these doctrinal books deal with unusual/offbeat subjects, he was careful not to speculate or jump to any conclusions in them. His goal was simply to compile references that were otherwise hard to locate or tie together.
He researched his first LDS book in 1974 while recently married and attending Brigham Young University.
"I spent my limited spare time researching and locating official pronouncements of the First Presidencies and other general authorities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on contemporary — and sometimes controversial — topics," Brough said.
"I did this because I wanted to find authoritative answers to some of my own questions. However, I eventually accumulated so much information on so many different subjects that I thought my material might be a valuable reference book for people with similar questions or needs."
Other books followed, and he spent about a year researching each one.
"I love teaching," Brough said. "I teach junior high students because I enjoy being around them."
He also gets excited about weathercasting.
"Climatology is weather research," he said.
He considers teaching his primary job and compliments KTVX for understanding and working with him on that endeavor.
Brough has also done two weather books and another on the history of Mosida, Utah County.
"Working two or more jobs has provided my family with a modest income and has taken up a considerable amount of my time," he said. "However, these jobs are not the most important things to me. . . . The most important things to me are those that have eternal significance — which is my faith, the wife and children, and my relatives, friends and students."
His children and his wife have supported him fully in all his jobs.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Brough was an Eagle Scout, a long-distance runner in high school and served an LDS mission to the Eastern States. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in geography from BYU and later did advanced research in climatology there.
He has taught science, geography and journalism since 1975, first at Springville Junior High and then at Eisenhower Junior. He has been a Ch. 4 weathercaster since 1980. He has also earned the "Seal of Approval" for TV weathercasting from the American Meteorological Society and has taught geography at the BYU Salt Lake Center.
Brough has had no trouble personally reconciling science and religion but knows many others have had difficulty.
"Theologians and scientists need to be more careful about how they interpret the scriptures and what they tell their students." he said. "Scientific hypotheses and theories interest me, but I don't put my faith in them."
He also believes theologians and scientists should have more respect for each other, "since God's dealings with mankind are not confined to a 'box' created by the perceptions of theologians or the current findings of scientists."
"All too often theologians or scientists have interpreted writings or discoveries one particular way, only to be embarrassed later on by their misinterpretations or lack of understanding," he said.
He believes history has shown that religious truths and scientific facts often take considerable time to catch up to each other.
His part-time weathercasting has meant he has faced challenges attending his church meetings on Sundays.
He has been able to serve as a stake missionary, Scoutmaster, bishopric counselor, stake executive secretary and even as a high councilor in a University of Utah stake over the years. However, because of his weathercasting job, he must attend church before noon.
Fortunately, in 2003 his ward's meetings begin at 9 a.m.
His hobbies include genealogy, family history and LDS temple work. Indeed, he and his wife spent nearly three weeks last August in England doing genealogical research on his English ancestry.
Although family history is taking up all his spare time these days. he hopes to write more LDS-oriented books.
He received an excellence in teaching award from the Granite Education Foundation in 1990 and is listed in the "Guinness Book of World Records" for creating the world's largest slide rule with his students in 1978.
E-mail: lynn@desnews.com