Paul Oscarson, a former mission and temple president and the husband of Bonnie L. Oscarson, former Young Women general president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died on July 3. He was 80 years old.
His family announced Oscarson’s “unexpected” passing in a Facebook post shared with their former missionaries. Funeral arrangements have not yet been announced.
“There have been so many moments of grief and sorrow but an equal number of moments of unspeakable peace,” Oscarson’s daughter Amy Oscarson Carr wrote.
Paul Oscarson served in church callings in Sweden three separate times: as a missionary in his youth; as a mission president in Göteborg less than a decade later with his wife, and their young family; and as the Stockholm Temple president as Bonnie Oscarson served as its matron.
“I’m not sure there’s anyone in the United States that’s done more for (the church in Sweden) than the Oscarson family,” said John Leach, who served as a missionary in Göteborg under the Oscarsons.
Leach remembers Paul Oscarson as an inspirational leader who changed many lives for the better.
“He really loved his missionaries a lot,” Leach said. “Watching him pray for them and talk about them and plan for them and everything else, you got a pretty good vision of how much he loved his mission, how much he loved his missionaries.”
Although the Church of Jesus Christ is much smaller in Europe than it is in Africa or the Americas, Leach said Paul Oscarson “raised the level” and inspired his missionaries to see progress in the missionary work.
“He really cared about that country and the people,” Leach said. “(He) prayed and hoped and had faith that it would continue to succeed and the missionaries would stay faithful to their calls and that they’d be able to do the work.”
Paul Kent Oscarson was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 6, 1946, to Roy W. and Vera Brown Oscarson. After full-time missionary service in Sweden, he began a career as a department store regional manager.
He met Bonnie Lee Green at the Far West Temple Site, a historical Latter-day Saint property in Missouri, and the two were married in the Salt Lake Temple on Dec. 19, 1969. They have seven children and 29 grandchildren.
Church service
The Oscarsons were called to serve as mission leaders for the newly created Sweden Göteborg Mission from 1976 to 1979, when Paul Oscarson was just 30 years old. Paul Oscarson’s brother, G. Richard Oscarson, was serving with his wife, Linda Oscarson, as the leaders of the Stockholm Sweden Mission at the same time. Both young families had children born in Sweden during their time serving there.
“Paul has been an example of thoughtfulness and diligent faithfulness for our family and all of those he has served,” Richard Oscarson told Church News in 2012. “We were thrilled and proud to learn of Paul’s and Bonnie’s call to serve as president and matron of the Stockholm Sweden Temple. We feel our dear deceased parents and Swedish grandparents also rejoiced in their call.”
From 2009 to 2012, Paul and Bonnie Oscarson served as the president and matron of the Stockholm Sweden Temple. They received their call at the same time Richard and Linda Oscarson were called to the St. Louis Missouri Temple, and they attended a seminar for new temple presidents together.
“It seemed somehow fitting for two brothers who have shared so much to be by each other’s side,” Paul Oscarson recalled in 2012. “Once again we have been blessed to share a common experience. The Lord continues to bless me with a great example and mentor. I often find myself wondering, ‘What would Dick do in this situation?’”
Paul Oscarson served in a number of callings in the Church of Jesus Christ, including gospel doctrine teacher, ward employment specialist, stake president, stake president’s counselor, bishop, branch president and high priests group leader, per Church News.
Bonnie Oscarson was called as Young Women general president in April 2013 and served until 2018. Her husband accompanied her in her travels throughout her service.
She shared her testimony of God’s plan and eternal families in a talk delivered at the church’s semiannual general conference in April 2016.
“Priesthood power makes it possible to make covenants and receive ordinances in holy temples that will someday enable us to return to the presence of God and live with Him forever,” she said. “Through this power, families can be bound together for eternity.”
This article will be updated as funeral announcements are made.