Provo and Ogden Temple Leaders

Called by the First Presidency to preside over the new Provo Temple is Harold Glen Clark, who brings to this position a background of Church service that includes a mission to the eastern states and service as high councilor in three stakes, as bishop of two wards, and as patriarch of BYU Tenth Stake.

A prominent educator, President Clark received his B.S. degree from Brigham Young University, his master’s degree from the University of California, and his doctorate from George Washington University. He served as secretary to Congressman John R. Murdock of Arizona, and was training supervisor for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He has been director and dean of BYU’s Continuing Education Division since 1946.

President Clark was born in Mesa, Arizona, a son of Joseph William and Mary Noble Clark. He married Virginia Driggs in 1929; after her death, he married the former Mary Deane Peterson Gilbert.

Sister Clark, matron of the new temple, has served as ward chorister and Sunday School secretary. She has also been a YWMIA teacher, counselor, and president, and prior to receiving her temple call, she was president of the BYU First Stake Relief Society.

Joseph Y. Toronto, first counselor in the Provo Temple presidency, has served as president of the Spanish Fork Stake for the past fifteen years. He has completed missions to Germany and Czechoslovakia and has attended the University of Utah.

A merchant in Spanish Fork, Utah, President Toronto is a son of Albert and Etta Felt Toronto. He married the former Ila Christiansen.

O. Wendle Nielsen, second counselor of the Provo Temple presidency, was recently released as bishop of BYU 66th Ward in BYU First Stake. He had previously served as a counselor to President Harold Glen Clark.

President Nielsen, a son of Peter and Phylinda Terry Nielsen, married Celeste Cantono of Philadelphia. He attended BYU and is financial officer in the university’s loan division.

J. Wallace Boswell, a retired executive of U.S. Steel, is recorder for the Provo Temple. He has been a bishop, a counselor in the Wind River Stake presidency in Wyoming, and an assistant stake clerk in Sharon East Stake. He is an alumnus of Brigham Young University.

Brother Boswell was born in Nephi to John H. and Elizabeth Garrett Boswell; he married Edda M. Jones.

A. Reed Halverson, appointed by the First Presidency to serve as the new Ogden Temple’s first president, is patriarch of Mt. Ogden Stake and former president of Smithfield and Weber stakes.

President Halverson presided over the New Zealand Mission from January 1945 to June 1948, has been on four high councils, and has served as a member of the General Welfare Committee of the Church.

In his professional life, President Halverson held executive positions for forty years in the Del Monte Corporation, managing plants and operations of the food processing company in Utah and California.

A son of Thomas and Emma Otteson Halverson, he was born in Spanish Fork, Utah. He married the former Luana Packer.

Sister Halverson was born in Franklin, Idaho, a daughter of J. Manuel and Lonetta Johnson Packer. She has had wide experience in Church activities, serving as Primary president in Smithfield (Utah) Stake, YWMIA president in Weber Stake, and a member of the Weber Stake Relief Society board. A talented musician, Sister Halverson has served as ward chorister.

John J. Zundel, first counselor in the Ogden Temple presidency, has served as ward clerk, bishop’s counselor, and bishop of the Ogden 18th Ward, and as a counselor to President Halverson in the Weber Stake presidency.

He is employed at Hill Air Force Base. Born in Plymouth, Utah, to Abraham E. and Sarah E. Welling Zundel, he married Katie Thompson of Clarkston, Utah.

Wilford Owen Ridges, second counselor in the Ogden Temple presidency, has been a high councilor and a member of the stake presidency (1952–70) of the Mt. Ogden Stake. He has also been bishop of the Ogden 16th Ward.

A retired accountant, President Ridges was born in Ogden, a son of Wilford Owen and Letitia Chambers Ridges. He married Mathel L. Allen of Ogden.

Paul Richard Lindeman, recorder for the Ogden Temple, has served as deacons quorum adviser, Scoutmaster, elders quorum president, stake YMMIA president, stake clerk, and bishop.

He was born in Salt Lake City, a son of Russell O. and Ellen Clawson Lindeman, and is married to the former Lahoma Lamb. He studied mechanical engineering at the University of Utah and is retired from Hill Air Force Base.