Comments:
Born 1920 Kanosh, Utah
Baptized as a child
Mission to Southern States
Married Leola Stott 1943; three children
Bishop, Stake President, Regional Representative
President of Arizona Tempe Mission
First Quorum of Seventy 1988-1989
Second Quorum of Seventy 1989-1994
Died 1996 Salt Lake City, Utah
The following biographical sketch is adapted from the "News of the Church: Elder Lloyd P. George of the First Quorum of the Seventy" published in the Ensign for May 1988 on the occasion of Elder George's call to the First Quorum of the Seventy.
Ive been mightily blessed by the Lord, says Elder Lloyd P. George, who, at age sixty-eight, was sustained in October general conference as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy.
I stammered and stuttered terribly in my youth, he said. Up until the time I went on my mission I had never given a talk. I couldnt participate when called upon in school. People would ask my name, and I couldnt answer.
His parents, Preal and Artimissia, sent him to speech teachers and therapists, but they couldnt help him. Then, when he was eleven years old, he was given a patriarchal blessing in the hope that it would provide him encouragement.
My patriarchal blessing noted my problem and said, Know this, that the Lord loves you and wants you to be happy. The patriarch then said, I rebuke this condition and say unto you that you will go out into the world and preach the gospel with force to a waiting world.
In time, Elder George accepted a call to the Southern States Mission. Still suffering from his affliction, he couldnt speak when he tried to present the gospel. His companion had to take over for him. His mission president later admitted that hed thought, Unless the Lord comes to the rescue of that young man, he wont be any good to me, and Ill have to send him home.
After a month of being unable to communicate with those he visited, he prayed, Lord, its now or never. Help me now, or I go back home. Then he fasted.
His speech began to improve. We had been holding weekly cottage meetings with five elderly women, Elder George said. At the next meeting I was able to speak fairly well. Afterward my companion said, What happened to you tonight? Ordinarily I couldnt turn you on, and tonight I couldnt turn you off.
Those were the greatest words Id heard in my life, he said.
I was transferred out of the area, and about six months later when I could really speak and preach, I went back and visited those five elderly investigators at another cottage meeting, he recalled. They sat through that meeting and just cried and cried.
He returned from a successful mission to find World War II waiting for him. I went into the service and trained as a pilot, he said. My patriarchal blessing also said Id live to a ripe old age, so I wasnt afraid.
Elder George was born 17 September 1920 in Kanosh, Millard County, Utah. He married Leola Stott in the Salt Lake Temple on 8 January 1943. They have two daughters, Mrs. JoAnn Red and Mrs. Janet Finlinson; a son, Richard L. George; and twenty grandchildren.
After the war, the Georges bought a corner grocery store in Kanosh, and from that built a merchantile business that Sister George managed while her husband developed a cattle enterprise. Thirty years later they sold their businesses. They eventually moved to Orem, Utah, where Elder George became a real estate broker.
Elder George served as bishop of the Kanosh Ward for ten years, and as president of the Fillmore stake for nine years. He has also served as a Regional Representative and as president of the Arizona Tempe Mission.
Asked for her feelings about her husbands new calling, Sister George replied, I feel very good about it. He is truly a worthy servant of our Father in Heaven.
Were looking forward to the coming years with anticipation, and with much joy and happiness in feeling that the Lord wants us, Elder George said. Ive always had a testimony, and were certainly willing to serve.
Elder George was called to a five-year term of service in the First Quorum of the Seventy. With the Formation of the Second Quorum of the Seventy, he was released from the First Quorum and called to the Second Quorum on April 1, 1989. He faithfully served his five-year call to the Second Quorum and was honorably released October 1, 1994.
Elder Lloyd Preal George, Jr. died May 13, 1996 at Salt Lake City, Utah |
