Henry B Eyring
. . . "As a young child near
baptism age, Henry B. Eyring sat with his legs through the back of his
chair while listening to a speaker in church. 'I turned around to look
at him,' remembers Elder Eyring. 'I knew that what he said came from
God and that it was true. It burned in my heart.'
. . . Now 61 years old, Henry B. Eyring fills the vacancy in the
Quorum of the 12 Apostles created by the reorganization of the First
Presidency following the death of President Howard W. Hunter on March
3, 1995.
. . . Born 31 May 1933 in Princeton, New Jersey, Henry, or Hal as he
was called, was the second of three sons born to Henry and Mildred
Bennion Eyring and reared in a home filled with music, intellectual
discovery, and spiritual growth. 'Religious faith enhanced scientific
study in our home,' says Elder Eyring, whose father taught chemistry
at Princeton University and whose mother was a gifted teacher and
musician. During World War II, Sunday meetings for the small local
branch of the Church were held in the Eyring home.
. . . In 1946 the Eyrings moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, where Henry
Eyring headed the Graduate School at the University of Utah. The
Eyring boys - Edward, Henry, and Harden - were no longer the 'only
Aaronic Priesthood' at church.
. . . 'I studied physics because my dad said it was important to get a
grasp of the sciences,' says Elder Eyring, who graduated with a
bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Utah in 1955.
Following college, Elder Eyring served two years in the United States
Air Force in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Simultaneous with his military
service, Lt. Eyring served as a district missionary in the Western
States Mission. Working evenings and weekends, he taught the gospel to
many.
. . . After his service in the military, Elder Eyring attended Harvard
in Boston, Massachusetts, where he graduated with a master's degree in
business administration in 1959 and received a doctoral degree in the
same field in 1963.
. . . 'The formal education we receive makes up only a small part of
what we need to know,' says Elder Eyring of secular learning. 'Life is
more that a career; life is a mission. Life has a purpose, and its
purpose requires learning across a wide spectrum. We should be
learners throughout our lives.'
. . . While at Harvard, he met Kathleen Johnson, daughter of Joseph
and Laprele Lindsay Johnson of Palo Alto, California. They married in
the Logan Temple in 1962, eventually becoming the parents of 6
children - Henry, Stuart, Matthew, John, Elizabeth, and Mary.
. . . The Eyrings have always valued family life. 'Hal has taught the
gospel in our home with great clarity and conviction,' says Kathleen.
'And, to make it all the clearer for us to understand, he has lived
it.'
. . . Saturday morning projects, such as building a bookcase or
planting flowers, supplemented family home evenings when the children
were young. Intellectual discovery and spiritual growth were fostered,
and athletics provided balance. 'I have never pursued any sport I
couldn't do with my children,' he says. So tennis, basketball, and
swimming became the family activities.
. . . Career choices for Elder Eyring followed his decision to teach
and led to a position in 1962 as a professor in the Graduate School of
Business at Stanford University, including a year as a Sloan Visiting
Faculty Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in
Cambridge. He also served for four years as bishop of the Stanford
First Ward, a student ward in the Palo Alto Stake. 'In 1971, after
nine years at Stanford, I accepted the opportunity to serve as
president of Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho,' says Elder Eyring, who
during the Idaho Teton Dam disaster helped shovel mud alongside the
students. 'Six years later, in July 1977, I began 8 years of service
with the Church Educational System - 3 as deputy commissioner, and 5
as commissioner of education.'
. . . Elder Eyring's Church service includes being a regional
representative and a member of the Sunday School General Board. In
April 1985 he was called as 1st Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric,
and in October 1992 he was called to serve in the 1st Quorum of
Seventy. As a Seventy, he again served as commissioner of education.
. . . 'What's really important in Church education is the student and
the teacher and what happens between them,' says Elder Eyring. 'We
don't want to miss the chance to make a difference.'
. . . On Friday, March 31, 1995, when he received his call to serve as
a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he was also serving as
2nd counselor in the North America West Area presidency.
. . . 'When you know something to be true, you should act upon that
truth,' he once said. Years ago, truth burned within the heart of
young Henry B. Eyring, and now Elder Eyring continues his lifetime of
acting upon that truth.
. . .'Jesus Christ lives; he has tied himself to us,' says Elder
Eyring, using the analogy of mountain climbers. 'Only we at great
effort can break the tie. I pray with my whole heart that we will
understand what it means to be bound to a God who loves us, who will
let us climb freely - but is ready, should we slip, to break the
fall.' "
-- The Ensign, May 1995, page 105
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