Church Historical Writings

FRED BURTON HOWARD, A SHORT BIOGRAPHY


by
Elder John E. Enslen, Full-time Senior Missionary
Assigned to Church History Department
Emeritus General Authority Oral History Project
Completed in the Spring of 2010

Preface

My wife, Sister Dianne B. Enslen, and I conducted an oral history interview with Elder F. Burton Howard and his attractive wife Sister Caroline H. Howard in the living room of their high-rise apartment located at 241 North Vine Street, Salt Lake City, Utah 84103 (north of the Conference Center). Our interview commenced about 2:20 P.M. on Wednesday, 28 October 2009.

Before I began asking the interview questions, Elder Howard unexpectedly presented me with a surprise gift—a copy of an informal manuscript history he had recently authored. The history, titled The Mission of Elder Thomas J. Howard (1889-1891), Southern States Mission, chronicled his great-grandfather’s mission which was served in and near Mountain Creek, Alabama, my native state. The first page of the history acknowledged a “[s]pecial thanks to John Enslen, a friend, former stake president and unofficial historian for the State of Alabama.” I felt much honored.

Elder Howard’s history of his great-grandfather’s mission contained several photographs that I had taken of various pre-1889 structures still standing in the vicinity of Mountain Creek. I had taken these photos more than 13 years earlier while on my way to a business meeting in Clanton, Alabama. I had personally delivered the photographs as an unsolicited gift to Elder Howard at his Church office in Salt Lake City on 26 June 1996, during one of my trips to Utah to visit family.

Elder Howard had originally told me about his great-grandfather as I drove Elder Howard to the Montgomery Airport on 18 May 1996, following his mission tour of the Alabama Birmingham Mission. At the time of his mission tour, Elder Howard was serving in the North America Southeast Area Presidency, and I was serving as a counselor to President Eldon Clair McKell, president of the Alabama Birmingham Mission.

During that mission tour, Elder Howard had paid me a high compliment which I have never forgotten. After hearing a special music quartet sing my hymn Behold, A Marvelous Work, Elder Howard told me that he liked my hymn better than the new hymn that had been composed for the celebration of the Church’s forthcoming sesquicentennial event. He asked about my future intentions with respect to the hymn. I responded that I had none, that if the hymn possessed quality it would in time cut its own way, and I would be fully satisfied if that did not take place until the next world.

Sister Enslen and I were treated most hospitably in the Howard home, including a delicious treat of homemade apple pie a la mode cooked with apples from a tree planted by Elder Howard in Bountiful. We were grateful for the choice opportunity which was ours to conduct this oral history interview in their home. Two days after our visit, we mailed them a “thank you” note which contained the following poem:

Your hospitality most warm,
Accented by Caroline’s charm,
Sharing a bit of your story,
Carefully shunning vain glory,
Apples cooked that special way,
For us a wonderful day.

Although he is now 76 years of age, Elder Howard is still in full control of his mental faculties and has a solid memory. He and Sister Howard had returned from serving as president and matron of the Madrid Spain Temple in October 2008, one year previous to our interview. Elder Howard gave careful consideration to each question and took considerable contemplative time before commencing a response—often a full 30 seconds and occasionally longer. Sister Howard, who was equally alert and attentive, was a significant contributor to the interview as well, especially in the detail relating to their courtship.

Subsequent visits to the Howard home did not include the recording of an oral history. On our last visit of January 14, 2010, Sister Enslen and I again enjoyed pleasant conversation and gracious hospitality, including another round of homemade apple pie. Our visits to the Howard home were definitely one of the highlights of our mission.

Some of the biographical information contained in this short biography was taken from public sources and some was taken from the pre-General Authority oral histories Howard gave to the Church History Department. But the majority of the content was personally provided to me either verbally or in writing by Elder Howard. The written information provided me was housed in a large three-ring binder containing a 37-chapter collection of autobiographical episodes titled Sacred Ground. Elder Howard allowed me to read, make notes, and return this personal collection of writings.

When I returned the loan of Elder Howard’s only hard copy of Sacred Ground, he inquired of me with regard to what I thought of it. I told him that it passed my personal litmus test with an A-plus; reading his Sacred Grove had caused me to want to be a better person. I can only hope that reading this biography of him will produce a similar effect on the reader.

Although the quoted materials are the words of Elder Howard, I alone am responsible for their selection and inclusion in the biography. Elder Howard did not attempt to exercise control over what should be or should not be included in this short biography. In fact, I cannot even say that Elder Howard wanted a biography written at all. He consistently discouraged me from undertaking such an endeavor, insisting that no one would be interested in reading about him.

But I nevertheless trudged forward, knowing that his outstanding life of Church service deserved not only this short biography, but a full and comprehensive biography that far exceeds both my available time and writing skill to produce.

I hope the reader enjoys this feeble attempt to pay tribute to a man whom I have admired from a distance for decades.

FRED BURTON HOWARD, A SHORT BIOGRAPHY
By
John E. Enslen

Fred Burton Howard was born 24 March 1933 at the Budge Memorial Hospital in Logan, Cache County, Utah. Both of his parents were students at Utah State Agricultural College.

At the time of his birth, America was in the throes of a depression, and the world’s political climate was tense. The London Daily Express published an article on that same day announcing that Jews had launched their boycott against Hitler’s Germany. The newspaper article described a forthcoming “holy war,” and the Express urged Jews everywhere to boycott German goods and to demonstrate against German economic interests.

Three days later 40,000 protestors descended on Madison Square Garden in New York City to demonstrate their support of the recently announced boycott against German goods. Such was the world that young Howard entered, and for him ages 8-12 would be the years in which America was embroiled in World War II.

Howard was the son and first child of Fred Pack Howard (1905-1987) and Beatrice Ward Howard (1907-1999). His mother took an unusually keen interest in his early education, both secular and religious. Before Howard could read, his mother read to him stories of the missionary experiences of Wilford Woodruff, Parley P. Pratt, John Taylor, and Ammon. These men became his first heroes. Said Howard, “To me a hero is someone who does more than we commonly expect, exceeding the normal limitations of virtue, faith, valor, and excellence, and he or she inspires others to do the same.”

His mother’s intense home tutoring and his own natural intellect combined to produce an academically precocious child. He was allowed to forego the second grade. This resulted in his being younger than others in his educational classes thereafter, but there was some social compensation amongst peers due to his above average physical size which commenced early in life.

Howard’s view of the world was broadened by a rootless rearing. His family lived in 14 different locations within the Intermountain West during his first 17 years of life. Transfers resulting from his father’s federal employment, first with the Soil Conservation Service and then with the Bureau of Reclamation, gave rise to the frequent moves. Having few long-term friendships during his boyhood made for a family and Church-centered life. He was close to his younger brother Sherwin Ward Howard (1936-2001).

On 6 April 1941, the 111th anniversary of the founding of the Church, eight-year-old Howard was baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He progressed normally through the ranks of the Aaronic Priesthood, as Howard’s immediate family was very active in the Church wherever the family lived.

During the war years, 1943 to be exact, sixth grader Howard was involved in a serious accident that would have an enormous impact on his life. He was a participant in a school service project designed to aid the war effort—picking up saved scrap paper at various locations around town. He was riding with several other boys in the open bed of a truck full of paper destined for recycling. Other boys near him were jostling when their antics plus a bounce caused by an uneven road surface combined to throw Howard from the truck. A rear wheel literally ran over his head, pressing his face into the hard surface and crushing the bone around his left eye.

A surgeon had that same day received a prompting to abandon his normal schedule that required him to be in a different town. The doctor decided to visit the hospital in Cedar City, Utah, to see if he were especially needed for some reason. Absent this prompting, the trauma’s lasting effects would likely have been drastically worse for young Howard.

With regard to the facial scarring that resulted from the accident, Howard would later say:

My introspection about the accident led me to the conclusion that it was a blessing. The scars shielded me from some temptation. They kept me from making too much of myself. They kept me from coasting through life relying on good looks and charm. They required painful growth and much compensation.

I asked Howard to tell me about his father. As he contemplated his response, I sensed from his countenance a special reverence for his father. After telling me that his father was the branch president of their small branch in Wyoming, Howard recounted a delayed-fuse lesson that he learned from his father in the summer of 1947. Howard was a newly ordained 14-year-old teacher at the time.

His father, Fred Pack Howard, was intent on conveying to young Burton and the other members of their family the fact that the Church had wonderful leaders and was a mightier and more majestic institution than the perspective portrayed by its local operation in rural Wyoming. Their branch consisted of only a handful of families, and cigarettes and empty beer cans had to be removed from their second floor rental hall each Sunday morning before services commenced. As a means of expanding their vision of the Church, Howard’s father seized upon the idea of introducing the family to a member of the Twelve and participating in an historical event.

Howard’s father had learned that Elder Spencer W. Kimball of the Council of the Twelve would be involved in the Church’s upcoming centennial commemoration trek. Elder Kimball would be participating in the vehicular caravan that was retracing the original pioneer route. Howard’s father, who had become acquainted with Elder Kimball years earlier when the Howard family had lived in Safford, Arizona, announced to the family that they would be intercepting the caravan when it reached Independence Rock.

Howard did not receive the announcement with enthusiasm:

I couldn’t see too many reasons for leaving home and traveling several hundred miles in the heat of the Wyoming summer. I began to get a little more excited when he promised us that we would have an opportunity to meet one of the apostles of the Lord.

The family made the long, hot trip to Independence Rock in their 1939 Studebaker. Upon arrival, they spotted in the distance a group of men standing at the rock. Howard and his younger brother Sherwin accompanied their father as they walked through the sagebrush and grass toward the people at the rock.

Howard still remembers the short conversation upon their approaching Elder Kimball. Due to his small-branch heritage, it was the first time Howard had heard an adult Church leader addressed by the title of “Elder.” “Elder Kimball,” said Howard’s father, “do you remember me?” “Brother Howard,” replied Kimball affectionately, “how good to see you again. Are these your boys?” “Yes,” responded Howard’s father. “It is so kind of you to come.”

That was it, three short sentences from the apostle. Howard felt let down and disappointed at the time. He had come so far to see and hear so little. On the other hand, his father felt richly rewarded and considered the episode to be important and of significant worth.

Howard pondered this event many times over the course of his ensuing life, each time with growing awareness and increased appreciation for his father’s example. As Howard recounted the event in his mind, an important lesson was relearned.

Said Howard:

I have come to realize that it was my father’s love for the Lord and the Church and the Lord’s servants that caused him to want to make the long trip. He loved the General Authorities and sustained them. He taught me that you cannot be a passive member of the Church.

During senior high school, Howard worked one summer as a Wyoming cowboy. On large open stretches of range, he fed cattle and built and mended fences. He traveled to town only once every two weeks to buy supplies. This employment bolstered his self-confidence, his sense of independence and self-reliance, and his deep respect and appreciation for the vast landscape of the American West.

Howard graduated from high school in Powell, Wyoming, in 1950 where he served as president of his senior class. Although he was accepted for enrollment at MIT, the Colorado School of Mines, the University of Wyoming, and the University of Denver, he abided his parents’ encouragement and attended Utah State Agricultural College in Logan, Utah, the alma mater of his parents and town of his birth.

His original academic major was chemical engineering which required the study of two non-English languages. He chose Spanish and German. He later changed his major to political science, and that was the focus of his Bachelor of Science degree, which would ironically be issued from a different institution, the University of Utah.

In his first year of college in Logan, 17-year-old Howard bought an old car for $100. He used the car that Christmas season to transport his two grandmothers to his parents’ Wyoming ranch for a holiday visit. On the return trip to Logan, the threesome avoided a treacherous, deadly blizzard by unintentionally taking a route that Howard had promised his concerned father he would not take. Wrote Howard: “I knew that the Lord had gotten us on the right road, and I realized how He had protected us. I was never the same after that.”

Howard was involved in numerous extracurricular activities during his college days, including serving as a writer for the school newspaper, member of the student council, member of the Union Board, member of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity, member of Blue Key, and president of the junior class, among others.

College life was very busy. In addition to meeting academic demands, he engaged in a variety of part-time work. He sold shoes, men’s clothing, and encyclopedias. He worked as a radio announcer, managed a soil testing laboratory, and completed a Sears managerial program. During summer months, he unloaded bags of cement from railroad cars, drove construction trucks in Montana and Wyoming, and labored in the building of roads.

As an advanced ROTC cadet, Howard was assigned to attend summer camp between his sophomore year and junior years of college. He trained with fellow cadets from other colleges and universities at Castle Air Force Base in California.

An experience occurred during his military training that increased Howard’s trust in the promptings of the Holy Ghost, as well as further increasing his self-confidence. Howard was spontaneously prompted to courageously, yet respectfully, directly confront a captain. This officer, through prejudgment, had decided to wrongfully deny Howard his fair opportunity to fulfill a rotating leadership assignment. The officer, after granting permission for Howard to freely speak his mind, recanted and allowed Howard to exercise his rightful turn as a cadet commander.

Howard was ordained an elder at age 20 on 28 June 1953 by William Mumford Stevens. Notwithstanding Howard had not personally signed or submitted any paperwork or undertaken a medical examination or even discussed the matter with a priesthood leader, he was secretly recommended for a full-time mission by his bishop, Lloyd Taggart. Thus, Howard was surprised to receive in the mail a call from President David O. McKay to serve a Spanish-speaking mission to Uruguay. The letter came about three weeks prior to the beginning of Howard’s senior year in college.

An aggressive bishop’s actions resulted in an unusual circumstance—Howard’s first opportunity to say “no” to a mission was to the prophet, and he was not about to say “no” to the prophet. Howard had an open relationship with Bishop Taggart, for whose road construction company Howard had worked during the summer preceding his senior year of college. Howard feels that his strong desire for personal independence and his lack of an outgoing personality (a questionable self-assessment) may have allowed him to say “no” to his bishop. Instead, Howard became the second young man from the Cody Branch (Wyoming) to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Howard’s call in 1953 to serve a mission coincided with his introduction to Caroline Heise (1935) at a college dance. He was entirely smitten by this beautiful incoming freshman with a pony tail who was attired in sweater, skirt, and bobby sox. This young lady from Magna, Utah, began to occupy his every waking thought, and for a time he painfully wrestled with whether or not he should honor his call to serve a mission. The spiritual struggles ended when an appropriate prayer brought complete peace of mind, powerfully confirming his determination to serve the mission to which he had been called. He promised Caroline that if she would wait for him, she would never be sorry. There was no reciprocal commitment from Miss Heise.

In reflecting upon his mixed emotions about serving a mission, Howard said:

I said goodbye to a lot of plans and took a leave from the military and made arrangements with the draft board in Cody, who in all of their experience had never had a Mormon missionary to deal with before. They felt apparently that I had potential later on and agreed to let me go indefinitely to South America.

Howard received his endowment in the Logan Temple on 14 October 1953, and thereafter served an honorable mission in Uruguay where he naturally became fluent in the Spanish language. His Spanish language ability later augmented his professional resume and had a positive effect on his future Church service, which included serving as president of the Uruguay Montevideo Mission. It was during his mission that Howard made the decision to change his major from chemical engineering to a pre-law degree in political science.

Howard learned from a variety of experiences during his missionary service in South America. He taught investigators, taught classes at Church services, spoke in sacrament meetings, offered prayers, led and trained other missionaries, directed choirs, and even served as a secretary in the Relief Society. There was substantial spiritual maturing, and his missionary service was a key ingredient in his personal development and preparation for a lifetime of service in the Church. Howard feels it would be difficult to overstate the positive impact of his mission on his later life.

Howard tells of a singular experience on his mission that indelibly impressed upon his mind the reality of his call by a prophet and the reality of what happened to Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove. The mission president assigned Howard to take his entire six-elder district to an unproselytized city and hold a street meeting in the town park on a Friday evening. As instructed by the mission president, they were to sing some hymns, gather a crowd, and then have one of the elders tell the Joseph Smith story.

They complied, and a fellow missionary was well underway with recounting Joseph’s experience in the Sacred Grove when some in the crowd began throwing rocks at them. It seemed that the rock throwers were mainly aiming at him as the leader. Howard had to decide whether to continue with the street meeting or abruptly conclude it.

Says Howard:

That decision seemed to depend on whether Joseph really went into that grove, whether he really did see a pillar of light, and whether the Father really did say, ‘This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!’ But there was more to consider. Had I really been called by a prophet? Had the mission president really been inspired to ask us to open that town? Were we really on the Lord’s errand? And was knowing all of that worth more than a rock in the eye? After the Spirit had answered those questions, there didn’t seem to be any honorable alternative. We finished the story. We didn’t convert a soul that night, but we did open the city. Some time later a small branch was organized. A ward prospers there today. None of the members there know of that street meeting held in their city many decades ago, but I have never been the same.

Following the completion of his mission in May of 1956, Howard continued with his college education. Under a program that allowed him to complete his undergraduate degree while at the same time attending law school, Howard transferred to the University of Utah.

He needed some letters of recommendation in order to get accepted into law school, and he told of how he obtained one important letter.

When I came down to the University of Utah to go to law school I hardly knew a soul in Salt Lake City, and I had to get some letters of recommendation. I got one from my cousin at Utah Oil, and I barged into then Apostle Kimball’s office in the old Church Office Building one day and told his secretary that Elder Kimball knew my family and that I needed a letter of recommendation. Looking back at it, it was a terribly presumptuous thing to do. But he did write a letter. It basically said, ‘To whom it may concern: I don’t know this young man at all, but I have known his parents before him, and if he is half as good as they are, I recommend him to you.’

Not knowing of the letter’s disclaimer or its conditional tenor, Howard smugly delayed opening it until he was in the prearranged private presence of Caroline Heise. His plan was to impress her during their early courting. He was utterly dismayed after reading the first sentence. He and Sister Howard still get a chuckle when they talk about Howard’s surprise and disappointment after opening and reading the letter. The letter, nevertheless, served its intended purpose, and was used successfully again when Howard sought a position as law clerk to a Utah Supreme Court justice.

Reflecting on his undergraduate college days, Howard
wrote:

I remember what it [was] like....I don’t think I would voluntarily [do it again], even if I could be young again. I remember the pain. I remember staying up all night to prepare for an examination. I vividly recall homework and homesickness, grades and graduation. I remember part-time jobs that never paid enough and roommates that borrowed things. I remember worrying about what to do and what to be (which, by the way, I believe are the same thing). I remember the relief when the books closed for the last time and the diplomas were finally awarded. I remember thinking that at last I could get on with the real business of living. [I was ready for] one well-paying job [that would] allow enjoyment of the important things like marriage or family or Church service.

Howard continued his courting of Caroline Heise following his mission, and the two of them were married in the Salt Lake Temple by family friend Elder Spencer W. Kimball on 14 December 1956, during the middle of Howard’s freshman year of law school and parallel attendance of undergraduate school at the University of Utah.

Howard and his wife, Caroline, would in time become the parents of five children born in three different decades. The first two children came in the early years of their marriage prior to graduation from law school—Douglas Pack Howard (31 October 1957) and Rebecca Howard (22 May 1959).

Following the birth of Rebecca, the Howards were told by doctors that Caroline would not be able to have additional children. After a ten-year span without additional children, the Howards adopted Michael Burton Howard (11 January 1969) in 1969. Three years later they adopted another son, Paul Burton Howard (9 July 1972). Miraculously, 18 years after Caroline was told that she would have no other children, she gave birth at age 42 to son Christopher Joseph Howard (29 December 1977).

While married and attending law school, Howard and Caroline were active members of the 18th and East 18th Wards in Salt Lake City. His first major ward leadership calling was president of the elders quorum. He was next called to serve as ward clerk in February of 1959 with several months of law school remaining. The time consuming roles of husband, father, provider, undergraduate student, law student, early morning seminary teacher, and ward clerk, combined with a desire to be successful in all of those roles, mandated a judicious distribution of his time.

Said Howard:

I think the whole story of those law school years could be capsulated in a brief statement: I took too many classes, I worked forty hours a week, and I was in every bishopric meeting.

Continuing, he reflected:

One of the things we carried out of the law school experience was a resolve to serve the Lord when He called. Otherwise I don’t know that accepting that clerk job in the bishopric was a very sensible thing to do. But we had done that and had some minor witness of the rightness of the decision, because for some inexplicable reason my grades got quite a little bit better after I’d made that decision, and it certainly wasn’t because I was studying harder.

Seven General Authorities were members of Howard’s ward at that time, including President David O. McKay, President of the Church, and President Joseph Fielding Smith, President of the Quorum of the Twelve. Howard had liberal opportunities to associate with these outstanding men and many others both then and throughout his subsequent life. He acknowledges that these special associations have been a prominent, even immeasurable, influence for good in his life.

Howard stated, “Association and fellowship with great men are worth whatever price you have to pay to attain them.”

Howard graduated from the University of Utah in 1958 as he was simultaneously attending law school. Then in June of 1959 Howard graduated from law school, and he did so without any debt as a result of the regimen of various jobs that he and Caroline held during his law school years. He had taught early morning seminary and worked as a gasoline service station attendant and automotive mechanic at various Salt Lake locations owned by the Utah Oil Refining Company. Howard’s procurement of his oil company employment had been aided by the fact that he had a cousin who was an officer in the oil company.

During the time that Howard was serving his mission in Uruguay, there occurred a change in the rules relating to his obligation to serve as an active duty officer in the air force. Prior to his mission, eyesight artificially corrected to 20-20 vision was acceptable, but not afterwards. Because Howard depended on eyeglasses to obtain 20-20 vision, he was allowed at his option a release from his military obligation. This circumstance permitted him to commence the private practice of law years earlier than would have been possible otherwise.

Again using his letter of recommendation from Elder Kimball and other credentials, Howard secured a job clerking for Justice F. Henri Henroid of the Utah Supreme Court. When he was not actively doing his clerk work, Howard studied for the upcoming bar exam. To supplement the family income, he continued to teach early morning seminary for the Church, thus increasing his growing reservoir of scriptural and Church history knowledge.

On 29 October 1959, Howard was notified that he had passed the Utah state bar exam which had been an excruciating two-day affair due to an abscessed tooth. He continued his employment as clerk to Judge Henriod until January of 1960 when he became employed as an Assistant Attorney General. He worked in an office at the state capitol building and had responsibilities in the Tax Division.

After serving two years as ward clerk, Howard was called as second counselor in the bishopric of the East 18th Ward in February of 1961. He was ordained a high priest on 1 March 1961 by Elder Alma Sonne, an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve.

In 1961, Howard became Chief Counsel for the Utah State Tax Commission. Later that same year he terminated his state employment and joined the Church Legal Department for a short stint. With regard to his short-term employment by the Church, Howard said:

I guess all of us deep in our secret selves carry a hope somewhere that we can somehow meld our education or background or experience in such a way as to be of service to the Lord. I told Brother Vernon Snyder, General Counsel for the Church, that I really wanted the job. I submitted a formal resume on the 15th of December of ’61. My recollection is that I included, among others, a copy of the letter of recommendation from President Kimball. Sometime in the summer of ’62 they finally said ‘You can come.’

As it turned out, the work in the Church legal office was neither stimulating nor challenging. Howard could not even sign his own letters. But there was one positive aspect. The employment placed him in contact with Elder Marion G. Romney, who later became Second Counselor in the First Presidency, and helped pave the way for Howard to be involved in future Church legal work that was both stimulating and challenging.

Howard left the Church Legal Department and accepted an invitation to return to his former position as Assistant Attorney General and Chief Counsel for the Utah State Tax Commission. Within weeks of leaving the Church’s employ, Howard would find himself assisting the Church legally in a totally different capacity.

Howard experienced a meteoric rise in professional status and reputation on 18 March 1963, less than four years out of law school and not yet 30 years of age. After being admitted to practice before the nation’s highest court in a swearing-in ceremony conducted by Chief Justice Earl Warren, Howard successfully orally argued an appellate tax case on behalf of the State of Utah. The United States Supreme Court’s ruling in his favor was announced by the court in less than a month, an uncharacteristically speedy decision. The rarity of such an event in the life of a young attorney can hardly be overstated.

Howard would handle eight additional cases before the nation’s highest court. He orally argued, with success, the affirmance of a ten million dollar judgment against Kennecott Copper Corporation. His other seven cases in the United States Supreme Court were submitted and decided on written briefs. He also argued more than 30 cases before the Supreme Court of Utah.

In 1963, aided by his fluency in the Spanish language, the excellent professional credentials he had quickly amassed, his prior legal experience as an employed attorney for the Church, and his good standing and healthy association with Elder Marion G. Romney, Howard received part-time work on a retainer basis as Latin American Legal Adviser to the First Presidency of the Church. Over the next 17 years Howard worked closely with President Romney. Their labors were centered on paving the way for Church growth in Latin America through political negotiations and legal registrations and incorporations.

Howard said of his long-time association with President Marion G. Romney: “Brother Romney was always teaching. I’ve never been with him when he didn’t teach me something very profound.” Howard would later speak at Romney’s funeral and author a well-received biography of Romney’s life.

In 1963 and 1964, Howard authored a seminal legal memorandum for Church leadership regarding the legal status of the Church in Mexico and the distinctions between the Latin American legal system and that found in the United States. Explained Howard:

This document was the result of much study, prayer, and consultation with Mexican legal and political figures. Not only did it explain the difference between civil and common law, I recommended that the Church nationalize all of its properties in Mexico. Brother Romney took me to President David O. McKay in December 1964 where I read every word of it out loud to the First Presidency, including Hugh B. Brown and N. Eldon Tanner. Afterwards, with only a momentary hesitation President McKay authorized us to go ahead.

In 1964, while living in Bountiful, Utah, Howard began the process of incorporating the Church in all of Central America, South America, and Mexico. Although his legal work for the Church was time consuming, he was able to continue his professional legal career on a separate track.

In 1965 Howard resigned his position with the Attorney General’s Office and went into private practice with a partner under the name of Howard & Romney. His partner was the son of Elder Marion G. Romney of the Quorum of the Twelve. Taking on another partner shortly thereafter, the name of the firm was changed to Howard, Hodges, and Romney.

In May of 1966 Howard was called to serve as bishop of the 750-plus member Bountiful 7th Ward. He was ordained and set apart by Elder Marion D. Hanks. As a result of the subsequent realignment of the ward boundaries, he became the bishop of the Bountiful 4th Ward.

In 1967, while serving as bishop, Howard became a partner in the law firm of Kirton & Bettilyon.

In 1971 he was called and set apart by Elder Marion G. Romney to serve as stake president of the Bountiful South Stake. He provided inspired leadership to one of the great stakes of the Church, consistently achieving 70 percent sacrament meeting attendance and nearly 100% home teaching.

While simultaneously serving as stake president, Howard had a unique ecclesiastical and professional assignment over a seven-year period that allowed him to fulfill his secret aspiration to “somehow meld [his] education or background or experience in such a way as to be of service to the Lord.” He described it this way:

In 1972 I was called and set apart by President Harold B. Lee as a special representative of the First Presidency for Latin American affairs. To my knowledge there had been nothing like it before. Some years later Ambassador David Kennedy was also given a similar calling and a major part of the world was divided. He was assigned to Washington, D.C., and Europe, and I retained the Latin American assignment. In 1974, shortly after Spencer W. Kimball became president of the Church, my calling was renewed. President Kimball set me apart again, but this time with additional responsibilities not always related to Latin America. In this unique position, I met regularly, travelled, and counseled with the First Presidency. I continued in that capacity until 1978.

Howard was called in late September of 1978 by President Spencer W. Kimball to serve as a General Authority of the Church. He was ordained a seventy by President Marion G. Romney on 1 October 1978. After his call as a General Authority, Howard continued to assist the Church with legal matters associated with Latin America. At the time of his call as a General Authority, he was the managing partner in the 14-attorney law firm of Boyden, Kennedy, Romney & Howard.

Howard reports:

As a lawyer, before being called as a General Authority, I never accepted a case which would cause me to bend the law or ignore the facts; or which would give my client a benefit he did not deserve. I still recoil from those who suggest such things and I do not traffic with men and women who shade the truth for personal gain.

Howard made the following remarks from the pulpit of the Tabernacle at the October 1978 General Conference of the Church following his being sustained as a General Authority:

At the risk of sounding unduly personal, I would like to tell you how I feel about the gospel. I love it, not compelled by lack of choice or circumstance nor by the uncritical adoption of patterns commanded from afar; not manipulated, but acting consciously, constructively, purposely, giving a freewill offering of the heart. I want to be involved in the Lord’s work—humbly, totally, and honestly; neither subordinating my soul to nor seeking dominion over others, but being freely one with those who are his, sharing and caring, thankful to be a part of the work wherever it may be, not to escape aloneness nor to fill life with self-deceptive activity, but rather knowingly and willingly doing what must be done; a grateful fellow servant, supporting, building, loving, lending heart and breath to a great cause. I want to stand firm and fearless, not weakening—for weakness implies pressure from without—but radiating strength and charity truly from within; offensively—not defensively—enthusiastically, sweetly, faithfully, everlasting in harmony with the Lord. May we all become one with him and his prophet and bring harmony into the work that we are in charge of, wherever that may be, in whatever land, I pray for each of us, and most especially for me, as I acknowledge my weaknesses and stand before you to accept this great calling.

In 1990, Howard participated in a tour of Colonial Williamsburg with Church President Howard W. Hunter, arranged in connection with a regional conference that was held in Virginia.

As a General Authority, Elder Howard lived in Uruguay, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, and Spain. During more than a quarter of a century as a General Authority, he served as the President of the North America Southwest, Europe West, North America Southeast, Mexico South, Mexico, North America Northeast, and South America North areas. He also served as a counselor in eight different Area Presidencies. He had the privilege of addressing the entire Church at its general conferences on eleven different occasions.

During his tenure as a General Authority, Howard participated in more than 200 mission tours as the presiding authority, fulfilled 417 stake conference assignments, called and organized 58 new stake presidencies, and created 6 new stakes of the Church. While fulfilling those assignments, he also served as assistant executive director of the Priesthood Department, second counselor in the Sunday School general presidency, chairman of the Military Relations Committee, a member of multiple temple committees, and a member of various other general Church committees.

Howard reflected on a particular aspect of his committee service:

Perhaps my sweetest headquarters assignment was as Chairman of the First Presidency committee known as the “Heartbreak Committee.” This committee processed transgression and restoration of blessings. I was honored to be called as such by both President Kimball and President Hinckley.

A limited glimpse into Howard’s personal leadership philosophy was revealed when he made this comment: “Growth and progress in the Church will come by involving more people rather than merely exhorting the active members to work harder.”

From 2005 to 2008, as an emeritus member of the First Quorum of Seventy, he and Sister Howard served as president and matron respectively of the Madrid Spain Temple. They regularly presented newlyweds with a small book which Howard published through Deseret Book Company in 2004 entitled Eternal Marriage and the Parable of the Silverware. The book was adapted from a May 2003 Ensign article entitled “Eternal Marriage.”

Howard’s counsel to young couples was patterned after the principles set forth in his book, pages 18-20:

[An] eternal marriage is eternal. Eternal implies continuing growth and improvement. It means that man and wife will honestly try to perfect themselves. It means that the marriage relationship is not to be frivolously discarded at the first sign of disagreement or when times get hard. It signifies that love will grow stronger with time and that it extends beyond the grave. It means that each partner will be blessed with the company of the other partner forever and that problems and differences might as well be resolved because they are not going to go away. Eternal signifies repentance, forgiveness, long-suffering, patience, hope, charity, love, and humility. All of these things are involved in anything that is eternal, and surely we must learn and practice them if we intend to claim an eternal marriage (pp. 18-20).

Howard personally told me of an important truth to which he adhered, a guiding principle in his life: “I have learned to distrust praise and to seek honest humility, which I define to be a genuine righteous estimate of what I am in the sight of God—no more but no less.”

With reference to the faithfulness of Eliezer, the servant of Abraham who was requested to find a wife for Isaac, Howard said:

The Church needs more people who will just do what they have agreed to do—people who will show up for work and stay all day; who will quietly, patiently, and consistently do what they have agreed to do for as long as it takes; and who will not stop until they have finished. That involves staying the course, being constant and steadfast. It means keeping the faith and being faithful to the end despite success or failure, doubt, or discouragement. It is drawing near to the Lord with all our hearts. It is doing whatever we promise to do with all our might, even when we might not feel like it.

F. Burton Howard has faithfully practiced what he fervently preached.

[End of biography I authored regarding Elder F. Burton Howard]

There is an endnote in the original that reads:

“An excellent oral history was conducted by Gordon Irving of the Church History Department about 30 years ago which extensively covered Howard’s legal work for the Church prior to his call as a General Authority.”

[End of only endnote in the biography]

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