A. Theodore Tuttle
Born: 2 March 1919
Called to First Council of the Seventy (Presidency of the Seventy): 4 April 1958
Called to Presidency of the Seventy: 1 October 1976
Returned to First Quorum of the Seventy: 22 February 1980
Called as Second Counselor in the Sunday School Presidency: 1986
Died: 28 November 1986
Called to First Council of the Seventy (Presidency of the Seventy): 4 April 1958
Called to Presidency of the Seventy: 1 October 1976
Returned to First Quorum of the Seventy: 22 February 1980
Called as Second Counselor in the Sunday School Presidency: 1986
Died: 28 November 1986
Talks on Church WebsiteApr 1971 - The Message of the Restoration
Oct 1971 - The Things That Matter Most Apr 1972 - Priesthood--Its Power and Vitality Oct 1972 - Altar, Tent, Well Apr 1973 - What Is a Living Prophet? Oct 1973 - The Role of Fathers Oct 1974 - Your Mission Preparation Apr 1975 - Come Drink the Living Water Oct 1975 - A Prophet's Faith Oct 1976 - Extending Missionary Service Oct 1977 - Service Saves Apr 1978 (Welfare Session) - Welfare Services Begins with You Oct 1979 - Therefore I was Taught Apr 1980 - Eternal Links That Bind Apr 1982 - The First and the Last Words Apr 1984 - Covenants, Ordinances, and Service Oct 1986 - Developing Faith Image source: Improvement Era, June 1958
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Image source: Relief Society Magazine, June 1958
Image source: Improvement Era, November 1967
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Biographical Articles
Improvement Era, June 1958, President Albert Theodore Tuttle of the First Council of the Seventy
Relief Society Magazine, June 1958, A. Theodore Tuttle Appointed to the First Council of the Seventy
Improvement Era, November 1967, A. Theodore Tuttle of the First Council of the Seventy
Ensign, February 1987, Elder A. Theodore Tuttle Eulogized
Relief Society Magazine, June 1958, A. Theodore Tuttle Appointed to the First Council of the Seventy
Improvement Era, November 1967, A. Theodore Tuttle of the First Council of the Seventy
Ensign, February 1987, Elder A. Theodore Tuttle Eulogized
Packer, Boyd K. "President Albert Theodore Tuttle of the First Council of the Seventy." Improvement Era. June 1958. pg. 400, 475-477.
President Albert Theodore Tuttle of the First Council of the Seventy by Boyd K. Packer Supervisor of Seminaries and Institutes of Religion Those who know Albert Theodore Tuttle were not surprised with his call to the First Council of the Seventy. His life unfolds as a testimony to the principle of devoted and faithful Church service. He comes to this high position with unusual preparation and brings to his assignment outstanding strength and ability. His parents, Albert M. and Clarice Beal Tuttle, were stalwart Latter-day Saints. Though they longed for a larger family, they were blessed with only two children: Ted, as he is known throughout the Church, and his older sister, June (now the wife of President Clifford U. Gee, second counselor in the Park Stake presidency). Brother Tuttle inherited from his father a quiet, pleasant generosity and from his mother steadfastness and determination. In Manti, where the Tuttle family lived, his mother was an ardent temple worker and stake president of the Relief Society. His father, a sheep rancher and later on a livestock buyer, was a high priest in his ward. President Tuttle recalls that his mother, in the quiet, affectionate moments between mother and son, often referred to him as her child of promise. She once likened herself to Hannah and impressed upon him that he should always be worthy of a life of service to the Lord. His career in Church service and in teaching actually began as president of the seminary student body during his junior year in high school. He was called to the chapel every Tuesday after school to teach a class of Trail Builders. His seminary teacher, an inspired man who had the genius to grow very close to his students, became an ideal for Brother Tuttle, and there developed a friendship that has grown through the years. Even today, they reserve time for a tramp through the hills or an occasional hunting trip. Brother Tuttle was elected student body president his senior year in high school and was especially interested in drama and opera. During these teenage years, whenever Ted would return from a date, the upstairs step number twelve with its built-in squeak always announced his coming. The bed lamp would flash on in his parents' room inviting him to sit on the edge of the bed and visit about his evening. He attended Snow College where he was president of the freshman class and earned his letter in debate. In 1939 he was called on a mission to the Northern States. Here, while serving as branch and district president and mission recorder under President Leo J. Muir, he was urged to excellence in achievement. He learned that mediocrity, doing things just good enough, for him was not good enough. After his release from his mission, he attended Brigham Young University and was elected president of Delta Phi, the fraternity for returned missionaries. During his senior year, 1943, he was selected the outstanding student in religion at Brigham Young University. While at BYU, he met Marne Whitaker from Ellensburg, Washington, and they were married in the Manti Temple on July 26, 1943. A short while after they were married, he was called into the service and served two and a half years as a Marine line officer in the Pacific theater. On February 19, 1944, he landed with the twenty-eighth Marines near Mt. Suribache on Iwo Jima and during the engagement witnessed the historic raising of the American flag. Elder Tuttle served as group leader for the seventy-two Latter-day Saints scattered among the 5000 men in the Fifth Marine Division. Brother Tuttle sought them out, and at a conference in Hawaii in 1944, though he had been a group leader but a relatively short time, he introduced each man to Elder Harold B. Lee and demonstrated personal knowledge of and interest in each. President Tuttle returned from the service to a position teaching seminary at Menan, Idaho, where he remained for three years. Later he taught in Brigham City, Utah, for two years and for one year each in Kaysville and Salt Lake City. He continued his education and was awarded a master of arts degree from Stanford University in 1949. He is presently working on a doctorate at the University of Utah. At the time he was appointed Church supervisor of seminaries and institutes of religion in 1953, he was serving as director of the institute of religion at Reno, Nevada. President Tuttle's many positions in priesthood and auxiliary organizations have included serving in the Seventies presidency of the East Sharon Stake, as stake mission president of North Box Elder Stake, and in the stake Sunday School superintendency in the Park Stake. Brother and Sister Tuttle were stake MIA dance directors in the Rigby Stake and regional dance directors for the Idaho Falls area for one year. At the time of his call to the First Council of the Seventy, Elder Tuttle resided in the Timpanogos Stake, where he was teaching Sunday School in the Grove Ward and was group leader of the Seventies quorum. Brother Tuttle has had success as a teacher on both the high school and the college level, and his appointment as supervisor of seminaries and institutes of religion was occasioned by this unusual ability as well as his talent for administrative procedures. The Lord calls into further service a capable and devoted team in this assignment to the First Council of the Seventy. Sister Tuttle is a lovely, devoted companion whose main interests lie at home, in supporting her husband and rearing their five children. The Turtles have not known great prosperity, but the touch of the artist in Sister Tuttle has transformed many an environment from the commonplace to the beautiful. They love to work together and to sing together, both of which they do well. The serene, pleasant expressions they bring into every group are indications of a happy home life where children are welcome and loved. It will not be a new thing for Sister Tuttle to share her husband with the membership of the Church. For five years he has been traveling throughout the Church and of necessity has been away from home for extended periods of time. Occasionally while traveling President Turtle enjoys a walk into the desert or the mountains. He loves the outdoors. His alert eyes are always watchful for deer or other wildlife. At home he has always kept a pony or a dog and chickens. "It's good," he says, "for the children to watch things grow." Already well known throughout the Church, Brother Tuttle has had personal contacts with many of the stake presidents and bishops as he has traveled as supervisor of seminaries and institutes of religion. Few people in the Church have developed a firmer understanding of the policies and procedures of education and the philosophy of education in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A firm advocate of hard work, President Tuttle has had little interest in a minimum hour week and it has not been uncommon during the past five years for him to spend sixty to seventy hours a week laboring in his assignment. His counsel to those who work under his direction has always been that hard, persistent work makes up for deficiencies in talent and ability. President Tuttle has always believed that a humble man, submissive to the Spirit of the Lord, can grow t© greater achievement than a genius who resists that inspiration. Most of the qualifications attributable to Brother Tuttle are held also by countless other men, but there are some areas where few men equal or exceed him. He has rare ability to stand back and look at a complete organization and get the whole picture. His depth of scholarship and thoughtful reflection is greatly admired by those who have seen it in operation. He has sensitive, Christian compassion and love for his fellow men, a concern for the wellbeing of others that goes beyond convenience. His highest qualification comes in his unyielding faith and devotion and close companionship with the Lord. His persuasive spirituality has turned many a mind to reflect on the philosophy of a church that could build a man with such obvious happiness and conviction. |
President A. Theodore Tuttle, sustained a member of the First Council of the Seventy at general conference.
President A. Theodore Tuttle of the First Council of the Seventy holds Jonathan W., while Sister Tuttle holds Clarissa Marne. Standing are Diane, Robert T., and David M.
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Berrett, William E. "A. Theodore Tuttle Appointed to the First Council of Seventy." Relief Society Magazine. June 1958. pg. 363-364.
IT is not strange that when one sees his fellow man elevated to a place of honor there is a moment of reflection during which one casts about for the secret to such selection. Outwardly men appear so much alike — a sameness of dress and style; a similarity of posture; a common susceptibility to the inroads of time — that it is a bit startling to discover suddenly the individual differences. In the life of A. Theodore Tuttle, newest member of the Council of Seventy, one can see the ladder fashioned by this man in his early years and witness the steady climb up its rungs. His was not a complicated ladder. It was rather simplicity itself, for it was built out of the simple decisions which come in daily living. But the ladder had a solid foundation in the faith of his parents and the simple honesty of the little Sanpete community of Manti which he called home. Its top rested on the assurance which comes from belief in the revelations of God. From his birth A. Ted Tuttle lived the life of a normal Latter-day Saint boy reared in a faithful Mormon family, his mother, Clarice Beal Tuttle, an ardent worker in the temple, which overshadowed their home, and president of the stake Relief Society; his father, Albert M. Tuttle, a sheep rancher, cattle buyer, and high priest in the Church. Two things stand out concerning this period of his youth: he seemed always to have believed in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and he seemed always to have been establishing goals to be reached — rungs on the ladder already being built. Successively, his achievements are chronicled by honors which came to him, president of the seminary at Manti, president of the high school student body, president of the freshman class in Snow College, district president in the Northern States Mission, president of Delta Phi, returned missionary fraternity at Brigham Young University, outstanding senior in the division of religion 1943, seminary teacher, institute director, supervisor of seminaries and institutes for the Churchy and now one of the Seven Presidents of the First Quorum of Seventy. One must not suppose that such a ladder could be climbed alone. On July 26, 1943, he induced a companion to make the climb with him, and Marne Whitaker, from Ellensburg, Washington, a Brigham Young University student, enters the picture. Like all men who achieve, he needed a bit of a push by his good wife and five fine children for those higher rungs. And it took a bit of the fire and carnage on Iwo Jima, and leadership of the Latter-day Saint Marines in the Fifth Marine Division to toughen the fiber and test the soul. It was in those war-torn years that the faith of a mother, the courage of a wife, and the habits of a lifetime weighted the scales toward righteousness. In those days he must have remembered and felt the influence of the Priesthood Quorums, the Sunday Schools, the Mutual Improvement Association, the sacrament meetings, and yes, the Relief Society — for he recalls the years when his mother was stake Relief Society president and the secretary lived six miles away, so the burden of the immediate secretarial work fell on young Ted, the high school student, who says, "It seems to me that I must have typed the slogan 'Members old, members new — 100,000 by 42,' at least 100,000 times.'' Yes, President Tuttle, leader extraordinary, is a product of the Church of Jesus Christ. |
Elder A. Theodore Tuttle
ELDER A. THEODORE TUTTLE AND HIS FAMILY
Front row, left to right: Marne Whitaker Tuttle; Clarissa Marne; Jonathan Whitaker; Elder Tuttle. Back row, left to right: Diane; Robert Theodore; David Merrill. |
"A. Theodore Tuttle of the First Council of Seventy." Improvement Era. November 1967. pg. 59.
A. THEODORE TUTTLE of the First Council of the Seventy The mother of Elder A. Theodore Tuttle could not have know that when she insisted on her six-year-old son's memorizing his Sunday School talks, she was preparing him for speaking assignments that would carry his words around the world. But such was her faith in her only son that she often referred to him as a "child of promise," impressing upon him the need to be worthy for a life of service. Elder Tuttle was born March 2, 1919, at Manti, Utah, to Albert Mervin and Clarice Montez Beal. He developed an early reputation as an orator and debater, and during his school days in high school and at nearby Snow College he won the leads in plays and operettas and was a student leader. So close had been his relationship with his seminary teacher that when Elder Tuttle transferred to Brigham Young University after a Northern States mission, he decided to concentrate in religious education. His senior year was highlighted by his receiving an award as outstanding student in religious education, and by his marriage on July 26, 1943, to Marne Whitaker. They are the parents of seven children. Shortly after marriage, he entered the Marines and served two and a half years as a line officer in the Pacific theater. He was the person who returned to the ship to obtain the American flag that was to be raised on Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima. The raising of the flag has been the subject of legends, sculptures, pictures, and even motion pictures. Returning home, he began teaching in the seminary system, serving in Utah and Idaho communities while he pursued his master of education degree at Stanford University in the summers. After serving as director of the institute of religion at Reno, Nevada, he was appointed in 1953 as supervisor of seminaries and institutes for the Church Schools. A colleague describes him as one blessed with the "unusual ability for administrative procedures, one who has the rare ability to stand back and look at a complete organization and get the whole picture." Another longtime acquaintance has said, "His depth of scholarship and thoughtful reflection are greatly admired, as are his qualities of compassion and concern for others." On April 10, 1958, Elder Tuttle was called to the First Council of the Seventy. Three years later he was appointed president of the missions in South America, where he helped direct the growth of Church membership from 20,000 to 40,000 in four years. Among his present assignments is supervising Spanish-speaking missions in North America. His lifelong love for teaching the gospel has indeed been recognized by the Lord. Elder Tuttle is a great educator in the Lord's kingdom. |