Wilford E. Smith audiotapes, 1977

Series — Carton: 4

Identifier: MSS 7936 Series 4

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Contains reel to reel tapes of trips taken by Wilford E. and Ruth Smith, 1977.

Dates

1977

Creator

Smith, Wilford E., 1916-2010 (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Open for public research.

Conditions Governing Use

It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances. Permission to publish material from the Wilford E. Smith papers must be obtained from the Supervisor of Reference Services and/or the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Board of Curators.

Biographical History

From the Collection:

Wilford E. Smith (born 1916) was a Mormon missionary and college professor in Utah.

Wilford Emery Smith was born May 16, 1916, in Holladay, Utah. He grew up on his family farm and attended Irving School in Holladay. From 1932 to 1934, he attended Granite High school. In April 1935 he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps. On September 2, 1936, he was called to be a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in New Zealand and served there from 1936 to 1939.

After his mission he attended Brigham Young University with the intention of training to become a school teacher. He also met Ruth Christensen in 1939 and they married on August 31, 1940. They had five children. He transferred to the University of Utah in 1940. In June 1943 he graduated wth a bachelor's degree from the School of Education with a major in sociology and a minor in psychology.

In 1944, he was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the Army and served in the South Pacific during the Second World War. He was awarded battle stars for the Leyte and Okinawan campaigns. He was an active reservist from 1946 to 1976 and retired as a full colonel, receiving the Meritorious Service Medal. He became a professor of sociology at Brigham Young University in 1948 after completing his master's degree in Educational Administration and received his Ph.D. at the University of Washington in 1952.

In 1981, he was called to serve as a mission president in the Fiji Suva Mission. He has served in various other positions in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as on multiple educational boards.