McKay, David Lawrence

David Oman McKay was ninth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His duties and services within the LDS Church were many throughout his life. He was ordained an apostle in 1906, was appointed as superintendent of the Deseret Sunday School Union in 1918, was named Church Commissioner of Education in 1919, was sustained as second counselor to President Heber J. Grant in 1934, was sustained as second counselor to President George Albert Smith in 1945, and was sustained as president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1950. A year later, he was sustained as prophet of the LDS Church and served in that capacity until his death in 1970.

David Oman McKay was born on 8 September 1873, to David McKay and Jennette Eveline Evans in Huntsville, Utah. The third of ten children, David O., as he was most often called, learned the meaning of work as he helped his father on the farm. He also learned the value of service as he became the "man of the house" at the age of eight when his father left to serve an LDS mission in Scotland. These and other values he learned at home helped shape him for further responsibilities in life.

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