Adam Simmons remembers one of the last talks Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin gave at a General Conference meeting for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints last year.
“He was standing there physically but struggling emotionally to talk about love,” said Simmons, a junior in biomedical engineering. “His whole point (was) love isn’t in these huge, elaborate acts. It’s the small charity work.”
Wirthlin, who was the oldest living apostle in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for the LDS Church, passed away in his sleep Monday night at his home in Salt Lake City.
The 91-year-old apostle touched the lives of thousands of church members worldwide
and inspired confidence in U students through his words and example.
Wirthlin was born on June 11, 1917, in Salt Lake City. He attended the U and went on an LDS mission to Germany, Austria and Switzerland in the late 1930s, according to a biography on the LDS Church Web site.
After returning from his mission, Wirthlin married Elisa Young Rogers in 1941 in the Salt Lake Temple. Wirthlin graduated from the U with a degree in business administration, and later went on to receive his doctorate in Christian Service Honoris Causa from BYU.
The future church apostle was an ardent Utes fan and even played on the Utah football team as a running back.
U student Rob Totten said he met Wirthlin for the first time at a spring scrimmage game for the Utes football team in 2007. Totten said that Wirthlin was sitting in his wheelchair in the stands cheering for the Utes.
“Watching him cheer for the football team, it made him seem young again,” said Totten, a junior in exercise and sport science at the U. “He was pretty animated.”
Wirthlin saw his share of football games. During the last Utah vs. Brigham Young University football game, Wirthlin could be seen cheering on the sidelines.
After graduating from the U, Wirthlin ran a business and served as bishop and counselor for the Bonneville Ward bishopric.
He later served as a counselor for the General Sunday School Presidency, and then in 1975 was called as an assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. In 1976, he began serving in the First Quorum of the Seventy, and then in the presidency in 1986. Less than two months later, Wirthlin was ordained as an apostle for the LDS church.
The apostle still made time to show his support for the Utes.
Alison Smith, a sophomore in secondary education at the U, said whenever she meets her friends who attend BYU and they argue about which team is better, she tells them that a lot of the church apostles, such as Wirthlin, are Utes fans.
Kate Larimar, a freshman in political science, remembers how strong Elder Wirthlin was as a spiritual leader.
“When he talked, there was no doubt he had the strongest testimony ever,” she said.