Alvin R. Dyer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alvin Rulon Dyer (1903-1977) was an Apostle and a General Authority in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, he was ordained as an Apostle in 1967 (but not as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) and subsequently set apart as a counselor in the First Presidency to President David O. McKay. After the death of President McKay in 1970, he was eventually returned to a position as an Assistant to the Twelve Apostles, and later to the First Quorum of the Seventy when it was reconstituted by combining the Assistants to the Twelve, the First Council of the Seventy, and the then existing First Quorum of the Seventy in 1976.
[edit] Life
Born and raised in Utah, Alvin R. Dyer was an accomplished baseball player as a youth, but put baseball aside to serve as a missionary for the LDS Church in the Eastern States Mission from 1922-1924. In 1926 he was married to May Elizabeth Jackson in the Salt Lake Temple.
After his mission, he had the opportunity to play professional baseball, but declined the offer because he would have to play on Sundays. Instead he studied mechanical drafting and technical engineering in order to become a sheet metal journeyman. He later managed the heating and air conditioning department of Utah Builders Supply. Eventually, he formed the Dyer Distributing Company which he owned until 1954, when he dissolved all his business interests upon being called to full-time service as a Mission President in the church.
In addition to his service as a General Authority, he served in many capacities within the church holding such callings as Bishop and Stake High Councilor. He served as Mission president over the Central States Mission, beginning in 1954, and over the European Mission, from 1960-1962. In 1958 he was called as an Assistant to the Twelve, and as mentioned earlier ordained an Apostle and set apart as a counselor in the First Presidency where he served from 1967-1970. He then again served as an Assistant to the Twelve, and finally as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy.
Aside from his business and church activities, he was active in both the Missouri Historical Society and the Jackson County Historical Society.
In 1972 he suffered a stroke that limited his activity. He died at his home in Utah in 1977.
