Today is Elder Richard G. Scott’s 85th birthday! Here are some things you may or may not have known about this remarkable man.
• Was my Dad’s mission companion in Uruguay back in the early 1950s. When introduced to my little boys, he shook their hands and sincerely told them that their Grandfather was a great missionary. So kind.
• His father worked for Ezra Taft Benson in the US Department of Agriculture, which led to his dad’s eventual conversion to the church.
• President Benson would later call Richard G. Scott to be an Apostle in 1988.
• Was a Drum Major in High School.
• Played the saxophone in a jazz band.
• Is a nuclear engineer. Worked on the nuclear reactor of the first nuclear-powered submarine, the Nautilus, AND the first nuclear reactor on land.
• When he was a boy, he wanted to be different than the other kids, so he wore blue jeans – something nobody else wore at the time.
• Taught his kids how to make model rockets and jewelry.
• Speaks Spanish and Portuguese, and edits & records his Conference talks in those languages so that when people listen to his talks, they aren’t listening to a translator.
• Is big on technology, BUT thinks that studying the scriptures in digital format is “poor way of learning the gospel.” “There is nothing like hefting the book in your hand, reading and marking your own volume of scriptures. If that isn’t happening – if people are using only scriptures that are in a computer, they are missing the richness of the feelings that come, the ability to write in the margins the impressions that surely come as we read passages of scripture.” (Link here)
• Loves to paint, and has even had art exhibits displaying his paintings This is one that he painted for President Hinckley.
• Is an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I love Elder Scott. I love to read his Conference talks. (Which is a good thing, because often his gentle voice lulls me to sleep.)
BONUS: Make the leap over to BonaFide, and you will find an excellent interview, speech, and video. All of which are fascinating, and will help you get to know Elder Scott better. Link HERE.
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Wow thanks for posting. One of the best meetings I’ve ever attended was a missionary meeting where Elder Scott presided. Any history buffs can learn a lot about the programs Elder Scott worked on in the nuclear submarine program by reading a book called Blind Man’s Bluff.
Some Apostles are great to listen to while I find others are better read. Elder Scott is one of those Apostles that I have a hard time with in General Conference but I find when I read his talk there is a lot there. I generally find Elder Bednar is this way and Elder Maxwell at the time as well.
Elder Scott might appreciate it if you were to inform him of the notes capability that is in many if not all digital scriptures apps. I use both paper and digital. Frequently run out of space for marginal comments on paper; not a problem with digital, I can type faster than I can write (legibly, anyway), and with voice to text don’t even need to type. Given that we do not have to scratch it onto scarce metal plates, nor say “not a hundredth part” as they did, I anticipate that many of us will be called to task by the Book of Mormon prophets when they see how little effort we would have had to expend to pass on to our posterity almost the full “hundred parts” of our story. “Didn’t have time” will likely seem a weak excuse to them, I fear.
Elder Scott was my dad’s mission president. (Also D. Todd Christofferson’s, who served after my dad.) So you and me, MMM, have the Scott connection. One time I met Elder Scott at a single adult regional conference and told him my dad was in his mission, and he hugged me and said he loved my dad. He’s kind of short. We were cheek to cheek. He’s one of my favorites.
It’s too bad you’re anonymous, because if you weren’t I could ask you who your father was. My father served his mission in Uruguay in the 1950’s as well. And my son served there 50 years later. One of the little miracles on our son’s mission was an older member sharing the missionary “calling cards” he had collected. Not only was he given one of his grandpa’s cards, he was also given one of Elder Scott’s. (He explains it a bit here.) Maybe your dad stayed in that same house in Rocha. Elder Scott’s a wonderful role model, and his First Things First talk is one of my all-time favorites.
His son was a missionary in our ward sometime between 89 and 84 and he often refered to what his father had said and one time my husband said, “You must have really high regard fo your father” and he answered “Have you heared of elder Scott?!”. Well, we had but didn’t make the connection…
I love Elder Scott. Thanks for sharing this!