We looked
for people in the midst of the myriad nominations who were common
folk like you and us, yet uncommon in their devotion to a cause,
unrelenting in their pursuit of service, and unswerving in their
devotion to principles of righteousness. We have chosen some people
you will likely recognize, but mostly they are people that we
have chosen to recognize—people who probably haven’t
been given a prestigious leadership award in their lives and probably
didn’t care to receive one, but who deserved it long ago.
Meridian’s
own Rodger Dean Duncan and Ed J. Pinegar wrote a fitting statement
that says much about those we are about to introduce you to: “In
every sense, great leaders in the Church are Christ-centered Saints.
While their personalities, styles and skills may vary widely,
the common thread of their character is faithfulness, devotion,
love unfeigned, sacrifice and consecration. They live as though
their lives depend on their character, because they do.”
Such is the
case as we announce the following six Meridian Leadership Awards
and also introduce you, tomorrow, to six more who are being honored
with the Meridian Leadership Honorable Mention Awards. Congratulations
to all 12 of you. We honor you. We thank you for your service.
We hope that our small token of appreciation will bless and lift
you.
Susan
Roylance
of West Jordan, Utah and Nairobi, Kenya
She’s
called by many the “champion of the family.” This
unassuming mother of seven and grandmother of 22 has traveled
to 35 countries and participated in 21 international conferences
to fight the never-ending battle to preserve the family.
Susan’s
life changed the day she was "laughed and sneered at”
during the Fourth World Conference of Women. “When I introduced
myself in a caucus meeting as being from United Families I was
shocked that they hated families so much, and thought that motherhood
was such a demeaning role for women. That day I decided to get
more involved – to represent motherhood, and the family,
in a positive way.”
One of Susan’s
special interests is working with orphans and street children.
Perhaps that’s why she and her husband of 42 years, Bob,
are now officially “bi-continental,” living in both
West Jordan, Utah and in Africa. The work Susan and Bob are doing
in Africa is an extension of the public policy work Susan has
done at the UN for so many years.
Everything
that Susan has accomplished seems to have prepared her for her
latest and perhaps greatest contribution to the pro-family movement—the
compilation of the United Nations Negotiating Guide. This miraculous
480-page volume collects under one cover twenty-two key international
treaties and UN conference documents and identifies, organizes,
and indexes the family-supportive language. UN ambassadors and
delegates have begged for copies.
Dr. Richard
Wilkins says of her: “Susan Roylance is an inveterate ‘do-er.’
In fact, I have never seen anyone work so hard, so long, and so
effectively on as many projects as Susan. Furthermore, she doesn't
seem to be overwhelmed when the odds are against her. She simply
(and in a clear, systematic manner) sizes up the task that lays
before her, determines how best to tackle it, and then goes to
work. She doesn't stop until the task is done. Sometimes I wonder
whether she needs sleep. As a result, lives are blessed and miracles
occur in her wake. Susan is a true latter-day hero.”
Susan is the
co-founder and former president of United Families International,
and president and/or director of numerous other organizations
including: Reach the Children, ChildHelp International, Women
for Integrity in the Nation, Coalition for Religious Liberty,
Utah Association of Women, Children’s Museum of Utah, and
the PTA.
Elaine
Cannon
of Salt Lake City, Utah
“It
is her leadership in the home that is most remarkable to me,”
reports Holly C. Metcalf, daughter of Elaine Cannon. “Mother
managed to be a full-time mom and still handle a full load of
Church and employment responsibilities because she would get up
at ‘the crack of dawn’ and write her daily newspaper
column or the manuals for various auxiliaries, leaving her many
hours to run the house, maintain the yard, sew, cook, and help
her children with their needs. Her six children can speak of her
ability to manage, juggle, prioritize, and inspire.”
Elaine Cannon
may be best remembered for her service as General President of
the Young Women, on the Church Correlation Committee, or as assistant
editor for the New Era magazine, which she helped create.
The last decade
or so has been marked by one heartache after another for Elaine
and her family. She has lost three grown children to various diseases,
and then lost her husband, for whom she had cared for 18 years
while he struggled with the effects of a stroke. In spite of these
potentially faith-wrenching and body-breaking trials, Elaine has
provided an example to all her posterity of submissiveness to
God’s will, steady endurance, and has shown the way to ‘carry
on’ (which happens to be one of her favorite hymns). As
an example of her optimism, when her own health problems become
cumbersome she always replies when asked how she is, “Things
are looking up, thank you.”
Holly reports
further: “At age eighty she was just released from her calling
as Stake Relief Society President to serve as a teacher in her
ward Relief Society.”
Strangers
and friends alike are impressed with her magnetism, warmth, energy
and charm. Audiences and readers have been entertained and inspired
by her words of instruction and testimony. “But it is to
her family that she leaves the greatest legacy,” says Holly.
Donald
Deshler
of Overland Park, Kansas
Donald D.
Deshler, Ph.D., is Professor of Special Education and Director
of the Center for Research on Learning at the University of Kansas.
He teaches graduate courses on instructional methodologies for
teachers of adolescents and young adults with learning disabilities.
The Center for Research on Learning is an internationally recognized
research and development organization noted for creating solutions
that dramatically improve quality of life, learning, and performance,
especially for those who experience barriers to success. The Center
has received $45 million in grants and financial assistance to
fund its research and work.
Brother Deshler
is former President of the Lenexa Kansas Stake, and presently
serves as Director of Multi-Stake Public Affairs for The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the greater Kansas City
area. His leadership in public affairs is stellar. He has great
vision and expresses his vision in leadership to public affairs
councils in six LDS stakes. Rodger Dean Duncan, coauthor of "Leadership
for Saints", and Meridian Magazine contributor, is a member
of Don's multi-stake council. Rodger recently commented that he
had been involved in public-affairs-type councils in many areas
of the world, but he had not observed one of higher caliber or
more successful than the council headed by Don Deshler.
His church
service has touched thousands of lives directly and continues
to touch many lives indirectly. His professional research and
work have touched thousands of teachers and many thousands more
students whose lives have been greatly improved as they overcome
their learning and achievement barriers.
Don is modest
about his achievements and will not discuss openly his professional
accolades and successes, although they are numerous. Consequently,
this information, though known to a few, is virtually unavailable.
Linda
King
of El Paso, Texas
Linda King is an amazing woman. If you ask any Latter-day Saint
in the El Paso area if they know Linda, they probably will. "She
has done much for the community in this area," says friend
Anne Pratt, "and she has built up the name of the Church
here tremendously."
Linda is a
mover and a shaker. She is currently serving as Stake Community
Relations Specialist. She goes way above her “job description.”
She spends 30-40 hours each week volunteering for or organizing
different projects for various non-profit organizations.
She started
a program where missionaries go to a shelter and cut the hair
of the homeless each week. This has been on-going for nearly 2
years now and the word is out because there is a long line every
week for haircuts.
For the last
4 years she has organized a luncheon for more than 30 non-profit
organizations in El Paso. She asks them what they need for the
coming year. She takes their suggestions and is a prime mover
and resource for each ward in her stake as to service projects,
and eagle scout and laurel projects. She makes sure that each
year all of these organizations are helped at least once, and
usually multiple times. Some of these are Red Cross, Salvation
Army, YWCA, Candelighters, Child Crises Center, and United Way.
She came up
with the idea to paint a wall on an entire city block here. She
helped the youth in our area design it and they painted it for
Youth Conference. It is a beautiful and permanent addition to
El Paso’s landscape.
She has helped
the city receive thousands of pounds of canned goods from the
Humanitarian department of the Church for the Martin Luther King
annual food drive several years running.
She has orchestrated
monthly birthday parties for the Children’s Day Care Center
(a place to help low income single women get education and gainful
employment while their children are taken care of). These children
have nothing, and are so appreciative of the parties that Linda
delegates and/or oversees.
In each case
she has received great press for the Church in both newspapers
and TV spots. Largely for her efforts the Church is seen in a
very positive light here. In everything she does, Linda is not
afraid to represent herself as a member of the Church.
Last year,
Linda experienced a great tragedy. Her daughter was murdered.
Instead of stopping her efforts, she has worked with even more
tenacity. “The service is good therapy for me.” She
says. Since that event, she has been asked to speak at many high
schools teaching teens ways to avoid abuse. She has been an advocate
for “Battered Women’s Shelter,” and other abuse/help
organizations as well because of this soft spot in her heart.
Beverly
Carmen Spencer
of Torrance, California
Sister Beverly Spencer
has a mission to make others feel warm with her quilts and the
love that she puts into them. She has spent a lifetime making
quilts for anyone in need. In the last 4 years since her husband’s
untimely death she has made and sent the Humanitarian Department
of the Church more than 400 hand made quilts.
One young girl in her
ward has an illness and has to attend church in a wheel chair.
Sister Spencer noticed that she had a blanket over her legs to
keep warm so she went home and made her a lap quilt for every
holiday so that she could change blankets each month.
She has also donated
quilts for the local Police Department to hand out to children
in need. According to her son, David Spencer, “My mom lives
her life in serving others and always thinks and ponders on how
she can give of herself to those in need. She will drop everything
when someone is in need. She will go without in order that her
loved ones have.”
Sister Spencer has
also made personal quilts for all of her 29 grand children and
her 2 great grandchildren.
Sister Spencer has
served as Relief Society President, Primary President, Early Morning
Seminary Teacher, Temple Preparation Teacher, Sunday School Teacher,
Relief Society Teacher, Visiting Teacher, and she was a major
support to her husband when he was the Stake Patriarch, transcribing
over 500 blessings.
Garry
Matson
of Chubbuck, Idaho
Garry
Matson has fulfilled his calling as a home teacher ever since
he was called. He has taken the stewardship of this great calling
very serious and has always believed that this is the most important
calling one can be given in the church.
According
to his daughter, Debra Layman, “he is the most faithful
home teacher I have ever known. He never misses a month, unless
he is gone out of town. He does his very best to be there for
those people to whom he has been blessed to visit and makes sure
that they know he is their home teacher. Even when our mother
suffered a stroke at 30 years old and has struggled with health
problems ever since, even working three jobs to support his growing
family, he never missed his home teaching.”
Garry Matson
is also known for his honesty. His daughter tells this story of
him: “My Father is the most honest person you will ever
meet. When I was a newly employed young woman, my parents wanted
to take me out to lunch. We went to a nice restaurant and enjoyed
a wonderful lunch filled with talking and enjoying each other’s
company. My father received the check and he always checks it
over to make sure that everything is correct on it. I remember
him saying that they didn't charge him for my meal. He looked
at it, double checked it and realized that they totally missed
it. We went up to the counter to pay for it and he told the cashier
that they had missed a meal that we had purchased. They went to
the waitress and sure enough, it had been left off. The cashier
was so impressed with my father's honesty that he gave him his
next visit to the restaurant free. My father said that wasn't
necessary. But he insisted. The cashier told my father that he
wished more people would be as honest as he was. I could do nothing
but smile and beam at my father.
“He
has always been an example to all of us children and grandchildren,
but what he told me has never left me in my life, ‘Debbie,
the Lord expects us to be honest in all our dealings, that means
everything we do we are to be honest. We got a nice lunch. That
waitress works hard for a living. She would have lost out on that
meal because she missed it. You should never try to get something
for free when you were planning on purchasing it anyway.’
I always remember my Father and how he has taught me to be honest.”
Garry Matson
has been married nearly 46 years, has five children (all married
in the temple), and 15 grandchildren. He and his wife, Glenis,
are temple workers in the Idaho Falls Temple.
Don’t
miss Meridian’s Thursday edition (tomorrow) where we will
highlight the six Meridian Leadership Honorable Mention Awards.
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