The older I get the more that I see the hand of the Lord in the little details of our lives. As I consider my heritage--the parents and grandparents who have influenced my life, I am most grateful for a kind Heavenly Father who knew exactly the family I would need.
Grandpa passed away on June 14, 1986. Flag Day! Every year this connection has made it easy for me to spend a few minutes thinking about this great man and his service in the Kingdom, to his family and to many others who crossed his path.
Recently in an assignment that I have in Church Hosting I became acquainted with another woman who serves on a committee with me. As we visited, we made connections and they eventually led to Grandpa and Grandma. This woman's father, I believe his last name is Power, was in the military and to this day--he is in his 90's--recounts stories of the kindness and acceptance and direction he received from Grandma and Grandpa. He has told his daughter many times of his gratitude for that relationship.
Grandpa has been gone for 28 years and still people are talking about his influence in their lives. Quite a tribute to quite a man! How blessed we are to be part of this family.
James A. (Alfred) Cullimore
1906 - 1986
- Born 1906 Lindon, Utah
- Baptized as a child; Aaronic Priesthood as a youth; Melchizedek Priesthood as a young man
- Mission to California 1925-1927
- Married Grace Gardner 1931, Salt Lake Temple; three children
- President of British Central Mission 1960
- Assistant to the Twelve 1966-1976
- First Quorum of Seventy 1976-1978
- Married Florence Prows 1977, Salt Lake Temple
- Named Emeritus General Authority 1978
- Died 1986 Salt Lake City, Utah
This biographical shetch is adapted from "News of the Church: Elder James A. Cullimore Dies" in the Ensign, Aug. 1986, page 74.
Elder James A. Cullimore, an emeritus member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, was memorialized by members of the First Presidency, of his quorum, and of his family at funeral services in the Assembly Hall on Temple Square Wednesday, June 18. He died in a Salt Lake City hospital on Saturday morning, June 14. He was eighty years old.
President Gordon B. Hinckley, First Counselor in the First Presidency, conducted the funeral and read a brief note from President Ezra Taft Benson, who had himself been hospitalized briefly because of a flu-like illness and was unable to attend.
“God bless this great man. I loved him dearly,” President Benson said.
President Thomas S. Monson, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, spoke of Elder Cullimore as a man of good cheer, a man of talent, a man of peace, a man of love, a man of God. He was a man without guile who loved everyone and was eager to serve wherever called.
Elder Marion D. Hanks of the presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy testified that his brother in the priesthood “still lives, and always will.” He quoted from Isaiah 61:3, which speaks of those who are “trees of righteousness,” and noted that Elder Cullimore was one of those.
Elder Cullimore’s son Kelvyn outlined his father’s exemplary service as husband, father, Church leader, and employer, referring to him as “a beacon light that has set each of us on the path to peace and happiness.”
Elder Cullimore had served as a General Authority for more than twenty years, having been sustained as an Assistant to the Twelve on 6 April 1966. He was one of the original members of the First Quorum of the Seventy when it was organized in 1976, and was named to emeritus status in 1978.
James Alfred Cullimore was born 17 January 1906 in Lindon, Utah, one of twelve children of Albert Lorenzo and Luella Keetch Cullimore. His father was a bishop and also owner of a grocery store, where young James received his early experience in retailing.
He served a mission to California in 1925-27, then returned to his schooling at Brigham Young University, where he had attended one year before his mission. He was elected student body president for 1930-31.
It was in 1931 that he married another BYU student, Grace Gardner, in the Salt Lake Temple. She died in 1975, and he married Florence Prows in 1977, also in the Salt Lake Temple.
After receiving his bachelor of science degree from BYU in 1931, James Cullimore attended New York University School of Retailing on a scholarship, receiving a master’s degree in 1932. He worked as a furniture buyer for Gimbel Brothers department store in New York City, then for a Chicago department store. He also worked in Sioux City, Iowa, before taking a job with an Oklahoma City store in 1937.
In 1946, he opened his own Oklahoma City furniture store, which quickly became successful.
James Cullimore served the Church in a variety of positions during his business career, including as a branch president in Sioux City and Oklahoma City and as president of the West Oklahoma District. When the Oklahoma Stake was organized in 1960, he was called as its first president. He had served in that position for only a matter of weeks when he was called as president of the Central British Mission.
Following his return from England, he was called to be a member of the Church’s Priesthood Welfare Committee. Then in April of 1966, he was called as an Assistant to the Twelve.
Elder Cullimore served as an Assistant to the Twelve until October of 1976 when all the Assistants were released and called into the then newly reorganized First Quorum of the Seventy. In 1978, in recognition of his long years of service and due to factors of age and health, Elder Cullimore was granted Emeritus status and named an Emeritus General Authority. As noted, he died in 1986.
Bibliography
“The Reconstitution of the First Quorum of the Seventy,” Ensign, Nov. 1976, p. 9
“The Sustaining of Church Officers,” Ensign, Nov. 1976, p. 10
"News of the Church: Elder James A. Cullimore Dies" Ensign, Aug. 1986, p. 74
2005 Church Almanac, p. 7
This article was in the 1974 August Ensign. I thought it speaks well to the theme of our blog!
Oklahoma City Experience
Oklahoma City Experience
I believe sincerely that our lives are guided by the Lord as we serve him, keep his commandments, and do what we can to help build up the Church and kingdom of God on earth. President Joseph Fielding Smith said in his opening talk at the April 1972 conference of the Church, “There is no cure for the ills of the world except in the gospel of the LordJesus Christ. Our hope for peace, for temporal and spiritual prosperity, and for an eventual inheritance in the kingdom of God is found only in and through the restored gospel. To those who have received the gospel we say, Keep the commandments. Walk in the light. Endure to the end. Be true to every covenant and obligation and the Lord will bless you beyond your fondest dreams.”
It is important to keep our lives in tune with the Holy Spirit at all times that we might be assured of the promptings of the Spirit and that we might be able to recognize those promptings. I believe as well that the Lord expects us to make many decisions on our own, as we feel directed by the Spirit. He has said, “… it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant … men should … do many things of their own free will … For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward.” (D&C 58:26–28.)
As I look back over my life I can see the guiding hand of the Lord in many things. Let me relate just one such instance. Sister Cullimore and I have lived most of our married life in the missions of the Church. At one time, when we lived in Oklahoma City, we were concerned that our teenage children were not able to have proper association with other children of their age who were members of the Church. Their association was almost entirely with nonmembers, and although they were wonderful young people we worried about them being able to marry in the temple without proper association with members of the Church. Our concern was so great we were considering leaving my employment and moving to an area where they would have this association.
About this time Elder Joseph F. Merrill of the Council of the Twelve was traveling through the mission with the mission president, and he stayed overnight with us. Sister Cullimore poured her heart out to Brother Merrill about our concern over the children. Elder Merrill said, “Don’t be concerned about it; this is where the Lord wants you. I promise you that if you teach your children the gospel, see to it that they attend their meetings in the Church, set a proper example for them in your home, and then when they are ready, see that they attend a Church school, they will marry in the temple.”
I had already made some rather serious commitments in reference to a change in employment that would have necessitated a move from the area. The next morning, after the conversation with Elder Merrill, I coincidently met a real estate dealer who told me of a building available that would be suitable for a furniture business. (I had previously asked him to watch for such a building for me.) In three days I had signed the lease on the building and given notice to my employer that I was leaving. Within thirty days our business was opened.
The Lord blessed us abundantly in the business. We saw the Church grow in the area. Our children have each married in the temple and are all active and involved in the Church.
[illustration] Illustrated by Ralph Reynolds
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