George Carlos Smith Jr. (23 August 1910 – 29 March 1987) was the eleventh general superintendent of the

Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association The Young Men (often referred to as Young Men's) is a youth ministry, youth organization and Auxiliary organization (LDS Church), official program of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Its purpose is to assist the church ...

(YMMIA) of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

(LDS Church) from 1962 to 1969.

Biography

Smith was born in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, to George Carlos and Lillian Emery Smith. He became the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

of the LDS Church's Big Cottonwood Utah

Stake Stake may refer to: Entertainment * '' Stake: Fortune Fighters'', a 2003 video game * ''The Stake'', a 1915 silent short film * "The Stake", a 1977 song by The Steve Miller Band from '' Book of Dreams'' * ''Stakes'' (miniseries), a Cartoon Netw ...

in 1949. In 1956, he became the president of the

Holladay Holladay is a city in central Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Salt Lake City, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area and abuts the Wasatch National Forest. The population was 31,965 at the 2020 census, a significant increas ...

Utah Stake. In 1958, Smith became the first assistant to Joseph T. Bentley, the general superintendent of the YMMIA. He was released in June 1961, but in October 1962 Smith was asked to succeed Bentley and become the YMMIA superintendent. During his tenure, Smith had three different assistants:

Carl W. Buehner Carl William Buehner (December 27, 1898 – November 11, 1974) was a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1952 to 1961 and was the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party candidate for ...

, George R. Hill, and future LDS Church apostle

Marvin J. Ashton Marvin Jeremy Ashton (May 6, 1915 – February 25, 1994) was a Utah politician and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1971 until his death in 1994. Ashton was born t ...

. In 1969 Smith was released; his successor was

W. Jay Eldredge Walter Joshua "Jay" Eldredge Jr. (27 April 1913 – 27 April 2002) was the thirteenth general superintendent of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1969 to 1972. Biogra ...

. In 1969, Smith became the first

of the church's

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

Mission, which was headquartered in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

and had stewardship for

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, and most of the countries in Southeast Asia. This included supervising church members in

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

. Some of the church's servicemen who were in Vietnam were called to serve as part-time missionaries. Both other American servicemen and native Vietnamese were baptized as a result of these efforts. Smith had previously presided over the Central States Mission of the church. Smith married P. Lavon Petersen and was the father of five children. He was the grandson of LDS Church

Joseph F. Smith Joseph Fielding Smith Sr. (November 13, 1838 – November 19, 1918) was an American religious leader who served as the sixth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He was the nephew of Joseph Smith, the founde ...

. He died in Salt Lake City at age 76.

References

*Arnold K. Garr,

Donald Q. Cannon Donald Quayle Cannon (born 1936) is a retired professor at Brigham Young University who specializes in Latter-day Saint history, particularly early Latter-day Saint history and international Latter-day Saint history. As a young man, Cannon was a ...

Richard O. Cowan Richard Olsen Cowan (born 1934) is a historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and a former professor in the Church History Department of Brigham Young University (BYU). He was one of the longest-serving BYU faculty a ...

(eds.) (2000). ''Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History'' (Salt Lake City, Utah:

Deseret Book Deseret Book () is an American publishing company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, that also operates a chain of bookstores throughout the western United States. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation (DMC), the ...

) *

R. Lanier Britsch Ralph Lanier Britsch (born 1938) was a history professor at Brigham Young University who specialized in the history of missionary work by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), particularly in the Pacific Islands and Asia. ...

. "The Church in Asia." '' Encyclopedia of Mormonism'' (

Daniel H. Ludlow Daniel Hansen Ludlow (March 17, 1924 – February 14, 2009) was a professor of religion at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. He was also the chief editor of the ''Encyclopedia of Mormonism'', published in 1992 by Macmillan. Biogra ...

ed.) (New York: Macmillan, 1992) 1:75–81 1910 births 1987 deaths 20th-century Mormon missionaries American Mormon missionaries in India American Mormon missionaries in the United States American expatriates in Singapore American leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Counselors in the General Presidency of the Young Men (organization) General Presidents of the Young Men (organization) Latter Day Saints from Utah Mission presidents (LDS Church) Mormon missionaries in Indonesia Mormon missionaries in Malaysia Mormon missionaries in Singapore Mormon missionaries in Vietnam People from Salt Lake City {{LDS-stub