Oscar A. Kirkham

Who was Oscar A. Kirkham?

Oscar Ammon Kirkham was a general authority in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and one of the seven presidents of Seventy.

Kirkham was born in Lehi, Utah Territory, to James Kirkham and his wife Mary Mercer. Oscar Kirkham was the younger brother of prominent educator and defender of the Book of Mormon Francis W. Kirkham. Kirkham was ordained a Seventy by Joseph W. McMurrin on February 26, 1905. After serving as a Mormon missionary in Germany and graduating from Brigham Young Academy, Kirkham studied music in Germany and then taught at the Latter-day Saints University.

In 1913 Kirkham was appointed the traveling secretary of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association of the LDS Church to oversee recreational activities. Kirkham was involved with Scouting at a high level, serving as a regional scout executive and on the U.S. national staff at the 1929 International Jamboree at Arrowe Park in Birkenhead, England, where he was in charge of the religious exercises of the American scouts.

Heber J. Grant installed Kirkham as one of the seven presidents of the Seventy on October 5, 1941. Marion D. Hanks had Kirkham's personal notes published as a book, Say the Good Word, to which Hanks wrote the forward.