Jack H. Goaslind

Who was Jack H. Goaslind?

Jack H. Goaslind, Jr. was a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1978 until his death. He was the seventeenth general president of the church's Young Men organization from 1990 to 1998.

Goaslind was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Jack, Sr. and Anita Jane Goaslind. As a young man, he served as a missionary for the LDS Church in the Western Canadian Mission. Goaslind had been an avid skier since childhood and by choosing to serve a mission, he passed up a chance to train for the Olympics with the United States Ski Team. After his mission, he graduated from the University of Utah and became a vice president with Affiliated Metals, Inc. Goaslind married Gwen Bradford and they had six children.

Goaslind served in the LDS Church as a bishop, stake president and a regional representative. In 1972, he was called as second counselor to Young Men general president Robert L. Backman. When the church's presiding bishopric assumed supervision of the Young Men program in 1974, Goaslind was released and served as president of the church's Arizona Tempe Mission.

In 1978, Goaslind became a general authority and member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. From 1979 to 1981, he was second counselor to Hugh W. Pinnock in the general presidency of the church's Sunday School. In 1985, he became a member of the seven-man Presidency of the Seventy, a position he held until 1987, when he became president of the church's British Isles–Africa Area. During this time, he oversaw placing Emmanuel A. Kissi in charge of the church's affairs in Ghana during "the freeze", when the government of Ghana forbade all meetings of the church.