Elder Paul H. Dunn, 73, who died Jan. 9 in Salt Lake City of cardiac arrest, was remembered at his funeral as a man with a love for the Lord and who used his capacities to share his testimony with others.
President Gordon B. Hinckley was the concluding speaker at the funeral, held Jan. 13 at the Highland Utah East Stake Center in this Utah County community.An overflow congregation filled the center, among them the First Presidency, several members of the Quorum of the Twelve, Seventies, Presiding Bishopric and emeritus General Authorities.
Elder L. Aldin Porter, the senior president of the
Quorums of the Seventy, conducted the meeting. Members of the Mormon Youth Chorus, directed by Robert C. Bowden with organist Bonnie Goodliffe, sang at the funeral. U.S. Sen. Orrin G. Hatch was one of the speakers.
As they remembered his kindness and personal attention, family members who spoke also noted his keen wit.
In his remarks, President Hinckley, said: "I think we can all appreciate the vast good that he did. There was testimony and conviction in his heart, and he carried in that heart a great love for the Lord."
He quoted Elder Dunn, who said:
" `Above all the counsel I would give or that which any parent or grandparent could give his family would be the testimony that God, the Father, is a reality, that He knows each of us and has abiding love for all of His children, and that He continually reveals Himself to us so that one day we can become like Him.' "
Continuing, President Hinckley paid tribute to Elder Dunn as a teacher. "Teaching was his real forte; he loved to teach. He liked to talk to people, and he had a tremendous capacity for speaking to students. They flocked around him; they gathered about him. He left a tremendous impression upon their lives."
He said that when Elder Dunn was called to the First Council of the Seventy he stood out as "a very young man with a very bright intellect."
He remembered a conference where Elder Dunn gave a talk on the atonement of the Savior, "remarkable and wonderful discourse which brought for me a great sense of appreciation for his capacity to speak on his love for the Lord and the great sacrifice which He made for each of us."
Sen. Hatch, a longtime friend of Elder Dunn's, spoke of his friend's sense of humor. "He was constantly being humorous, and yet when the times was right, he would talk spiritually in almost every occasion.
"He was a wonderful husband, a wonderful father, a wonderful grandfather.
"He loved his country as all of us do."
Elder Dunn was called to the First Council of the Seventy in April 1964 and served in the presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy from Oct. 1, 1976, to Feb. 22, 1980. He was named an emeritus general authority on Oct. 1, 1989. He was granted emeritus status because of age and health factors at that time.
Upon his death, the First Presidency issued the following statement: "We have learned with regret of the passing of Elder Paul H. Dunn, an emeritus General Authority of the Church. He was a long-time teacher and advocate of youth and served as a mission president and General Authority of the Church over a period of 34 years.
"We extend our sympathy and love to his wife, Jeanne, and family."
Elder Dunn's assignments as a Church leader included serving as executive administrator in the British Isles and the Salt Lake area, a member of the North America West Area presidency and as president of the New England Mission.
He also was a counselor in the Salt Lake City South, Utah South and North America West area presidencies.
Elder Dunn was born April 24, 1924, in Provo, a son of Joshua Harold and Geneve Roberts Dunn. When he was 2, the family moved to Little Rock, Ark., and later lived in Tulsa, Okla., and Tyler, Texas, before moving to Southern California.
He married his high school sweetheart, Jeanne Alice Cheverton, Feb. 27, 1946.
He received a bachelor's degree in religion at Chapman College in Orange, Calif., then master's and doctoral degrees in educational administration from the University of Southern California.
He joined the LDS Church Educational System in 1952 as a seminary instructor while he was still in college and ultimately advanced to the point where he coordinated the activities of institutes on various college campuses.
He was a popular speaker and the author of numerous books. He was featured on a syndicated radio program, "Sunday Evening from Temple Square," for a period in the 1970s.
Elder Dunn was named Utah's 1972 Father of the Year by the Utah Civic Young Men's Association.
Survivors include his wife, Highland, Utah; three daughters, Mrs. Gary (Janet) Gough, American Fork, Utah; Mrs. Jeril (Marsha) Winget, Murray, Utah; Mrs. Michael (Kellie) McIntosh, Sandy, Utah; two brothers, Bob Dunn, American Fork, Utah; and Dr. David Dunn, Granada Hills, Calif.; and 10 grandchildren.
