President Dallin H. Oaks, president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, opened the Saturday morning session of October 2025 general conference. The following is a summary of what he said.
President Oaks’ talk summary
Meeting as the Church mourns the death of President Russell M. Nelson, President Oaks spoke as the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
The conference goes forward with speakers and music assigned by President Nelson after months of preparation. The only additions are his introductory explanation and his speaking in place of President Nelson in the closing session on Sunday afternoon.
“This is the first time in about 75 years that a Church president has died a few days before a general conference. … President Nelson understood the value of general conference to provide direction to the Saints in the coming months. We honor him by following the planned conference schedule he approved.”
In this time of grief, Church leaders have already paid tribute to President Nelson before general conference meetings and scheduled his funeral as soon as possible after conference.
“Since all of us who have been assigned to speak in general conference would like to devote our assigned time to paying a personal tribute to President Nelson, we have therefore asked that all our conference speakers hold any such tributes to a minimum, deferring elaborate tributes for the funeral, which we have already begun to plan.
“My own brief tribute — suitable to this conference and to the tributes we have already paid — is this: I love [President] Russell M. Nelson, and I have learned more about the gospel and gospel leadership from my long friendship and association with him than from any other leader I have personally known. He is our model as a servant and follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
See the full text of President Oaks’ talk: ‘Introduction’
Notable quotes
“I speak to you as the president of the Quorum of the Twelve, in which position I have been sustained in each of our ward, stake and general conferences for the past 7½ years.”
“President Nelson understood the value of general conference to provide direction to the Saints in the coming months. We honor him by following the planned conference schedule he approved.”
“I have learned more about the gospel and gospel leadership from my long friendship and association with him than from any other leader I have personally known. He is our model as a servant and follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
See more quotes, video clips and other study helps for this talk
Who is President Oaks?
- President Dallin H. Oaks was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1984 and as the first counselor in the First Presidency in January 2018. In 2022, he became the 19th latter-day apostle to reach the age of 90. Following President Russell M. Nelson’s death, he began leading the Church as president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
- President Oaks was a law clerk to Chief Justice Earl Warren at the U.S. Supreme Court and was a Utah Supreme Court justice when called to apostleship in 1984.
- As president of Brigham Young University from 1971 to 1980, he oversaw creation of the J. Reuben Clark Law School and the graduate business school.
- President Oaks and his late wife, Sister June Dixon Oaks, are the parents of six children. She died July 21, 1998. On Aug. 25, 2000, he married Sister Kristen M. McMain in the Salt Lake Temple.
What has President Oaks done recently?
- In the April 2025 general conference, President Oaks spoke about God’s mortal helps or gifts for His children.
- On Sept. 29, he issued a statement about the death of President Nelson and about the mass shooting at a Latter-day Saint chapel in Michigan.
- On Sept. 30, he spoke at a tribute to President Nelson from the Salt Lake Tabernacle.
- In July, he was in Belgium, where he taught European Latter-day Saints that following Christ is “a continuous commitment and way of life.’
- He taught new mission leaders in June why a testimony of Joseph Smith is vital to missionary work.
- As part of the First Presidency, he met with a Hindu spiritual leader and also ambassadors from Portugal and the Dominican Republic on Temple Square and sent a statement of goodwill to the new Catholic pope.
Read more of President Oaks’ general conference addresses, or follow him on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X/Twitter.
