In 1961, Dallin H. Oaks was balancing a demanding schedule at a Chicago law firm and with a young family when he received a call to serve in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
His stake president asked him to serve a stake mission and as a counselor in the stake mission presidency, requiring 40 hours of monthly proselyting.
This tested the Latter-day Saint lawyer’s faith, according to his biography, “In the Hands of the Lord,” by Richard E. Turley Jr.
“I could not see how I could accept this calling and still keep up with my law practice,” he said. “Yet I could not say no to a calling that I knew to be from the Lord. ... Gathering all my faith, I accepted the call.”
Within weeks, he knew he had made the right decision as he came to recognize “the unusual — even miraculous — blessings that come to those who serve the Lord,” he said.
“I am deriving great happiness from this work, and I know the Lord is blessing me to accomplish my legal work with greater efficiency so that I can give my full devotion to His service.”
Nearly 65 years later, the seasoned Church leader continues to respond when called, demonstrating his love for the gospel and witness of the Savior, Jesus Christ.
President Dallin H. Oaks, 93, was set apart as the 18th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Tuesday, Oct. 14, following 41 years of service as an apostle.
‘One of the great, great leaders’
As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and then the First Presidency for a combined four decades, President Oaks has boldly taught the doctrines of the gospel, defended the family in accordance with God’s law, championed religious liberty and proclaimed his witness of Jesus Christ around the world.
As a devoted husband and father, President Oaks has demonstrated a lifelong love of learning. He graduated from Brigham Young University and the University of Chicago Law School before entering the legal profession as an attorney and law professor.
President Oaks left the legal profession to serve as president of BYU and was then appointed as a justice of the Utah Supreme Court.
President Oaks was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, alongside President Russell M. Nelson, on April 7, 1984. He later served with President Nelson as first counselor in the First Presidency from 2018 to 2025.
President Jeffrey R. Holland, whom President Oaks announced Tuesday as the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, described President Oaks as “one of the great, great leaders I have ever known.” They first became acquainted in 1974 when President Oaks, then BYU president, appointed President Holland as the school’s dean of Religious Education.
President Holland praised President Oaks’ leadership style as “steady, calm and reassuring” while also highlighting his strong work ethic and faithful devotion to the Lord. He prays for and sustains President Oaks.
“He is the complete man of God, and I love him,” President Holland said.
President Henry B. Eyring — who again returns to the First Presidency but as President Oaks’ first counselor — expressed gratitude for the sacred process through which a new Prophet has been called.
“I feel blessed to live in a time where I can again follow in perfect confidence a Prophet of God,” he said.
President D. Todd Christofferson, whom President Oaks announced Tuesday as the second counselor in the First Presidency, called him “a man of action” and expressed appreciation for several admirable qualities of President Oaks: a keen intellect with an analytical and bright mind; the ability to express himself clearly; deep empathy and care for those in need; openness to others’ ideas and opinions; a sense of humor with quick, dry wit; and humility in discussions.
“One thing that strikes me is that he has been a good follower as well as a strong leader,” he said.
Of President Oaks’ many remarkable qualities and talents, President Christofferson particularly values his openness to the guidance of the Spirit.
“He knows how to pause, how to be quiet, how to listen to the Spirit’s voice. And he responds. He is attentive. He knows how to receive those impressions. He knows how to act on them. And because he does act on them, I think the Lord gives him a constant flow of that kind of direction,” he said.
Turley, his biographer, said many Church members see senior leaders only during general conference or other formal events and may not fully understand their personal side.
“As one who has now spent nearly 40 years interacting with President Oaks on a personal level, I will say that he is a kind, gregarious, caring individual, and it is my hope that members of the Church will recognize that even if they don’t have the experience to interact with him personally,” he said.
Early life of President Oaks
Dallin Harris Oaks was born in Provo, Utah, on Aug. 12, 1932, to Lloyd E. and Stella Harris Oaks, the oldest of the couple’s three children. Through his mother’s side, President Oaks is a great-great-nephew of Martin Harris, one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon.
Dallin nearly returned to heaven when he was 9 months old. In a time before children were required to ride in safety seats, his mother was driving with her son in the family car in Provo when she was involved in an accident. The crash “catapulted” Dallin from the car onto the concrete street. Miraculously, a local newspaper reported, he sustained bruises on his head but “did not suffer serious injury.”
His father, a trained ophthalmologist, died of tuberculosis in 1940, when Dallin was only 7 years old, leaving the widowed mother to raise the couple’s children alone. President Oaks reflected on receiving the heartbreaking news from his maternal grandfather and spoke on the strengthening bond of eternal families in his October 2025 general conference remarks.
After learning the tragic news, “I ran into the bedroom and knelt beside the bed, crying my heart out. Grandpa followed me and went to his knees beside me and said, ‘I will be your father,’” President Oaks said. “That tender promise is a powerful example of what grandparents can do to fill in the gaps when families lose or are missing a member.”
Following his father’s death, President Oaks faced challenges as a student and admitted to shedding many tears over the loss. But he never blamed the Lord or harbored bitterness about it.
“I attribute this to the faith and assurance given me by my mother and grandparents, whose attitudes reinforced the sweetness of my memories and turned the potential energy of resentment into joyful anticipation of being reunited with him one day,” he said in his biography.
After his father’s death, his mother experienced an emotional breakdown as she sought to gain an education and support her family. During this time, grandparents stepped in to assist the family. Eventually, the children returned to live with their mother in Vernal, Utah, where she took a teaching position.
The family lived in Vernal a few years before moving to Provo, where Dallin earned a radiotelephone operator’s license, worked in radio, competed on school sports teams, played the oboe in the school band, and graduated from Brigham Young High School and Brigham Young University.
His mother became the first woman to serve on the Provo City Council and worked as the director of adult education for the Provo City School District.
“I was blessed with an extraordinary mother,” President Oaks said in a Church News article.
Greatest gift a father can give
At age 17, President Oaks joined the Utah National Guard. Due to his membership in the National Guard and the possibility of being called up to serve in the Korean War, he did not serve a Latter-day Saint mission.
As a freshman at BYU, President Oaks occasionally worked as a radio announcer at high school basketball games. It was at one of those games that he met June Dixon, a senior at a local high school. They began to date, and a year and a half after they met, the couple married in the Salt Lake Temple on June 24, 1952.
President Oaks said his marriage to June Oaks was a major turning point in his life. One immediate blessing was becoming a better student.
“Meeting June was apparently what I needed to call forth my best efforts in school,” he said in his biography. He became a top, straight-A student and selected accounting as his major. “My life was coming into focus, … and I could begin to see where to concentrate my efforts in school.”
The couple became the parents of six children. They were married for just over 46 years.
Sharmon Ward, the oldest of the Oakses’ children, recalled her father frequently emphasizing that the greatest gift a father can give his children is to love their mother. As a child, she remembers sometimes walking into the kitchen to find them dancing together or sharing a kiss.
“I knew that he loved my mother,” said Ward, adding that President Oaks supported June in her desire to earn a college degree over many years while raising the family.
When June became ill, President Oaks cared for her. She died from cancer on July 21, 1998.
The two years following June’s death were challenging, but President Oaks found new happiness when he married Kristen McMain on Aug. 25, 2000.
“The Lord led me to her, and I learned then that the Lord will bless us with what we need most in His own time and in His own way,” he told the Church News while celebrating his 90th birthday.
Ward remembers meeting McMain and feeling an instant connection. “My dad asked me what I thought about her, and I said, ‘Dad, sign her up,’” Ward said. “With all the pain of my mother’s death, the blessing that the Lord gave us out of her death was that Kristen joined our family, and we love her so much.”
TruAnn Boulter, another daughter, said their mother told the children she wanted her husband to remarry. The children supported him in finding a new spouse.
“When Kristen came into the picture, we all knew she was the one who had been prepared, and she has been such a blessing to our family,” Boulter said.
Education, career and Church service
President Oaks graduated in accounting from BYU with high honors in 1954, then continued his education at the University of Chicago Law School, where he served as editor-in-chief of the school’s law review and graduated in 1957.
He began his law career as a clerk to Chief Justice Earl Warren of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., for a year, then moved to a private practice in Chicago.
Three years later, President Oaks returned to the University of Chicago to teach at the law school and served as associate dean and acting dean. He also used his legal expertise to find ways to address the root issues facing the poor.
During this time, President Oaks collaborated with Marvin S. Hill to write and publish “Carthage Conspiracy: The Trial of the Accused Assassins of Joseph Smith.”
Along with his demanding career, President Oaks served as a counselor in a stake mission presidency, in a stake presidency and later as a regional representative.
BYU’s 8th president
President Oaks became BYU’s eighth president in 1971 at age 39 and served for nine years.
Described as “dynamic” and “youthful” by one newspaper reporter, President Oaks advocated for the independence of private religious institutions and encouraged balance between intellectual and spiritual education, while maintaining a goal to “preserve the distinctive spiritual character and standards of BYU,” according to his biography.
During his tenure, President Oaks oversaw the creation of the J. Reuben Clark Law School. He also advocated for equal treatment of women faculty and students.
President Oaks showed students he had a fun side. Once he showed up at a BYU basketball game dressed as the mascot, Cosmo the Cougar.
When the Ezra Taft Benson Agriculture and Food Institute was established at the school, President Oaks participated in a cow-milking contest with President Ezra Taft Benson, who was then president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
President Oaks gave many inspiring speeches and devotional messages while university president. He often quoted his personal motto to students as advice for learning to prioritize.
“Work first, play later,” he said. “Never let your social activities get in the way of the learning for which you have been admitted to this university.”
Turley noted that President Oaks’ motto, “Work first, play later,” instilled in him as a child on his grandparents’ farm, has enabled him to achieve many goals and objectives.
Time for family
Despite limited time due to his roles as a lawyer, law professor, BYU president and Church leader, President Oaks prioritized providing quality time for his family.
“Even though my dad is so busy, he still takes time to check on us and call us to express his love, and we find that he has prayed for us multiple times each day,” said Boulter.
“He is a loving, friendly and caring person. He always reaches out with such love and compassion. He truly loves people, and I hope the Church membership and people in general get to see that side of him.”
As they raised their young family, President Oaks and Sister June Oaks taught their children important lessons and life skills by working together in the home and in the yard.
Other family activities included road trips, camping, long walks and reading together, including Bible stories and the scriptures. When they traveled, they often stopped at the historical markers. President Oaks has loved teaching his grandchildren how to fish at Joe’s Valley, Utah.
President Oaks attends baby blessings and baptisms, school plays and other events as often as possible. There is a “Grandchild of the Month” initiative, which involves him displaying a picture of the grandchild in his office and sending a personalized letter. They have also hosted family sleepovers and taken grandchildren to dinner and the “The Nutcracker,” among other activities.
As of October 2025, President and Sister Oaks have 29 grandchildren, 73 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.
“What your children really want for dinner is you,” President Oaks taught in a 2007 conference talk. Some of granddaughter Tiffany Bratt’s favorite childhood memories came around her grandparents’ dining room table, listening to President Oaks tell funny stories that made everyone laugh. Along with his family appreciating his “deep, joyful laugh,” he often shared wise counsel and taught gospel principles.
“He’s always helping our family focus on the Lord, bringing every conversation back to improving our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,” Bratt said, adding that President Oaks inspired her to earn a law degree at BYU Law School.
President Oaks’ dedication to his family has created cherished memories. In 2004, while serving as president of the Philippines Area, he returned to Utah for general conference and visited his grandson Trent Boulter at the Provo Missionary Training Center to give him a grandfather’s blessing.
“It was a neat confirmation that he was aware of me, that he cared about me and wanted me to be successful in serving the Lord,” Boulter said.
Utah Supreme Court justice
Within months of leaving BYU, President Oaks was appointed as a justice of the Utah Supreme Court by Utah Gov. Scott M. Matheson. He served in that capacity from 1981 to 1984.
In his biography, Christine Durham, the first woman to serve on the Utah Supreme Court, described President Oaks as “the most generous, kind colleague,” warm and “never condescending,” despite his age and seniority.
“He had a striking skill for collegiality,” she said, adding that President Oaks was always ready with a funny story or joke to help ease tensions that might have arisen in the course of substantive discussion.
According to Durham, President Oaks’ most important contribution as a justice was the role he played in revising the judicial article of the Utah Constitution, establishing the intermediate Court of Appeals and unifying the state court system.
Called as an Apostle
Less than four years after his appointment to the Utah Supreme Court, President Oaks was in Arizona on judicial business when he received a phone call from President Gordon B. Hinckley, then a counselor in the First Presidency.
President Hinckley extended a call for Oaks to serve as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
“My world was turned upside down. It will never be the same again,” he recorded later.
President Oaks joined the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, but because of his judicial commitments, he was not ordained an apostle until May 3, 1984.
Before his ordination, President Oaks reflected on his calling, questioning whether he would be “a judge and lawyer called to be an Apostle, or an Apostle who used to be a lawyer and judge.”
“I knew that if I concentrated my time on the things that came naturally and the things that I felt qualified to do, I would never be an Apostle. I would always be a former lawyer and judge.”
President Oaks resolved to take the more difficult and honorable path. “I decided that I would focus my efforts on what I had been called to do, not on what I was qualified to do. I determined that instead of trying to shape my calling to my credentials, I would try to shape myself to my calling.”
In his first general conference address in October 1984, President Oaks said he had forsaken his professional activities to spend the rest of his days in the service of the Lord. “I will devote my whole heart, might, mind and strength to the great trusts placed in me, especially to the responsibilities of a special witness of the name of Jesus Christ in all the world,” he said.
Apostolic ministry
Upon entering the senior leadership of the Church, President Oaks said he “saw behind the curtain,” with access to confidential information and documents that were part of his preparation as an Apostle. Everything he learned and read reaffirmed his testimony of the truthfulness of the restored gospel, he said in a Church News article celebrating his 90th birthday.
Throughout his apostolic ministry, President Oaks has been a strong voice in teaching the doctrine of the restored gospel during his four decades as an Apostle. He has spoken extensively about religious freedom, defending the U.S. Constitution, the doctrine of the family, gender equality and the doctrine of Jesus Christ.
In November 2021, President Oaks gave a “landmark address” on religious liberty at the University of Virginia.
An October 2007 conference talk titled “Good, Better, Best" continues to resonate with family members for its insights on setting priorities and making wise choices.
“There is no easy formula for that contest of priorities. However, I have never known of a man who looked back on his working life and said, ‘I just didn’t spend enough time with my job,’” he said. “Some uses of individual and family time are better, and others are best. We have to forgo some good things in order to choose others that are better or best because they develop faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and strengthen our families.”
Along with his talks and teachings, President Oaks’ apostolic ministry has taken him worldwide. One notable assignment came as he presided over and lived in the Church’s Philippines Area from 2002 to 2004.
The time was significant not only for the Church in the Philippines but also for President Oaks personally, who had never served outside the United States.
“I often tell people that the greatest period of my growth as an Apostle was the two years in the Philippines,” he told the Church News. “Although that occurred about 18 years after I was called to the Quorum of the Twelve, I was still on a steep learning curve in the performance of my duties as an Apostle, because I had never served as a bishop or a stake president or a mission president or a full-time missionary.”
President Oaks was instrumental in the development of multiple editions of the Church’s General Handbook of Instructions. He also ministered to many over the years through writing letters, according to his biography.
First Presidency counselor
From 2018 to 2025, President Oaks served as first counselor to President Russell M. Nelson in the First Presidency.
“He became my best friend and most effective teacher,” President Oaks said at President Nelson’s funeral on Oct. 7.
President Oaks’ different leadership roles within the Church — such as within Church education — gave him unique insights and perspectives, which he shared on the highest governing councils of the Church.
President Eyring, who previously served as second counselor in the First Presidency alongside President Oaks, spoke of counseling with him in a 2021 Church News article: “Every time an issue comes before the First Presidency, it is fun to see he and I come at it slightly differently. I know he has been a judge and a great lawyer, and he will see some things that I cannot see. … He will often say after the meeting, ‘Well, we came at it differently, and we came out together at the end.’”
Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve described President Oaks as “a man of integrity” who served with “steady dedication” and devoted his life to the Savior and His restored Church.
“His beliefs and behavior are grounded in gospel principles, and he lives what he believes. Expediency is never an option for him because he is determined to do what is right, even if a course of action does not advance his personal reputation or viewpoint,” Elder Bednar said in President Oaks’ biography. “There are no shortcuts in his life — do things right or not at all.”
Correction: President Dallin H. Oaks has served 41 years as a general authority — almost eight years as a member of the First Presidency and 34 years as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that he also had served in the Presiding Bishopric.
