Elder H. Ross Workman, an emeritus General Authority Seventy, died Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. He was 83.
Elder Workman faithfully served in many capacities throughout the Church. In 2001, he was sustained as a General Authority Seventy, and served across the globe until 2007. Previous to that call, he and his wife, Sister Katherine “Kaye” Meyers Workman, served as leaders of the Hawaii Honolulu Mission from 1998 to 2001. Following his release as a general authority, Elder Workman then served as president and Sister Workman served as matron of the Laie Hawaii Temple from 2007 to 2012.
From 2013 to 2015, the two again served as mission leaders, this time over the Salt Lake City Headquarters Mission.
Elder Workman said of his service, “The Lord has directed my life and even under challenging circumstances I know the joy that comes from conforming my will to His will,” (Church News, “Accepting callings brought them one change after another,” June 16, 2001).
H. Ross Workman was born on Dec. 31, 1940, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Harley and Lucille Ramsey Workman.
In a Church News interview, he recalled adventures he had in his childhood when and he and his younger brother rode the train to visit their grandmother, who lived in the woods in Washington State.
The boys accompanied their grandmother on many exciting excursions, including floating on homemade rafts in ponds and playing in the hollows of trees. “That filled me with a great spirit of adventure that has never really left,” he said.
On the night of his high school graduation, he became engaged to his high school sweetheart. He had twice refused his bishop’s invitation to serve a mission, but then one Sunday morning his stake president knocked on the window of his car.
Stake President Jack R. Prince “put his head right into the car, right next to my nose. He didn’t say hello. He just said one thing: ‘I’ve been inspired to ask you one more time to go on a mission,’” Elder Workman recalled.
Surprised but feeling the confirming influence of the Holy Ghost, he replied, “I’ll go.”
His fiancee, Katherine Evelyn Meyers, fortunately agreed to wait for him and following his full-time mission to the southern states, the two were married in the Logan Utah Temple.
“I used to think she was the most beautiful girl in the world, and I haven’t stopped thinking that,” Elder Workman said of his wife. They are the parents of four children — two girls and two boys — and the grandparents of many grandchildren.
Following his mission, Elder Workman graduated with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and then a juris doctorate, both from the University of Utah.
He worked for 28 years as a patent attorney, eventually opening his own firm, Workman, Nydegger & Jensen.
Through the years he served in several bishoprics, on a stake high council and as a bishop, in addition to his general Church callings.
When he was called as a general authority, he testified, “The Lord has sustained me throughout my life. I have come to know that Jesus Christ lives and that He is my Savior. I have a profound gratitude for Him. He is the living Christ.”
Funeral services will be held on Saturday, Sept. 28, at 11 a.m. at the Latter-day Saint meetinghouse located at 8170 South Short Hills Drive, Cottonwood Heights, Utah.
A public viewing will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 27, at the meetinghouse. An additional public viewing will be held on Saturday morning from 10 to 10:45 a.m. prior to the funeral services.
He is survived by his wife, Kaye; daughters, Teri and Heidi; sons, Christopher and Ryan; and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
—This article has been updated with funeral information.
