A. Theodore Tuttle

A. Theodore Tuttle was a General Authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was sustained as a member of the First Council of the Seventy on April 4, 1958, where he served until it was dissolved and reorganized into the First Quorum of the Seventy on October 1, 1976. Tuttle served in that quorum from the date of its first organization until November 28, 1986. He also served in the Presidency of the First Quorum of the Seventy from October 1, 1976, until February 22, 1980. From 1980 to 1982, he served as president of the Provo Utah Temple. He served for a few months prior to his death in the Sunday School general presidency. As a young man, he served a mission in the Northern States Mission.

Tuttle was born on March 2, 1919, in Manti, Utah. He studied at Snow College and earned his bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University. He earned his master’s degree from Stanford University and continued graduate studies at the University of Utah. He worked in the Church Educational System where he was a Seminary teacher and principal in various assignments in Idaho and Utah. He also directed the Institute of Religion in at the University of Nevada—Reno. From 1953 to 1958, he directed the Church’s Seminary and Institute program in the western states.

He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II in the Pacific theater. He played a part in the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima. According to Gordon B. Hinckley, “he was the Marine who went back to get the flag from the landing ship to give to the men who planted it atop Mount Suribachi.”[1] A photograph of the event became the famous symbol of World War II.

Tuttle and his wife, Marne, were the parents of seven children. He died on November 28, 1986.