Durrel A. Woolsey

Durrel A. Woolsey served as a General Authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Second Quorum of the Seventy from March 31, 1990, to September 30, 1995. At the time he was called, he was presiding over the Arizona Tempe Mission, and from 1996 to 1999 he was president of the Oakland California Temple. He also served in a branch presidency in Trona, California, where he often “cleaned the meeting area before church, conducted the meeting, led the singing, blessed and passed the sacrament, taught Sunday School, and cleaned the meeting area again after church.”[1] He also served in a bishopric, on a high council, as a stake presidency counselor, and as a stake president.

Woolsey was born on June 12, 1926, in Escalante, Utah, where he lived until his family moved to Cedar City, Utah, where he finished high school. After his graduation he joined the US Navy and served in the Pacific theatre. His ship was attacked multiple times by Kamikaze planes.

He worked for the Standard Oil Company before he founded the Woolsey Oil Company. He studied at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, and at Princeton University.

Woolsey and his wife, LaRae, are the parents of three children.