George Carlos Smith Jr. (23 August 1910 – 29 March 1987) was the eleventh general superintendent of the

Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association The Young Men (often referred to as Young Men's) is a youth organization and official program of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Its purpose is to assist the church's Aaronic priesthood-aged young men in their growt ...

(YMMIA) of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

(LDS Church) from 1962 to 1969.

Biography

Smith was born in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

, to George Carlos and Lillian Emery Smith. He became the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

of the LDS Church's Big Cottonwood Utah

Stake A stake is a large wooden or metal implement designed to be driven into the ground and may refer to: Tools * Archer's stake, a defensive stake carried by medieval longbowmen * Survey stakes, markers used by surveyors * Sudis (stake) (Latin for ...

in 1949. In 1956, he became the president of the

Holladay Holladay is a city in central Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Salt Lake City, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area and abuts the Wasatch National Forest. The population was 31,965 at the 2020 census, a significant incr ...

Utah Stake. In 1958, Smith became the first assistant to Joseph T. Bentley, the general superintendent of the YMMIA. He was released in June 1961, but in October 1962 Smith was asked to succeed Bentley and become the YMMIA superintendent. During his tenure, Smith had three different assistants: Carl W. Buehner, George R. Hill, and future LDS Church

apostle An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary. The word is derived from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", itself derived from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to se ...

Marvin J. Ashton. In 1969 Smith was released; his successor was W. Jay Eldredge. In 1969, Smith became the first

of the church's

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

Mission Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to: Geography Australia *Mission River (Queensland) Canada *Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality * Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * ...

, which was headquartered in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

and had stewardship for

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, and most of the countries in Southeast Asia. This included supervising church members in

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...

. Some of the church's servicemen who were in Vietnam were called to serve as part-time missionaries. Both other American servicemen and native Vietnamese were baptized as a result of these efforts. Smith had previously presided over the Central States Mission of the church. Smith married P. Lavon Petersen and was the father of five children. He was the grandson of LDS Church

Joseph F. Smith Joseph Fielding Smith Sr. (November 13, 1838 – November 19, 1918) was an American religious leader who served as the sixth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He was a nephew of Joseph Smith, founder of ...

. He died in Salt Lake City at age 76.

References

*Arnold K. Garr, Donald Q. Cannon & Richard O. Cowan (eds.) (2000). ''Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History'' (Salt Lake City, Utah:

Deseret Book Deseret Book () is an American publishing company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, that also operates a chain of bookstores throughout the western United States. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation (DMC), th ...

) * R. Lanier Britsch. "The Church in Asia." ''

Encyclopedia of Mormonism The ''Encyclopedia of Mormonism'' is a semi-official English-language encyclopedia for topics relevant to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church, see also "Mormon"). The encyclopedia's five volumes have been digitized and ar ...

'' ( Daniel H. Ludlow ed.) (New York: Macmillan, 1992) 1:75–81 1910 births 1987 deaths 20th-century Mormon missionaries American Mormon missionaries in India American Mormon missionaries in the United States American expatriates in Singapore American leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Counselors in the General Presidency of the Young Men (organization) General presidents of the Young Men (organization) Latter Day Saints from Utah Mission presidents (LDS Church) Mormon missionaries in Indonesia Mormon missionaries in Malaysia Mormon missionaries in Singapore Mormon missionaries in Vietnam Religious leaders from Salt Lake City {{LDS-stub