Alvin R. Dyer

Alvin R. Dyer was born on January 1, 1903, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Dyer left a mark on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through a life of selfless and dedicated service. When he was 18 years old, he chose to serve a mission and was called to the Eastern States Mission. 

Dyer excelled as a high school baseball pitcher and had many opportunities for a professional baseball career. However, upon returning from his mission, he declined a contract that would have required him to play on Sunday, choosing instead to prioritize his Church responsibilities. Professionally, he became a part of the heating and ventilating business, managing a department in the Utah Builders Supply and establishing his own distributorship in 1949. 

When Dyer was serving as the bishop of the Monument Park Ward in Salt Lake City, he was called to be the mission president over the Central States Mission. Dyer’s dedication to missionary work remained steadfast, influencing his later role as a counselor in the general superintendency of the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association and his subsequent appointment as an assistant to the twelve in 1958. 

Dyer was ordained as an apostle in 1967, though not as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. The following year, President David O. McKay called Dyer to serve as an additional counselor to the First Presidency. Following the dissolution of the First Presidency at McKay’s death, Dyer returned to his position as an assistant to the twelve. Later, with the restructuring that moved the assistant to the twelve into the First Quorum of the Seventy, Dyer continued his service as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. He also played a significant role as the managing director of the Church Historical Department from 1972 to 1975. Dyer passed away on March 6, 1977, at the age of 74.