This week in Church history
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25 years ago
Elder Hugh B. Brown, then 88 years old and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, returned to the Lethbridge Stake in Alberta, where he had once presided as stake president, to dedicate a new stake center and participate in the stake's 50th anniversary celebration. The dedication was held Nov. 27-28, 1971, in conjunction with stake conference and the 50th anniversary celebration of the stake, reported the Church News on Dec. 4, 1971.
Dressed in warm coats and hats, Elder Brown and the other four presidents who had presided over the stake stood in front of the new building to have a picture taken. The others were Asael E. Palmer, Octave W. Ursenbach, Grant G. Woolley and Elmo E. Fletcher.
Elder Brown was called as the first stake president when the stake was organized in 1921 by Elder Rudger Clawson of the Quorum of the Twelve and served until Oct. 31, 1926, when he moved his family to his native Salt Lake City to practice law.
The Lethbridge stake grew from 2,470 members in 1921 to 5,253 members in 1971. During that time, four other stakes were organized whose borders were within the original stake boundaries that stretched to the North Pole.
During the 50-year history of the stake, two other stake centers had been dedicated before this building. The first was dedicated in 1923 by Elder George Albert Smith, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve; and the second on Sept. 4, 1949, by President David O. McKay of the First Presidency.
During the anniversary celebration, each of the five stake presidents spoke briefly and told of the growth of the stake during his tenure. Quote from the past "The only way Satan can be bound is for people to forsake his temptations and enticements to do evil, and to walk uprightly and circumspectly before the Lord." - said Elder Delbert L. Stapley of the Quorum of Twelve from an address delivered during the October 1971 general conference.
