In 1951, 16-year-old Stephen A. West was hiking in the Uintah Mountains in Utah with some friends. Soon, it began to rain, with thunder and lightning, and the youth decided it was time to get off the mountain. But while climbing down, some rocks broke away from the cliff and young Stephen plunged 55 feet.

"I landed on my feet," he recalled. "Had I landed any other way, I'm sure I would have died."The young man was, indeed, alive, but had broken his hips, pelvis and his right leg. Some of his friends hiked 25 miles to a ranger station for help. A ranger returned and formed a type of stretcher using poles attached between the stirrups of two horses, with a tent stretched across. With this makeshift stretcher, the ranger pulled the injured teenager out of the wilderness and got him to a hospital.

Today, Elder Stephen A. West, 63, who was sustained April 4 to the Second Quorum of the Seventy, chuckles when he relates what he gained from the experience: "I learned to land on my feet."

This philosophy seems to exemplify Elder West and the life he leads with his wife, Martha. They have supported each other in Church callings across the nation, faced a tough corporate world and coped with the loss of children. And through all the joys and tears, they have found humor in life. In fact, ever since the hiking accident 47 years ago, Elder West's right leg has been two to three inches shorter than his left leg. Thus, his pants hems have, of necessity, not been even. When he concludes his service as president of the Texas San Antonio Mission at the end of this month, he and Sister West will return to Salt Lake City where he'll undergo hip replacement surgery - making his legs even once again.

Sister West's response to the upcoming surgery: "He'll have to have all new suits," she said, laughing.

Since Elder West was sustained as a General Authority, he said he has been full of "surprise, introspection and a great desire to find a way to live up to that responsibility."

He surmises that the last three years as a mission president have been a big part of that preparation. "To be able to spend three years immersed with those missionaries, doing the work of the Lord and watching their willingness to sacrifice and their strength of character has been a great transitional experience for me."

Through the years, Elder West has also served as a high councilor, bishop, temple sealer and seminary teacher.

However, the outgoing mission president's spiritual education began long ago, and not just at the feet of his parents, Allan Morrell and Ferne Page West. "I remember as a very young boy looking in a bedroom and seeing my grandmother on her knees praying. I was really touched by that. She really practiced what she taught," Elder West recalled.

In addition, he continued, "We had some wonderful neighbors who encouraged my attendance

in ChurchT."

When he was in grade school in Salt Lake City, he contracted rheumatic fever and spent two years in bed. "A teacher

Mrs. AlstonT would come to our home and teach me," Elder West recalled. "It was really a wonderful experience. She was a great woman. I think I got a great love of reading and studying from her."

The boy's understanding of the importance of education increased as he grew older. "My father was the executive secretary of the Utah Education Association and later executive secretary of the National Education Association. I remember as a boy going to the Utah State Legislature and watching him appear to advocate the cause of teachers and public schools in the state."

Later, his father, while still serving with the Utah Education Association, moved the family to Chicago while he worked on his doctorate at the University of Chicago. Young Stephen, while still in high school, passed a special entrance exam and took courses at the university.

The West family later returned to Salt Lake City, where the young man graduated from East High School. After serving a full-time mission to the Northwestern States, he resumed his education at the University of Utah, where he received a juris doctorate in 1961.

One day, he was driving through campus when he glanced toward the building housing the sculpture department and saw a young woman standing on her head. The girl caught his attention, indeed, and he soon found out her name - Martha Alice Sears.

However, that same young woman - now Sister West - has a different recollection of the first time they met. She said that before that day at the sculpture department she had been introduced to the returned missionary but that he didn't remember the incident. "It wasn't memorable enough," she added, laughing.

Then, speaking of standing on her head, she said, "It may not have had the necessary dignity, but it did the job."

Actually, she hadn't planned on anyone seeing her that day. She was taking art classes and was taking a break on the lawn. It was late in the afternoon, and no one was around - or so she thought.

The two were married March 21, 1960, in the Salt Lake Temple. From their union have come three children and five grandchildren. Through the years of their marriage joy and trials brought them closer.

"We've had two children who were stillborn and several miscarriages," Elder West related. "It makes you appreciate the children you have so much more. You realize what a difficult journey it is to get here."

Sister West quickly added: "Or how fragile life can be. You get more of an eternal picture. You have to. I feel what I learned, especially through the birth of the last stillborn child, is how real the Comforter is. It was a real testimony builder to me to go through that hard of an experience and feel that comfort is as close as prayer."

Except for a few years in Salt Lake City while Elder West worked for a law firm here, the Wests have lived most of their married life in Bethesda, Md., while he worked for a law firm and then for Marriott Corp, where he stayed for 26 years. Through the years, they have drawn close as a family through living the gospel and playing together. "We used to go out to the outer banks of North Carolina, a chain of barrier islands off the coast. We'd go as a family and with lots of cousins and aunts and uncles. We learned to wind-surf together. It became our extended family gathering place."

One of the greatest qualities she says her husband brings to his new calling is his ability to see the potential in others and took joy in their progress - something she said was apparent in him as a mission president.

In addition, she said, "His ability to grow from experience has been a wonderful quality that I feel will help in any place he's called."

*****

Additional Information

Elder Stephen A. West

Family: Born March 23, 1935, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Allan Morrell and Ferne Page West. Married Martha Alice Sears, March 21, 1960, in the Salt Lake Temple. Three children: Stephen Allan West Jr., Page Elizabeth West Mallett, Adam Sears West; five grandchildren.

Education: Bachelor's degree in philosophy and juris doctorate from the University of Utah.

Employment: Retired as senior vice president and general counsel for Marriott International; worked with Marriott Corp. from 1968-94; law firm of Jennings, Strouss, Salmon & Trask in Washington, D.C., from 1967-68; associate and later partner with Marr, Wilkins & Cannon of Salt Lake City from 1962-67; clerked for Judge A. Sherman Christensen of federal district court in Utah from 1961-62.

Church service: President of Texas San Antonio Mission at time of call to Seventy; former high councilor in Washington D.C. Stake, temple sealer, bishop, counselor in bishopric and in branch presidency, Young Men president, elder's quorum president, full-time service in Northwestern States Mission from 1956-58.