This week in Church history
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25 years ago
Elder LeGrand Richards, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve for nearly 31 years and Presiding Bishop for 14 years before that, died Jan. 11, 1983, in Salt Lake City.
According the the Jan. 16, 1983, Church News: "At 96, he was the longest-lived General Authority in this dispensation. He died only a few weeks short of his 97th birthday anniversary, which would have been Feb. 6."
President Gordon B. Hinckley, then second counselor in the First Presidency, conducted and spoke at Elder Richards' funeral.
"Elder Richards was known throughout the Church for his warm, friendly manner and energetic, extemporaneous speaking style," the Church News article reported. "Notes and written texts were foreign to him. He relied on inspiration, his limitless store of illustrative stories and a thorough knowledge of the scriptures, many of which he had committed to memory."
