Elder Spencer Hamlin Osborn, emeritus member of the Seventy and former president of the Salt Lake Temple, died May 1, 2006, in Salt Lake City at the age of 84 after a bout with pancreatic cancer.
He was born July 8, 1921, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to William Wallace and Alice Hamlin Osborn. He was the youngest of five brothers.
He grew up in the Adams Ward in Los Angeles, Calif. After serving a mission in Northern California from 1942-44, he returned to home to Los Angeles, where he met Avanelle Richards. They were married May 25, 1945, in the Salt Lake Temple.
He worked with his brothers in business, starting the Osborn Apparel Mfg. Co., where he helped guide the business successfully through the years.
He served 12 years as a counselor in the Granite Stake presidency, followed by 10 years as president. He served as president of the Alabama-Florida Mission in the early 1970s, before serving as regional representative and as a member of the Quorum of the Seventy.
He considered some of his happiest years to be service in the temple where he served as counselor in the Salt Lake Temple, 1982-84; and as president, 1990-93. He also served as sealer for 23 years.
Those who he claimed had influenced in his life were his mission president, German E. Ellsworth, who taught him aggressive service in the kingdom; missionary companions who helped him "emerge from a cocoon of shyness and develop into an acceptable social being;" Jay S. Grant, bishop and businessman, who taught him the mechanics of administration; and his associates in the temple, from whom he learned the joys of temple service.
He was sustained to the First Quorum of the Seventy April 7, 1984, at age 62; then sustained to the Second Quorum of the Seventy April 1, 1989. He was granted released Sept. 30, 1989.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Avanelle, and is survived by his seven children.
His funeral is scheduled for May 8, 2006, at 11 a.m. in the Granite Stake Tabernacle, 2005 South 900 East, Salt Lake City, Utah.
