President & Sister Summerhays

President Summerhays was born in St. Louis, Missouri while his father was stationed at Fort Leonard Wood which was a German prisoner of war camp. When the war was over they moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, which was where he grew up. His father was a less active member and his mother was a nonmember. President Summerhays joined the church when he was a senior in high school-thanks to good friends who set good examples. In high school he played football, basketball, golf and tennis. He also sang in the Acapella choir.
After high school, he attended the University of Utah where he played basketball and golf. He eventually settled on golf.
Sister Summerhays was born in Brigham City, Utah, and was reared in Salt Lake City. Her mother died when Sister Summerhays was 10 years old so she spent a few years in California until her father remarried. She attended Highland High school (where she met President Summerhays) and the University of Utah majoring in English. She grew up in a less active home but was fortunate to have a good ward who tried to encourage her to attend church. She loves knitting, reading and working out.
President and Sister Summerhays were high school sweethearts and have been married 45 years. They have 8 children who are all married and they have 33 of the brightest and most beautiful grandchildren. After college they moved to San Francisco, California where he worked as a golf professional at the Olympic Club. Their plan was to work for a year or two and then join the PGA golf tour. Their plans were changed when Sister Summerhays became very ill for a few years, and President Summerhays spent the time caring for her and their little family instead of pursuing his dream. These were good years, though, and there was much growth in the gospel, serving as a Seminary teacher and in some Bishoprics. They spent 13 years in the Northern California area ending up as the golf coach at Stanford University.
In 1980 they had the opportunity to move back to Utah and settled in the Heber Valley for 20 years where he was the golf Professional at Wasatch Mountain Golf Course and designed the Homestead Golf Course.
When President turned 50 years old, he had the opportunity to once more pursue his dream to play professional golf. He qualified for the Senior/Champions Tour (the qualifying was held in Tampa Bay so there are many fond memories of the area). The last 17 years have been spent as a member of the tour. Last year we retired and submitted our papers to serve a mission. We were called in January to serve a couples mission in Ireland. A few weeks later we were sent to our knees when we received a new call as Mission President of the best mission in the world.

(Click here for a link from LDS Church News introducing President & Sister Summerhays)