The Life of Dallin H. Oaks

Dallin H. Oaks is a General Authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was set apart as the first counselor in the First Presidency on January 14, 2018. He was sustained in a Solemn Assembly on March 31, 2018. He serves with Russell M. Nelson, president of the Church, and Henry B. Eyring, second counselor. Oaks and Nelson were both sustained as members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on April 7, 1984. As second in seniority, Oaks would be designated President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, but with his call to the First Presidency, M. Russell Ballard, who is third in seniority, was called to act in his place as Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Dallin H. Oaks was born in Provo, Utah, on August 12, 1932. His father died of tuberculosis when he was only eight years old, and three years later he began working to help his mother. His first job was to sweep at a radio repair shop. It was this first job that led the young boy to become interested in radios. Before he was sixteen years old, he had earned his radio/telephone license and started a job working for a radio company. Soon after, he was working regularly as an announcer. It was while Oaks was announcing a high school basketball game that he met June Dixon. They later married on June 24, 1952, while both were attending college at Brigham Young University.

Oaks worked steadily to earn a degree in accounting and then attended the University of Chicago Law School. His wife recalls him saying that although there were plenty of students at the law school who were smarter than he, none of them worked any harder than he did. Oaks graduated with honors and earned the opportunity to serve as a clerk for Chief Justice Earl Warren of the Supreme Court. At the completion of this internship, Oaks and his family moved back to Chicago, where he entered into a private law practice.

To read more about him: MormonWiki