When Albert Choules, Jr., was called as mission president,
he sold his interest in Romney International Hotels and stepped down as
president of the corporation. That action characterizes the commitment
that Elder Choules of the Quorum of the Seventy feels for the gospel.
Elder Choules served as a member of two bishoprics,
as second counselor in the Scottsdale Arizona Stake presidency and then
as stake president, as an officiator and a sealer in the Arizona Temple,
and as a Regional Representative. In addition, he has long been active
in Scouting, receiving the Silver Beaver award in 1971.
The third child of six, Albert, Jr., was born in
Driggs, Idaho, on 15 February 1926 to Albert and Rula Wilson Choules. After
his missionary service, he entered LDS Business College, later transferring
to Brigham Young University.
He received a B.S. from BYU in 1951. While there,
he met Rosemary Phillips, and the two were married in 1952 in the Idaho
Falls Temple. In 1953, Brother Choules earned an M.B.A. from Harvard Graduate
School of Business Administration.
After graduation, Brother Choules began work as a
financial analyst for Union Oil Company in Los Angeles. Brother and Sister
Choules’ first child, William, was born in Santa Monica. In 1955, they
moved to Arizona, and Brother Choules joined Western Savings and Loan.
Their next two children, Robert and Tamara, were born in Phoenix. From
1971 to 1976, Brother Choules worked in jointly owned companies: Western
Savings, as senior vice president, and Romney International Hotels, as
president. Then, in 1976, he and four business associates bought the hotel
chain. He continued as president until his call to the New York New York
City Mission.
Although Elder Choules recalled his service as mission
president with fondness, the final six weeks of the mission were marked
with sorrow. His wife, Rosemary, had surgery for cancer, then began chemotherapy.
She continued treatment in Arizona. One year after the end of their mission,
on 27 June 1984 she died. “Losing my wife was extremely difficult,” Elder
Choules says. “She was a vibrant, successful woman and an outstanding wife
and mother.
“But the Lord has given me so much. He brought her
into my life. We had thirty-two years of a wonderful marriage. He guided
us through the rearing of our children. He helped me through the last year
of Rosemary’s life, and then he brought Marilyn into my life,” Elder Choules
says.
Brother Choules had met Marilyn Lowry and her five
children—Michelle, James, Jonathan, Jena, and Denise—when she moved to
Phoenix in 1978. In 1983, Sister Lowry moved to Orem, where Brother Choules
was living, and on 8 June 1987, they were married in the Salt Lake Temple.
Fifteen months later, the call came for Elder Choules to serve as a General
Authority. “I don’t know all the reasons for things happening the way they
do in our lives,” said Elder Choules, “but I know that our Father in Heaven
gives support and guidance when we need it.”
When asked her feelings about her husband’s call
to serve in the First Quorum of the Seventy, Sister Choules replied, “I
feel humbled and overwhelmed with our recent blessings and opportunities.
We are eagerly looking forward to the next five years.”
Elder Choules added, “It’s overwhelming to realize
that the Lord and the Brethren have such confidence in us. The Church has
been our focal point because of its teachings, programs, and ordinances
for the here and hereafter. All that we do in the Church points us toward
eternity.”
Elder Choules' call to the First Quorum of the Seventy
was for a period of five years. When the Second Quorum of the Seventy was
established for the express purpose of providing a quorum for those with
five-year calls, Elder Choules was released from the First Quorum and called
into the Second Quorum. There he served faithfully until he was honorably
released on October 1, 1994.
Elder Albert Choules Jr., who served in the First and
Second Quorums of the Seventy, died of natural causes on Dec. 5, 2012, in
Salt Lake City at the age of 86.
