The following is adapted from "News of the Church:
Bishop Richard C. Edgley of the Presiding Bishopric" from The Ensign,
November 1992, page 102 on the occasion of Bishop Edgley being called as
Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric.
Eleven years ago, Richard C. Edgley was a vice president
of General Mills and was serving in a stake presidency. He was surprised
when an offer came from the Church to serve as managing director of the
Finance and Records Department.
“It took me a while to make the decision; it was
the hardest decision I've made,” says the newly called second counselor
in the Presiding Bishopric. “But it crystallized in my mind what was really
important and helped me reprioritize things. I've never regretted it.”
Brother Edgley had been working for General Mills
for nineteen years. He graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor's
degree, earned a master's degree from Indiana State University, and then
went to work for General Mills, living in Toronto, Boston, and Minneapolis.
Besides helping define and strengthen priorities,
the move to Salt Lake City held other benefits for Brother Edgley, his
wife, Pauline Nielson Edgley, and their six children. “We found super friends,”
Bishop Edgley says. And he understands the importance of friends. As a
teenager he spent a summer working on an Idaho ranch and found few friends
who shared his values. “It was a lonely time, not a comfortable time,”
he remembers. “But in the end, it was a great blessing. I spent that summer
studying the scriptures. It was then that the gospel came alive for me.”
Shortly afterwards, he served a mission to the eastern states.
Born 6 February 1936 and reared in Preston, Idaho,
Bishop Edgley cites his parents, Phenoi and Ona Crockett Edgley, as the
most influential people in his life.
Other influential people in his life have been Church
leaders. Working with General Authorities has taught him the importance
of following leaders and has shown him how the work of the Lord is inspired.
“A scripture that has had particular significance
to me since being called as a General Authority is D&C 84:88,” Bishop
Edgley says. “It talks of the Lord sending out His servants and of His
being on their right hand and their left hand, His Spirit being in their
heart, and having His angels bear them up.”
The following is from the March 1995 Ensign and notes Bishop Edgley's call
as First Counselor to the Presiding Bishop.
Bishop Edgley, 59, has also served in the Presiding
Bishopric since October 1992. He served as second counselor to both Bishop
Bateman and Bishop Robert D. Hales.
Prior to his call to the Presiding Bishopric, Bishop
Edgley was managing director of the Church's Finance and Records Department.
He formerly worked at General Mills in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Bishop Edgley, a native of Preston, Idaho, graduated
from Brigham Young University and earned a master's degree in business
administration from Indiana University. He has served as a bishop, stake
president, and counselor to a stake president. He served a mission in the
eastern United States, and he and his wife, Pauline Nielson Edgley, are
the parents of six children.
Bishop Edgley continues to serve at this writing.
