This biographical sketch adapted from "News of the
Church: Elder Keith W. Wilcox of the First Quorum of the Seventy" from
the Ensign, November. 1984, page 103 on the occasion of Elder Wilcox's
call to the First Quorum of the Seventy.
Ogden Temple president Keith W. Wilcox’s first reaction
after receiving a phone call from President Gordon
B. Hinckley
was shock. “I tried not to think about what President Hinckley could
want with me the next day, the Friday before general
conference.”
His anxiety, however, was short-lived. After attending
a temple session with his wife Friday morning at the Ogden Temple,
where he has been serving as temple president since 13 July 1980, he
felt “calm and able to accept whatever the Lord’s will
would be.”
Upon completing a full day at the temple, Elder Wilcox
and his wife, Viva May, who serves as matron in the temple, drove
to Salt Lake City to meet with President Hinckley who called him to
be a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy.
Elder Wilcox is no stranger to Church service. Along
with his call as the Ogden Temple president, which he and his wife
refer to as “a heavenly call,” he has served as a bishop, a stake president
(for fifteen years), twice as a Regional Representative,
and as president of the Indiana Indianapolis Mission.
Born on 15 May 1921 in Hyrum, Utah, Elder Wilcox
credits two early influences as having a great impact on the
development of his testimony and his desire to serve.
“Like Nephi,” he says, “I was born of ‘goodly parents.’
They have been a guide and an inspiration to me all my life.” His
patriarchal blessing, too, has been a guide. With each new call, he
reviews the privileges and responsibilities promised him
through a patriarch many years ago. “Always I find something new to
give me needed direction and encouragement.”
A turning point in his life occurred in his sophomore
year at Granite High School. “After much pondering, I decided to take
seminary instead of art, though I loved art dearly. The six months
spent under William E. Berrett, my teacher, were most
influential in building my testimony and especially in my accepting
the ten commandments as basic principles for my life. Though
our family moved to Ogden in the spring of 1937, the influence of that
class remained with me from that time to this.”
As a young man awaiting his navy commission, he worked
for Westinghouse Electric in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “In the real
world for the first time, I experienced an overpowering conviction
that the Church had to be my first priority in life. It was there
that I learned to say ‘yes’ to the Lord and ‘no’ to the world, a practice
I have continued throughout my life.”
It was after returning from Pittsburgh that Elder
Wilcox decided to ask Viva May Gammell, a young woman from his home
town to be his eternal companion. “My mother had always told me that
Viva May brought out the best in me, and indeed she
does.” They were married on 17 July 1945 in the Logan Temple and are
the parents of six daughters, Rona Lee Maughan,
Stephanie Pickett, Christine Ritchie, Pauline Flitton, Sharon Christiansen
and Carole Terry. They now have fourteen grandchildren.
Sister Wilcox recalls the many happy hours they have
spent together as a family. “We love to sing and play the piano and
organ,” she says. “And now that all the girls are married, our favorite
pastime is to gather around the table and just talk.”
A graduate of the University of Utah in mechanical
engineering with a master’s degree in architecture from the University
of Oregon, Elder Wilcox practiced professional architecture from 1954
to 1974 when called as a mission president. He was
instrumental in the design of both the Washington D.C. Temple and the
Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. He also
served as a member of the Utah House of Representatives for two years
and as a member and chairman of the Weber County
Planning Commission for ten years.
Elder Wilcox was released from the First Quorum of Seventy
and called to the Second Quorum April of 1989. He was
released from the Second Quorum in October of the same year.
