Lloyd Reed Ellsworth
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Lloyd Reed Ellsworth was born on December 13, 1928 in Mesa, Arizona--the oldest of six children. His father farmed land in Mesa for Valley National Bank, so for the first several years of Reed’s life they moved every time the bank sold land. Reed’s father and grandfather bought him his first horse at age two, and he learned to work hard at a very young age. He helped to brand steers, drive cattle, cut hay, cultivate cotton, irrigate fields, dig post holes, milk cows, and much more. He also played hard; he loved to play baseball and basketball, rope cattle, and (when he was older) go to dances. He and Alice Jo met while decorating for a dance at the Mezona.
Reed graduated from Mesa High and enrolled at Arizona State College in 1946, where he studied agriculture. He took some time off to run his father’s farm after his father had an accident, but he was able to complete two semesters of school before leaving on his mission to Uruguay and Paraguay in 1948. He was interviewed by Joseph Fielding Smith and later set apart by Harold B. Lee. He was the ninety-ninth elder to ever go into Uruguay and the sixth elder ever to go into Paraguay. While serving in Paraguay he helped open the second branch of the Church in that country and performed the second baptism to ever be performed there. After he was released in June 1951, Reed returned to Mesa. He and Alice Jo continued to date and were married in October. During that time he also enlisted in the military. (He was given special permission to serve a mission, provided he enlisted as soon as he returned home.) He and Alice Jo spent nearly a year apart while he attended basic training and completed tours in California, Texas, England, and Guam. Alice Jo was finally able to join him, and they lived together in California, Idaho, and Colorado before he was released from service in 1955 and returned to Mesa. Back in Mesa, Reed re-enrolled at Arizona State College. He started out studying Spanish, but he switched to elementary education because he could graduate more quickly. He worked full time at the post office while going to school, completed student teaching at Mesa Junior High, and then took a teaching position at Carson Junior High in 1957. He enrolled in a master’s program and later became the first principal of Adams Elementary in 1964. He was hired as principal at Carson Junior High in 1966, at the new Powell Junior High in 1971 and at the new Taylor Junior High in 1981. He loved working with the students, parents, and teachers in Mesa, and he loved spending time with his wife and six kids. Meanwhile, he was also very busy with Church responsibilities. He was a counselor to four bishops, a counselor to two stake presidents, a counselor to two mission presidents, a Young Men president, a bishop, and a stake patriarch. He served as a patriarch from January 1984 until October 2007 and gave 1,500 blessings--including 103 blessings in Canada and 103 blessing in Spain, where he and Alice Jo served as full- time missionaries. Reed had a deep testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In his own words: “He is our elder Brother, and he is the Son of God. I know that’s true. . . . I just know some things. I know that Joseph Smith restored the gospel. I haven’t ever seen Joseph Smith, but I know what he did. . . . There’s no question in my mind about it. I know just as well that the Church is true that Alice Jo is my wife. And I’ll be with her for the eternities, if I behave myself.” |