Kenneth Thurston Slack

Kenneth Thurston Slack of Taylor, AZ passed away on October 31, 2007 at the age of 87 in Lakeside, AZ. He was born March 4, 1920, in Toquerville, Utah, to Edwin Kenneth and Louise Thurston Slack, the oldest of eight children. After serving in the US Navy in the Pacific during WWII, he married Dorothea Rasmuson on December 20,1946, in the Logan UT Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He received a Bachelors Degree at Utah State University in Political Science and History. He received his Master of Library Science at the University of Colorado in Denver (1962) and a Doctorate of Educational Administration at the University of Utah (1964). Kenneth was one of the first faculty members hired as well as the first Director of Libraries of the Church College of Hawaii (now BYU-Hawaii). He was Assistant Librarian at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ and was the Associate Director of Libraries at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. In February 1971, he was hired to be Director of Libraries at Marshall University in Huntington, WV, where he served until his retirement when he became the Special Collections Curator of the Rosanna Blake Confederate Collection. Kenneth was an active member of Rotary International. Upon his retirement to Taylor, AZ, in 1999, he served on the board for the White Mountain Symphony Orchestra. He was an active Member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, serving as a counselor in the Laie, Hawaii, LDS Temple Presidency and later as a bishop, a counselor in two stake presidencies and as a stake patriarch in West Virginia. He was also a member of the LDS Church Meetinghouse library committee, establishing libraries in church schools in the South Pacific and in meetinghouse libraries in Latin and South America. Kenneth is survived by six children; Kenneth R. Slack of Humble, TX, Nils E. Slack of Page, AZ, Corwin R. Slack of Houston, TX, Vernon R. Slack of Alpine, Utah, Kanani Tenney of Taylor, AZ, and Janeel Smith of Smithville, MO; 39 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren. He is also survived by his sister, Ruth Graff of Orem, UT and two brothers, Carlysle Slack of Toquerville, UT and William Bill' Slack of Boulder, NV. He was preceded in death by his wife, Dorothea (1998) and his daughter, Maile Ann Hoggard (2006). Funeral services will be held Monday November 5, 2007, at 10:00 A.M. at the Taylor Stake Center, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with a visitation one hour prior to services at the church and from 6-8:00 P.M. Sunday November 4th at Owens Mortuary in Snowflake. There will also be a visitation at the Toquerville Ward Relief Society Room on Tuesday November 6, 2007 at 10:30 A.M. followed by a graveside services at the Toquerville Cemetery.