William G. Hartley Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

LDS historian William G. Hartley died on April 10th after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 76. Bill was best known for his groundbreaking books on Mormon history, articles in LDS church magazines and scholarly publications, and his appearances in the popular KSL television documentary series History of the Saints, for which he served as Consulting Historian. Bill had been part of the LDS Church Historical Department and the research-based Church History Division during their tenure under Leonard J. Arrington. As part of the Church Historical Department, he and his co-workers began a large-scale oral history program and Bill was its director for four years. After the church transferred its History Division to Brigham Young University, he served as an associate professor of history and was director of the Family History and Genealogy Research Services Center for five years. He taught Utah History as well as Writing Family Biography, which resulted in more than 800 family histories being written by his students. A past president of the Mormon History Association, Bill was also the founding president of the Mormon Trails Association. He was a member of the editorial boards for the Journal of Mormon History and Mormon Historical Studies. In 2012 he received the Mormon History Association’s highest honor, the Leonard J. Arrington Award for a lifetime of distinguished contributions to Mormon history. Two annual research prizes are named in his honor. Bill was a prolific writer who authored fifteen books and more than 120 articles dealing with LDS history and family histories. He received five best book awards and four best article awards from professional associations. In recent years, he was co-editor of three volumes in the Joseph Smith Papers project. Following his diagnosis of cancer 20 months ago, his urgent desire was to finish two books he had in progress; he not only reached that goal but managed to write three new articles as well before his death. The body of his work made significant contributions to studies of the Mormon resistance to persecution in Missouri, the evolution of LDS priesthood offices and leadership structures, the Mormon Battalion, the Pony Express, and especially to an understanding of multiple western U.S. migrations and pioneer trails over land and sea. One of his favorite experiences was participating on the Sea Trek journey of eight tall ships that sailed from Denmark to New York City in 2001 as part of a reenactment of the Mormon emigration from Scandinavia to Utah. Bill was raised in Butte, Montana and the San Francisco Bay Area, where he was student body president of Arroyo High School. He served an LDS mission to the Eastern States and Cumorah missions, received his B.A. and Masters Degrees from Brigham Young University, and did his doctoral work at Washington State University. He was bishop of the Sandy Willow Canyon 2nd Ward from 1985-1990. He served in many ward and stake callings and had a profound belief in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He married Linda Lee Perry in the Oakland LDS Temple in 1965. He is survived by Linda and their six children: Julie (Ted Moore) of Grantsville, UT; Jeffrey (Jodi Piner) of Alpine, UT; Scott (Sheree Lewis) of Riverton, UT; Cindy (Matthew Harris) of Castle Rock, CO; Christie (Johnathon Knapton) of Colorado Springs, CO; and Gregory (soon to be married to Sandy Reno) of Salt Lake City; by 15 grandchildren; and by his brothers Charles in Montana and Richard and James in Utah. He was preceded in death by his parents, Norma Miner Hartley Haymond and Charles Alton Hartley; his sisters, Raylene and Mary; and his brother Bryan. Of his own eventual passing, Bill quipped: “On the other side I’ll find out how accurate or inaccurate the histories I wrote really are.” Funeral Services will be held Monday, April 16, at 12:00 Noon at the Saratoga Springs 3rd Ward, 49 East Centennial Blvd., Saratoga Springs, Utah, where Viewings will be held Sunday, April 15th, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm and prior to Services on Monday from 10:45 to 11:45 am. Interment in Springville Evergreen Cemetery, 1997 South 400 East, Springville, Utah. Special thanks to Dr. Neeraj Agarwal, MD, at Clinic 2B, Huntsman Cancer Institute and FirstChoice Home Health and Hospice for their excellent care of Bill. Funeral Directors: Utah Valley Mortuary.

William G. Hartley

February 10, 1942 - April 10, 2018

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