Paul Lawrence Anderson

Paul Lawrence Anderson was born June 6, 1946, to Alvin M. Anderson and Ruby Jennie Johnson Anderson, both of whom grew up in the Whittier neighborhood of Salt Lake City, just blocks from where Paul spent most of his adult life. Alvin served his mission in Sweden where he was notified by a letter on his door that World War II had broken out and ordering him back to the states. He worked as a welder on battleships during the war in Los Angeles. He briefly returned to Salt Lake City where he and Ruby were married in the temple, then immediately went back to California where they spent the rest of their lives.

Paul was born in Pasadena on June 6, 1946, where Mormon Hollywood professionals repeatedly staged elaborate roadshows and where Howard W. Hunter led southern California into a new definition of what it meant to live in "the mission field." Paul and his two older brothers drove a red convertible, spent weekly time on the beach, and hiked in the Sierra Nevadas with their Scout troop where Paul earned his Eagle badge.

Paul attended Stanford, studying six months in France before graduatingcum laudeand Phi Beta Kappa with a bachelor\s degree in architecture in 1968. He served a mission in southern Japan under Edward Y. Okazaki, then earned his master's of architecture at Princeton University in 1972 where his thesis project was designing an LDS meetinghouse based on historical and theological themes. He was licensed as an architect in California in 1976, a credential he maintained all his life, designing and remodeling homes in Utah for private clients. Clark Ivory called Paul "my secret weapon" and invited him to work on challenging Ivory Homes projects.

Paul practiced architecture in California for three years, then left Pasadena Design Associates to do a summer fellowship on Mormon architecture in the History Division of Church Historian Leonard J. Arrington.

Here he met Lavina Fielding, who was an associate editor of the Ensign, and they were married June 13, 1977 by Howard W. Hunter, then an apostle. Three months later, they moved into Whittier Ward where they have lived ever since and where their son, Christian, grew up. Christian spent a year at Stanford, served a Spanish-speaking mission in Houston, and returned to Stanford where he met and married Marina Capella. Both graduated and went on to graduate work; Marina is a pediatrician, and Christian is a quantitative biologist.

Paul was working on Mormon architecture when Florence Smith Jacobsen, former general Young Women's president and newly appointed Church Curator of Historic Arts, hired him fulltime in 1976 to work on historic sites. Among his projects were planning and mounting exhibits at the Church Office Building, collaborating with the Church Architect on plans for the new museum, working on the restoration of the Brigham City Tabernacle, the interior restoration of the Manti Temple, the Newel K. Whitney Store in Kirtland, the Sarah M. Kimball Home in Nauvoo, the Carthage Jail Visitors Center, the Peter Whitmer Home in Fayette, the Brigham Young Winter Home, and Jacob Hamblin Home in St. George. He was project manager for the Newel K. Whitney Store, which received one of ten awards presented by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 for outstanding privately-funded historic preservation projects.

Paul spent seven years (1984-91) as senior exhibits designer at the Museum of Church History and Art, then moved to Brigham Young University where he helped plan the Museum of Art and then designed exhibits until his retirement in 2014. His greatest joy was working with other creative people to bring a project to fruition. He also taught undergraduate courses and honors seminars at BYU.

He was a member of the Mormon History Association for forty years and also served as its president (2007-08). He wrote and presented many papers on historic topics, most recently last year in New York City at the symposium on the arts. Still in manuscript is his chef d'ouevre: Mormon Moderne: Latter-day Saint Architecture 1925-1945.

Paul sang in the Utah Symphony Chorus and authored four hymns in the current (1985) LDS hymnbook. He frequently collaborated with gifted composer Lynn R. Carson on interesting and significant hymns. After Paul retired from BYU, he and Lynn participated in the Western Hymn Writers Workshop, chaired by J. Frederik Voros.

Paul also launched into oil painting with a passion, taking one class per quarter (tuition $10 for senior citizens) at the Salt Lake Community College. He loved Whittier Ward, where he served in many callings. He was a counselor in the bishopric with Paul Larsen, and the two of them high-jacked the Scout program when they felt the boys were suffering from a too-high turnover among Scoutmasters. He also served in the stake high council but resigned to teach Primary where he was also the chorister. He always considered that one of his favorite callings but consoled himself by leading the ward choir from about 1991 until his death. He served two stints as Sunday School president, both times calling himself to co-teach the Gospel Doctrine class, which he did for a total of twenty-four years.

He is survived by his wife, Lavina Fielding Anderson, son Christian N. K. Anderson, and daughter-in-law Marina Capella; two older brothers: M. Lynn Anderson (Betty Madron), and their five daughters: Marie Anderson, Kjerstin Thweatt, Lisa Anderson, Heidi (Manny Flores), Amy (Bradley Burgoyne), foster daughter Cassandra Fox Percival and nine grandchildren; and Steven Alvin Anderson (Betty Buie), and their children: Paul Erik (Kristen), Adam Scott (Rita), Tavia (Trevor Howard), Mavanee (Vladislav Kachka), Celeste (Timothy Richardson), 19 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Funeral Services will be held Thursday, March 29, 2018, at 11:00 a.m. at the Whittier Ward, 1515 South 200 East, Salt Lake City, Utah.

In lieu of flowers, the family has asked for donations be made to the Mobilization for African Empowerment, a charity for education in Sierra Leone. Checks can be sent to Lavina at 1519 Roberta Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84115, or dropped off at the memorial service.