March 25th, 2025, 7:30pm MDT
After a life of faithful service to his family and the Latter-day Saints’ Church of Jesus Christ, Elder Richard D. Allred, honorary president, 70, passed away on March 20, 2025, at the age of 92 in Logan, Utah.
Elder Allred served as general authorities from 1997 to 2002. Additionally, he and his wife, sister Gay Banner Allred, served as leaders of the Guatemala Quetzaltenango Mission from 1979 to 1983 and the Guatemala Missionary Training Centre from 1986 to 1988.
The two served as president and matron of the Guatemala Temple, Guatemala from 1990 to 1993.
In addition to serving at the general level, Elder Allred fulfilled his calling as a local representative, stake patriarch, stake president, bishop and temple worker.
His service reflected his testimony of Jesus Christ, he testified. “He is my birther, my savior, my advocate with my father. …He is my friend and I love him. My only wish is to serve him and please him” (BYU – IDAHO Dedicated, “The True Course – Destination”, February 17, 2004).
Richard David Allred was born on August 3, 1932 in Shelley, Idaho. Elder Allred said he learned the importance of family, hard work and the importance of the gospel from his mother, Glendra Malcolm Allred and his father, Elwood B. Allred, who taught seminary.
He met Gay Banner at a church youth activity in Burley, Idaho, but the two didn’t start dating until their third grade at BYU. She wrote him during a 30-month mission to Mexico, and they married on December 19, 1956 at the Logan Utah Temple.
“I got married on my head,” he told the church news in an interview after a general authority call. “If it’s not for my beautiful, loyal wife, I will not deny that I am doing anything else now.”
Elder Allred received his bachelor’s degree from Utah State University and later joined the US Air Force. He later earned a Masters degree in Business Administration from the University of Arkansas.
During his year as an Air Force Avionics officer and his service at the Latter-day Saints’ Church of Jesus Christ, the family lived in many areas – Colorado, Missouri, California, Montana, Greece, Texas, Greenland, South America.
Wherever he went, he gave him everything he had, commented, sister Allred. “He loves people, they know that. He has an incredible talent to work with people” (May 1997, Slightly sign).
At the address of his one general meeting in October 1997, Elder Allred, who served as the head of the stock, encouraged Latter-day Saints to receive and cherish the patriarchal blessings. “The Lord loves his children, and blesses them, and hopes that they all return to him, and live before him for time and forever (see Moses 1:39).
In his spare time, Elder Allred enjoyed photography, hunting, camping and fishing. “We enjoy each other,” he said. “We come looking for each other. …It’s just together, sharing each other’s sense of spirit, the choices and beauty of the moment. We read together. We were running together.
In a church news article, Elder Allred recalled fishing six young grandchildren with six fishing rods. Despite the chaos, Elder Allred said he would not trade any of these experiences. “Where is the family that it is,” he said.
He and his wife relied on each other, and their testimony weathered the storms of life. “The experiences we had in our lives could have been traumatic, and we evaluated them in the Gospel context,” he said of the death of his youngest child, David, when he was three years old.
“I will never remember when I did not believe in the Savior, when I recognized it as my Savior, as my Savior, as my special friend,” Elder Allred said.
Elder Allred’s obituary states that he was welcomed “in heavenly house” by his wife, who died in 2019, and his three sons, Kirk, Richard and David, as well as his parents and brothers.
He is survived by 14 grandchildren and 38 great grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held on Friday, March 28th from 11am to 12pm at Foothill District 1 Chamber, 1450 E. 1500 North, Logan, Utah. Viewing will take place on Thursday, March 27th from 6 to 8pm, before Allen-Hall Mortuary, 34 E. Center St., Logan and Friday services. The intervention will take place on Saturday, March 29th at 1pm at Pleasant View Cemetery in Burley, Idaho.
