Rulon Jeffs
| Rulon Jeffs | |
|---|---|
Jeffs, ca. 2002
|
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| Prophet and President of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints | |
| November 25, 1986 – September 8, 2002 | |
| Predecessor | Leroy S. Johnson |
| Successor | Warren Steed Jeffs |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Rulon Timpson Jeffs December 6, 1909 Salt Lake City, Utah, United States |
| Died | September 8, 2002 (aged 92) St. George, Utah, United States |
| Resting place | Isaac W. Carling Memorial Park 36°59′26″N 112°58′02″W / 36.9905°N 112.9671°W |
| Spouse(s) | As many as 75 |
| Children | As many as 65 |
| Parents | David William Ward Jeffs Nettie Lenora Timpson |
Rulon Timpson Jeffs (December 6, 1909 – September 8, 2002), known to followers as Uncle Rulon, was the President of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church), a Mormon fundamentalist organization based in Colorado City, Arizona, from 1986 until his death in 2002.
Jeffs, born in Salt Lake City on December 6, 1909, was the son of first generation fundamentalist David William Ward Jeffs and his plural wife Nettie Lenora Timpson. The elder Jeffs lived his polygamous lifestyle in secret, and Rulon spent the first ten years of his life under the pseudonym Rulon Jennings. Jeffs was raised a member of Latter-day Saint (LDS Church), his father not introducing him to the teachings of the fundamentalist movement until September 25, 1938, at the elder Jeffs' birthday dinner, where he presented his son with a copy of Joseph W. Musser's Truth magazine. Rulon embraced the fundamentalist message after meeting Musser and John Y. Barlow. In 1940, he secretly took a plural wife, for which his first wife, Zola (daughter of LDS Church apostle Hugh B. Brown, and great-granddaughter of Brigham Young), divorced him.
In the spring of 1945, Jeffs, who had been working in northern Idaho since 1943, returned to Salt Lake City, where he was ordained a High Priest Apostle by John Y. Barlow on April 19. Jeffs was a protege of both Barlow and later Priesthood Council senior Leroy S. Johnson, who compared their relationship to that of Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball. Jeffs assumed the leadership of the group after Johnson's death in 1986.
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