[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 4827-4828]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO ELDER DALLIN H. OAKS

 Mr. LEE. Mr. President, this month, the Utah Valley Chamber of 
Commerce will honor Elder Dallin H. Oaks, of the Quorum of the Twelve 
Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with the 
2014 ``Pillar of the Valley'' Award. I would like to take a moment to 
recognize the achievements of this great man who is dear to my heart.
  Elder Oaks was born in Provo, UT in 1932. He spent his youth in Utah 
Valley

[[Page 4828]]

and Vernal, and he started working from a very young age to support his 
two younger siblings and widowed mother. Elder Oaks remembers that his 
mother was ``an extraordinary mother,'' who gave him ``a great deal of 
responsibility and freedom'' and ``encouraged [him] to have a job.'' He 
graduated from Brigham Young High School in 1950, where he was the 
senior class president and played on the football team. He also became 
a licensed first-class radiotelephone operator in his teenage years.
  Elder Oaks was a member of the National Guard from 1949 to 1954. 
During this period, he met his wife June Dixon, and they were married 
in 1952. They raised six beautiful children together. After more than 
45 years of marriage, June, stricken with cancer, passed from this 
mortal existence. Elder Oaks' extraordinary faith and trust in God's 
plan during this time of trial was an example for all of us who have 
lost a loved one to cancer.
  Elder Oaks has worked tirelessly to lift those around him and to 
achieve greatness throughout his life. After graduating from Brigham 
Young University, BYU, with a bachelor's degree in accounting, Oaks 
went on to law school at the University of Chicago. His hard work at 
Chicago led him to the tremendous opportunity of clerking at the 
Supreme Court for Chief Justice Warren. He subsequently returned to 
Chicago to go into private practice, and eventually joined the faculty 
at the University of Chicago.
  It was during this time that my parents moved to Chicago so that my 
father could earn his law degree at the University of Chicago. Elder 
Oaks and June kindly welcomed them, and they became lifelong friends. 
While in Chicago, Elder Oaks also had the opportunity to serve as 
assistant state's attorney for Cook County, a position in which he 
excelled.
  After years of extraordinary work and service in Chicago, the Oaks 
family was called home to Utah Valley, as Elder Oaks was appointed 
president of BYU in 1971. He was a brilliant leader, who inspired the 
students to learn as much as possible and to be advocates for virtue 
and goodness throughout the world. He also set a high bar for his 
successors, one of whom was my father, who praised Elder Oaks as a man 
of great humility and wisdom.
  After 9 years as president, he was nominated and confirmed as a 
justice of the Utah Supreme Court. Before and during his service as a 
justice, Elder Oaks was on multiple short lists for nomination to the 
Supreme Court of the United States. He served with distinction on the 
Utah Supreme Court from 1980 to 1984, when he resigned to answer a call 
to serve in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus 
Christ of Latter-day Saints. Placing his faith above worldly success, 
Elder Oaks has travelled the world, bearing testimony of Jesus Christ 
and strengthening the faith of millions. He has been an ardent defender 
of religious liberty, and continually works to bring members of all 
faiths together to accomplish good.
  Elder Oaks has been an inspiration to millions of individuals all 
over the world. I congratulate him and his wife Kristen on their many 
wonderful accomplishments over the last 14 years together. Elder Oaks 
is not only an example of a genius legal mind to which all jurists, 
including myself, aspire, but also a tireless advocate for truth, 
virtue, freedom, and goodness throughout the world. I am proud to say 
that I know such an individual, and I believe that our world would be a 
much better place if more men strived to emulate his virtues.

                          ____________________