David Henry Garner taught at the Jerusalem Center for a semester in 1980. He was born January 9, 1935, in Driggs, Idaho to Henry Andrew Garner and Ruth Mace Waddell. He married his sweetheart Marcia Jean Evans in the Idaho Falls Temple on June 11, 1958. She passed away February 5, 2014, after 56 years of marriage and five children. He later married “his Verda”, Verda Russell Manning, on November 13, 2015.
David was raised in the shadows of the Teton Peaks, in Alta, on the state line of Wyoming and Idaho. As the oldest child he learned the value of hard work while farming shoulder to shoulder with his parents, milking cows, and cutting lumber. He was devoted to the Lord at an early age. He served a mission as a young man to the Northern California Mission and later with his wife Marcia in the California, Carlsbad Mission.
David earned a Bachelor’s degree in Physics and a Master’s degree in Educational Administration from Brigham Young University. In 1962, David was hired to teach Seminary. With over 34 years of employment in Seminary and Institutes, he was a master teacher and scriptorian. He taught seminary and institute in St George, Logan, and Ogden, Utah; Afton, Wyoming; Alta Loma, California; Billings, Montana, and Vancouver, Canada. He also wrote curriculum at the Church Office building in Salt Lake City. In between his work and raising a family he conducted tours to the Holy Land, Egypt, Jordan, Greece, and Italy.
He served in many capacities in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including, Sunday School teacher and President, Bishop, High Councilor, Counselor in the Stake Presidency, Stake President, and Temple Sealer. He passed away on January 31, 2024, in St. George, Utah.