George Pace
George was born in Burley, Idaho, October 10, 1929, the youngest child of twelve. He married Diane Carman from Portland, Oregon on Dec. 17, 1954 in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. They are the parents of twelve cherished children, 52 grandchildren and 27 great grandchildren.
George taught in the LDS Church Education System in seminaries. He opened the LDS Institute of Religion at Colorado State University and directed the LDS Institute of Religion at Stanford in Palo Alto, California before returning to Brigham Young University to teach in Religious Education for thirty years. In those thirty years he taught over 60,000 students. He was selected as BYU Professor of the Year in 1978. An author, George lectured with Know Your Religion Series and Education Weeks. He earned his PhD in religious studies.
George served as Branch President in the Missionary Training Center and as Stake President of the BYU 10th Stake. He taught at the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies. He and his wife taught for a year at Tongji University in Shanghai, PRC with the BYU China Teachers Program. They then served a two -and-a-half year mission as Facilitators of the China Teachers Program. They also served a Church Education Mission in the New Zealand, Wellington Mission and taught Senior Missionaries at the Provo MTC.
George was a traveler, and he loved everyone. Everyone knew they were loved by him. He became a friend to all he met. His family has binders filled with letters from students and others grateful for George’s influence, not as his followers, but as individuals who were led to seek and find the Savior as the power available in their lives to lead them home. He passed away November 7, 2020.