Glen Wentworth Crosby

1906 - 1972

Glen Wentworth Crosby was the twelfth child of Joshua Alma and Lena Albertina Mathis Crosby. He spent his early years in St. George, Utah where he attended the Woodward Elementary School, the Dixie High School and the Dixie Junior College. He was president of his class during his last year at Dixie College.

Like his older brother Henry, Glen was a superb athlete. He excelled in track and field, particularly distance running. He held the Utah State High School record for the half mile track event for a number of years. He also played on the Dixie High School basketball team that won the Utah State Championship and went to the National Campionship Playoff in Chicago in the spring of 1924. He was captain of the Dixie Junior College basketball team during the school year 1926-27. In later years he became an avid golfer and played at every opportunity. He was a member of the Ben Lomand Golf Club and served on the Board Directors of the Club.

Glen was a hard worker all his life, even when very young. He took his turn at running the family farm in the summers of 1925 and 1926. This writer (Samuel Wallace Crosby) helped him in the fields sometimes and remembers how Glen would not want to stop to eat or rest until the job at hand was completely finished. Prior to 1925, he worked for a number of summers in Pine Valley, Utah for his brother-in-law, Erastus Gardner.

After graduating from Dixie Junior College, Glen worked for about two years; first, in the mines at Park City, Utah and then for the Samson Tire and Rubber Company at San Diego, California. In the fall of 1929, Glen volunteered to serve on a mission for the L.D.S. Church in Germany.

After returning from this mission for his Church in early 1932, Glen went to San Diego, California where he was employed by the Curtis Publishing Company. While working there, Glen enrolled for attendance at the San Diego State College. Even while attending college Glen doubled the sales of the Curtis Publishing Company in San Diego, so the company sent him to San Luis Obispo, California, to see if he could perk up sales there. He succeeded in increasing sales very well in San Luis Obispo so the company transferred him once again, this time to Salt Lake City, Utah. It was in this way that Glen learned the publication distribution business. While in Salt Lake City, Glen was presented with an opportunity to buy a publication distributing business in Ogden, Utah. He bought the Ogden News Company in 1939 and moved his family to Ogden, where he continued in this business for nearly 31 years, until his retirement in 1969.

Glen and Alvira purchased a cherry orchard and a large home on Twelfth Street in Ogden shortly after moving there. In addition to producing some income from the superb cherries harvested from this eleven acre orchard, the purchase of this orchard turned out to be an excellent real estate investment as the City of Ogden continued to grow and over a period of years fully developed all around them.

Glen and Alvira from the time of their marriage were always active in their Church. Glen served as the Branch President of the L.D.S. Church in San Luis Obispo, California. He also served his Church in many other capacities, such as, home missionary, Superintendent of the M.I.A., and as a Sunday School Teacher. He became President of a Seventies Quorum in his Church. Upon retirement Glen and Alvira were called to work in the L.D.S. Temple in Ogden.

Glen was also very active in community affairs in Ogden over the years. He was a member of the Ogden Kiwanis Club. He loved to sing and was a member of the Ogden Chorale Group, a member of the Ogden Symphonic Chior, and a member of the Bel Canto Singers in Ogden. He was an active member and served as Vice-President of the Utah Horticulture Society. Glen and Alvira loved ballroom dancing and they participated with their many friends on a regular basis. They had attended a dance the night Glen was stricken with his fatal heart attack.

Glen Wentworth Crosby died January 15, 1972, of a heart attack at the McKay Dee Hospital. He was 65 at the time of his death. In his entire life Glen was never anything more than he appeared to be. He was a modest unassuming man. At Glen's funeral services, his friend, fellow worker in the Church and fellow golfer, Alvin Schow, paid him many tributes, among which was the following:

"He was not a pretentious man. You know, many of us like to have the world think that we are more than we are. That we are better than we are. That we are more wise than we are. That we are more sophisticated than we are. That we have more wealth and more worldly goods than we have. That we are more faithful than we are. Many of us would like the world to believe those things. I never could detect anything of that sort in Glen. He seemed to be quite satisfied to accept himself for what he was. And he was quite willing that the world around him should also accept hirn for exactly what he was, nothing more, nothing less. He didn't put on, he didn't try to make us believe that he was more than what he actually was."

Source:
Taken from Samuel Wallace Crosby. Jesse Wentworth Crosby - Mormon Preacher, Pioneer, Man of God. 1977, p. 183.