“Elder Albert Choules, Jr., of the First Quorum of the Seventy,” Ensign, Nov. 1988, 105
Elder Albert Choules, Jr., of the First Quorum of the Seventy
When Albert Choules, Jr., was called as mission president, he sold his interest in Romney International Hotels and stepped down as president of the corporation. That action characterizes the commitment that this new member of the Quorum of the Seventy feels for the gospel.
Elder Choules has served as a member of two bishoprics, as second counselor in the Scottsdale Arizona Stake presidency and then as stake president, as an officiator and a sealer in the Arizona Temple, and as a Regional Representative. In addition, he has long been active in Scouting, receiving the Silver Beaver award in 1971.
The third child of six, Albert, Jr., was born in Driggs, Idaho, on 15 February 1926 to Albert and Rula Wilson Choules. After his missionary service, he entered LDS Business College, later transferring to Brigham Young University.
He received a B.S. from BYU in 1951. While there, he met Rosemary Phillips, and the two were married in 1952 in the Idaho Falls Temple. In 1953, Brother Choules earned an M.B.A. from Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.
After graduation, Brother Choules began work as a financial analyst for Union Oil Company in Los Angeles. Brother and Sister Choules’ first child, William, was born in Santa Monica. In 1955, they moved to Arizona, and Brother Choules joined Western Savings and Loan. Their next two children, Robert and Tamara, were born in Phoenix. From 1971 to 1976, Brother Choules worked in jointly owned companies: Western Savings, as senior vice president, and Romney International Hotels, as president. Then, in 1976, he and four business associates bought the hotel chain. He continued as president until his call to the New York New York City Mission.
Although Elder Choules recalls his service as mission president with fondness, the final six weeks of the mission were marked with sorrow. His wife, Rosemary, had surgery for cancer, then began chemotherapy. She continued treatment in Arizona. One year after the end of their mission, on 27 June 1984 she died. “Losing my wife was extremely difficult,” Elder Choules says. “She was a vibrant, successful woman and an outstanding wife and mother.
“But the Lord has given me so much. He brought her into my life. We had thirty-two years of a wonderful marriage. He guided us through the rearing of our children. He helped me through the last year of Rosemary’s life, and then he brought Marilyn into my life,” Elder Choules says.
Brother Choules had met Marilyn Lowry and her five children—Michelle, James, Jonathan, Jena, and Denise—when she moved to Phoenix in 1978. In 1983, Sister Lowry moved to Orem, where Brother Choules was living, and on 8 June 1987, they were married in the Salt Lake Temple. Fifteen months later, the call came for Elder Choules to serve as a General Authority. “I don’t know all the reasons for things happening the way they do in our lives,” says Elder Choules, “but I know that our Father in Heaven gives support and guidance when we need it.”
When asked her feelings about her husband’s call to serve in the First Quorum of the Seventy, Sister Choules replied, “I feel humbled and overwhelmed with our recent blessings and opportunities. We are eagerly looking forward to the next five years.”
Elder Choules adds, “It’s overwhelming to realize that the Lord and the Brethren have such confidence in us. The Church has been our focal point because of its teachings, programs, and ordinances for the here and hereafter. All that we do in the Church points us toward eternity.”