John Ortell Kingston, the second leader of the Davis Davis County Cooperative Society (DCCS) and the first leader of the Latter Day Church of Christ, died on August 25, 1987. Four days later a meeting of the governing board of the DCCS was held to discuss who should take charge of the next Sunday meeting as well as who the next leader of the DCCS should be. This meeting document details the notes that were taken during that meeting.
Document
If you find any inaccuracies in this document please contact me so I can update the document.
A future post will continue this discussion of the transition of power and specifically focus on the next meeting from 1987 on September 5th.
Summary
On discussing the subject Merlin Kingston (#10) repeated words C. Elden Kingston (#1), Vesta Kingston’s son, gave to him indicating he was to take charge should anything happen to Ortell Kingston (#8). During the meeting Elden Kingston (#22, referred to as Elden 22), Clyde’s son from Ardous Kingston (2nd wife), voiced words that Ortell had told him indicating Ortell believed the Lord told him (Ortell) he had progressed far enough to be able to pick the next leader of the order. Elden believed Ortell had picked the next leader. Wendell Owen (#34) expressed concern over Merlin’s health being negatively impacted by bearing the weight of managing the Order. Elden 22 also declared himself as not a candidate for the next leader of the Order.
Each participant expressed an outward willingness to support any person selected by the Lord to lead the DCCS (“the Order”). Paul Kingston (#9) referenced the story of Brigham Young’s comment on the transition of power in the Mormon church from Joseph Smith to Brigham Young in stating Brigham said that the Mormon people can pick whoever they want to lead them though that may not be the Lord’s choice.
Wendell told the story of Joseph Smith’s interpretation of Isaiah 11:1-5 in Section 113 of the of the Doctrine and Covenants. He stated that Vesta was the “queen bee” from who the branch of the root of “the stem of Jesse” and that the whole order needed to be one with that branch.
Ivan and Ray expressed a desire to pray, strive, and ponder on who should be the next leader and to meet again on a later date to finalize the decision.
Merlin stated that the people of the Order had to get their own direction and that it had to be a majority of the people and that the governing board should help make that decision.
The meeting was adjourned without a decision. The next meeting on September 5, 1987 continues the discussion on this topic.
My Commentary
Essentially, Merlin, Ivan, and Ray wanted to take time to strive, pray, and make the decision properly. Merlin indicated he wanted to include the voice of the Order people in the decision and have the decision made by at least the majority of the people. Wendell and Elden 22 somewhat indicated they had made up their minds and supported Paul as the leader and that they had concerns with Merlin being the leader.
Paul expressed in his characteristic condescension that the Lord had made the decision and that everyone else needed to “fit in with,” or conform to, that decision. He stressed his opinion of the importance of presenting a united front from the governing board to the Order people soon, to essentially make the decision before they presented anything to the Order people. It is easy to conclude from the context this was a pressure tactic Paul employed to maneuver Merlin and the governing board into a manufactured consensus to have him presented to the Order people as the correct choice.
Ivan, Ray, and Merlin expressed a good sense and rational desire to strive, pray, and ponder who the next leader should be and who the governing board should get behind and support.
2 responses to “Transfer of Power Meeting #1 Following Ortell’s Death”
[…] the first transfer of power meeting Wendell and Elden Kingston (Gustafson) signaled their support of Paul and their concerns about […]
Hello Kent. I’m your uncle Russ. I am very interested in your work. I would like to meet you sometime. You may remember me from the order, I remember you as a young boy. I left in 1999. Very difficult decision for me and my family. I was amazed how many things worked out for my benefit as I was raised to be a believer. Ortel made many promises to AII his sons that never happened for me. I’m not bitter about anything to do with my past. I witnessed ortel favor Paul and Daniel and came to the realization that they saw me as a drone. I served them well and left them with a lot of my hard earned money. No problem. I found new money elsewhere. Tough to realize that they don’t represent God. Call me or email me or text me when you want to hang out and hear my personal story. Russell. [phone number removed by admin for privacy reasons]