Golden V. Adams Jr. was born May 31, 1944 in Salt Lake City, Utah to Golden Virgil and Ruth Lenore Thiessens Adams.  Since his father was in the U.S. Army-Air Force in France, Golden didn’t see him in person until he was eighteen months old.  Living with his grandparents and great-grandparents, he heard both English and Dutch spoken in the home.

After his father returned, the family moved to Tremonton, where they lived until 1949, when their 650 square-foot farmhouse remodel was completed.  Golden is the oldest of six siblings: Lloyd, Steve, Janice, Gloria, LeMoyne, and Doyle.  Growing up on the 200+ acre farm, there was always something to do—beets to thin and hoe, cows to milk, hay to haul, and sprinklers to move. Except for one winter in Mesa, Arizona, he lived in East Garland until after graduation from high school.

During junior high school, Golden participated in school plays, drama, and served as co-editor of the school newspaper.  In high school, he actively participated in the Bear River Chapter of Future Farmers of America (FFA). There he was chapter reporter and participated in various contest, including milk judging and public speaking, winning Utah FFA public speaking contest.  Representing the chapter and state, he attended one FFA National Convention in Kansas City, Missouri.  Through these activities, he received the Union Pacific and Farm Bureau scholarships to Utah State University after high school graduation.

During the winter of his senior year in high school, he attended a beginning genealogical research class and was named valedictorian.  At this same time, he and a cousin were called as missionaries to serve at the Cache Genealogical Library in Logan, Utah, where he continued to serve during his first year in college at Utah State University.  He compiled the “East Garland Cemetery Records” during those years, as well.

His first paid employment occurred during the summer between his high school and college years at Thiokol Chemical Corporation.  His responsibilities involved cleaning the solid-state rocket fuel casting cans.  

At USU, he studied the usual general education courses, with the idea of going into pre-med.  After his first year there, he was called to serve a full-time mission to the Netherlands from June 1963 - December 1965.  When he returned, he continued his education at USU. 

When the Genealogical Accreditation Program was announced in 1965 by The Genealogical Society, he was still serving his mission.  When he returned, no one could tell him what to study to become an accredited genealogist.  So, he determined to take the tests thinking he surely would not pass, and would then know what to study.  However, he passed the tests and became an Accredited Genealogist® in Southern States. 

Subsequently, when the International Association of Genealogists (ICAPGen) took over the accreditation and split Southern States to Mid-South and Gulf South, he qualified and he held both accreditations since that time, having recently requested Emeritus Accredited Genealogist status.

Beginning his senior year at USU, Golden changed his major to Secondary Education with a Biological Science Composite.  He served as the Utah Education Association Student Representative, encouraging high school students to consider the teaching profession.  Upon completing his studies in the summer of 1968, he received a conditional Wyoming teaching certificate and taught one year at Mountain View Junior-Senior High School.  He officially graduated from USU in 1969.

He taught seventh and eighth grade science at Burns Junior High School in Burns, Oregon, the following three years, taking time during the summers to attend Brigham Young University studying Library Science.  In 1972 the BYU Library Science Program was discontinued.   He returned to BYU however, as an American Research Specialist at the newly created BYU Genealogical Research Center.  There, he had responsibility for directing student research and writing client reports.  During this time, he was a charter member of Utah Genealogical Association, publishing articles on the genealogical research process.  He also authored “Worthy of All Acceptation”, a Guide to Genealogical Research.

While in Salem, Golden “retired” from Provo School District after teaching seventh and eighth grade Integrated Science for twenty-seven years. Then he taught seven more years at Payson Junior High School prior to his retirement in 2012 having been named three times to “Who’s Who Among American Teachers”.  During all these years he also pursued his family history avocation and serves on the advisory team of International Association of StoryKeepers (I-ASK).

Diane Jolley Adams (see her FHTC bio in her LegacyStories Portfolio) retired in July 2013 from Mountainland Association of Governments in Orem, Utah where she worked as a data specialist in the department of aging.  She worked with the senior centers of Utah, Wasatch, and Summit Counties.

They both served as Church Service Missionaries from Sept 2013-Sept 2014 at the Family and Church History Headquarters Mission in Salt Lake City in the US/Canada Zone of the Family History Library. On September 3, 2014, they were released from this mission and accepted their mission call to the Utah South Area Family History Training Center where they have been called to serve for two years.

They serve as Ward Family History advisors and Stake Family History specialists as well as FamilySearch Indexers.  They have had a good life, thus far, and are grateful to Heavenly Father for the innumerable blessings they have been given.

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Published in October 2014 FSTC Newsletter.