Wendell B. Mendenhall

Wendell B. Mendenhall was the chairman of the Church Building Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In that role, he was one of the directors of the labor missionary program of the Church in the 1950s in the Pacific Islands and other locales. Mendenhall was considered the father of the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii. He was also the building supervisor for the Oakland California Temple in the 1960s.

Mendenhall was born on September 26, 1907, in Mapleton, Utah. He served a mission in New Zealand from 1927 to 1930.

Mendenhall was serving as president of the San Joaquin Stake in California when Church president David O. McKay tasked him with selecting a temple site in New Zealand. He traveled throughout Polynesia to recruit local members to serve as labor missionaries to assist couples called from the United States in building meetinghouses, schools, and other Church buildings.

He died on September 14, 1978. Mendenhall married Wealtha Spafford on September 30, 1927, and they had two sons. Bronco Mendenhall is one of his grandchildren.

External Sources

• Wikipedia, “Wendell B. Mendenhall”

• Religious Studies Center, “Labor Missions in Tonga and Hawai’i,” by Adele F. Feinga

• “Liahona, the Labor Missionaries, and Preparing for Temple Blessings (1950-59),” by Riley M. Moffat, Fred E. Woods, and Brent R. Anderson

• “President David O. McKay's Visit to New Zealand 1955, by SJO”