Oscar A. Kirkham

Oscar A. Kirkham served in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the First Council of the Seventy. He was ordained a Seventy in 1905 and sustained as a member of the First Council of the Seventy as one of the Seven Presidents from 1941 to 1958.

In 1913, he was appointed the traveling secretary of the YMMIA to oversee recreational activities. He then served for many years as the executive secretary.

He also served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ in Germany. He was Scout Executive of Region 12, Boy Scouts of America. During the International Boy Scout Jamboree, held at Artowe Park, Birkenhead, England, in 1929, he was a member of the national staff, was general morale officer and member of the program committee, and had charge of the religious exercises of the American scouts and assisted in the general supervision of the American contingent. In 1937 he attended the 5th World Scouting Jamboree in the Netherlands with President Heber J. Grant.

Kirkham was born on January 22, 1880, in Lehi, Utah Territory. He graduated from Brigham Young University and studied music in Berlin, Germany. He taught school in the Latter-day Saints University (now Ensign College, and also taught music at Ricks College from 1903 to 1906. A building at Ricks College, which has been demolished, was named in his honor.

Kirkham and his wife, Josephine Murdock, had nine children. He died on March 10, 1958.