Douglas Todd

Douglas McLain Todd was president of Fremont Stake Academy, the forerunner to current Brigham Young University-Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho.

Todd was born on October 31, 1860, in Clover Creek, Utah. He was reared in St. John and Grantsville. He studied under Karl G. Maeser at Brigham Young Academy in Provo, Utah. His first teaching assignment after graduation was in nearby Santaquin, Utah. In 1887, he was called to teach in the Brigham Young College at Logan, Utah. That same year, he married Florence Marion Driggs and they had two children before she died in 1889. He then married Marian Davis Lufkin in 1890 and she bore ten children before she died in 1920. He then married Hannah N. McMurray and she bore seven daughters before she died in 1933.

In 1899, Todd was called to be the principal of Fremont Stake Academy. At that time, there were no high schools in the Rexburg area. He worked to develop the high school curriculum at the academy and also taught classes. A classroom teacher preparatory course was also added to the academy during his administration. He oversaw the construction of a stone academic building that would eventually be named after Jacob Spori.

Todd stayed with the Academy until 1901 when he moved with his family to Salt Lake City. There he assisted with the establishment of Granite High School, where he taught until his poor health required him to retire.

He was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served on the general board of the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association from 1898 to 1912.

He was visiting one of his daughters when he died on December 31, 1935, in San Marino, California.