Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Farewell, Brother Cammack

Elwin Cammack, a member of the Bloomington 7th Ward since 2010, passed away at home on Sunday, November 25 with his wife, Claire at his side   Both born and reared near the heart of the church - he in Pingree, Idaho and she in Rexburg – they met at Ricks College after he returned from a mission to Great Britain.  They were married in Idaho Falls in 1951.

Brother Cammack earned a Bachelors Degree at Ricks (now called BYU-Idaho), a Masters Degree from BYU, and a doctorate in higher education at Michigan State, he worked as an elementary school principal in Tooele and Wendover and then as a professor and administrator at Weber State University. In 1967, he moved with his family to Madison, Wisconsin where he worked as the associate vice president of policy analysis and research for the University of Wisconsin System, a position he held for more than 25 years. This immensely enjoyable assignment found him managing development contracts in Asia which gave him the opportunity to work closely with administrators at the University of Indonesia and with those in institutes of higher learning in Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines.

Brother Cammack served faithfully in the Church throughout his lifetime, including as a bishop, a high councilman and in a Young Men’s presidency. “In the mission field, there are countless opportunities to serve. It seems, the farther away you get from Church headquarters, the more jobs you get in your ward and stake,” he said of their Church life in the mission field.  In the Bloomington 7th Ward, he most recently served as the Sunday School president.

After Dr. Cammack’s retirement twenty years ago, the couple moved to southern Utah, living in Hurricane on the 10-acre peach and pecan orchard for which her father once traded for a house in Rexburg.


Elwin liked to travel around the United States in his camper, visiting family and seeing the country. One of his great loves was his Wisconsin garden which produced bushels of vegetables he shared with friends and neighbors but most of all, he loved being with his 5 children, 14 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.

Brother Cammack will be missed by those members of the Bloomington 7th Ward with whom he worked and shared his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.