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MISSION PRESIDENT

“It is not our calling to fill the pews with members. It is our calling to fill the world with disciples.”

― Stacy Sanchez

In the spring of 1967 Theron had been teaching a short course for the State Road and attended a meeting in Salt Lake. They met in a small room and almost everyone in attendance smoked. When the meeting adjourned, Theron was trying to air his coat a little, when someone tapped him on the shoulder. It was Spencer W. Kimball, who told him that President Lee would like to see him. Theron assured Brother Kimball that he hadn't been smoking. President Kimball suggested that he convince President Lee of that. President Lee told Theron that he had been selected to serve as a Mission President, but his mission assignment was not given to him at that time. He was told that that information would be given to him at a later date. He asked him to get Lucretia and have their pictures taken immediately. Lucretia had been working in the genealogy library and was in slacks and sneakers, so they asked for a day's extension before having their pictures taken and it was granted. They were asked not to tell anyone about their call until it was announced in the press. One of the men, who was called at the same time as Theron, had a young family. Some preparations had to be made, and so the children started wondering what was going on. One of his small sons said, "What is it daddy, what is happening?" His father said, "I can't tell you son, except that it is the most wonderful thing that ever came into our lives." The boy then asked, "Is it a horse?" Well, this assignment for Theron and Lucretia was not a horse, but it was pretty wonderful!

They spent three days in Salt Lake at a special training session.  Mark E. Peterson did a marvelous job of training them.  They flew missionaries in from California to demonstrate and then Brother Peterson showed the use of 'street boards'.  They were so impressed they thought Brother Peterson should go to Ireland and do the proselyting and they would stay in Salt Lake and do his work.

Theron and Lucretia were both set apart for this special calling.  Theron was set apart by Hugh B. Brown, then first counselor to President David O. McKay.  He was assisted by Elder Mark E. Peterson of the Council of the Twelve.  Lucretia was set apart by Mark E. Peterson, assisted by President Hugh B. Brown.

Theron and Lucretia went to Ireland in July of 1967.  Theron had always been a very stoic person and always resisted emotion and drama.  They had already committed to take a group on a Church History tour to New York and back.  Knowing that to fulfill  their start date in Ireland they would have to leave before the tour was over, they asked their daughter and son-in-law  (Anne and Harl Judd) to go on the tour with them.  He told them that to avoid awkward goodbyes he and Lucretia would disappear at some unlikely moment.  When they turned up missing, Anne and Harl would know that it was time for them to take over.  One day the group went to tour a tobacco factory in North Carolina.  Theron and Lucretia somehow separated themselves from the group unnoticed.  When the group exited the factory Theron and Lucretia were gone.

In 1967, Brent A. Barlow was writing a Master’s Thesis on the history of the Irish Mission.  He wrote to President Ashcroft with questions about the strength of the Church and the success of the missionaries.  It appears that 1967 was a very successful year for the Irish Mission, with close to 500 baptisms.

The following year rioting broke out extensively in Ireland, in fact it was worse that year than it has been any year since.  President Kimball came to tour the mission that year and they took him on a tour of the worst area.  He said that he had been in Berlin after it had been bombed and that Belfast was worse than that.  Whole blocks of buildings were completely destroyed, so the missionary work became very challenging.

The Irish Mission Home, “Redhill”, was located at Finaghy Road South, Upper Malone Road, Belfast, 10, Northern Ireland.  Redhill was a large old home that had been built by one of the wealthy families of England.  It had twenty-five rooms and Theron thought it may have been the only home in Ireland at that time with central heating.  They also had six bathrooms, which was very unusual.  In Ireland, the large homes didn't have numbers, but rather names.  Hence, “Redhill.”  Occasionally the mission would receive mail addressed to Mr. Red Hill.  There were five acres of grounds, beautifully landscaped with lawn and flowers, including a lake with their “very own” swans.  They had two power mowers, a full-time gardener and a part-time gardener.  They also had a cook and a housekeeper.  All of the employees and often the young missionary leaders ate around the mission home dining table.  Good thing there was a cook, but Lucretia also did a lot of the cooking.

They had lunch and tea twice a day, (featuring Pero, of course). They had an average of 180 missionaries in Ireland, including Northern and Southern Ireland and the Isle of Man. Some of the western part of Ireland was sparsely settled and they didn't have missionaries there, but they always had some in Cork and Waterford, Dublin and the Isle of Man, and then the majority of the missionaries were in the northern part of Ireland. When Theron arrived in Ireland, there had been very little work done in the south, as it was 99% Catholic. When they called the first missionaries to go there, they thought it was a punishment and felt very badly about going there. Before Theron left Ireland, there was a meeting house on the way and three branches in Dublin and talk of another meeting house. There were also branches in Cork and Waterford and also in Limirick. The Catholics made very good members, once they were converted.

Their first missionary supervisors were Mark E. Peterson and James E. Cullimore. They toured the mission at one time. They had visited England and Scotland first and they were quite discouraged with the work. In Ireland they were shown two things . . . the Mission Bowl, (like the College Bowl, only dealing with missionary work), and a Teaching Tournament, where each district would choose two missionaries to compete with other missionaries in teaching discussions. Elder Peterson was so impressed that he borrowed the mission secretary and dictated a letter to all the mission presidents in their district and asked them to come to Ireland and see these demonstrations. Many of them returned to their own mission and put these programs into use.

 In Ireland they had one central baptismal every Thursday night.  They had people who never missed one.  In fact, they said they would rather come to a baptismal service than go to sacrament meeting.  They had a musical number or two and a short talk and then the baptisms and confirmations.  Some nights they had as many as twelve and some nights they would hold their breath that they might have one.  During the three years that they served, there were only two Thursdays without a baptism.

Theron and Lucretia would frequently host general authorities who came to tour the mission.  They could not have had finer accommodations or hosts.

Theron told a good story about (then) Elder Kimball’s visit to the mission. He brought Camilla with him and Theron took Elder and Sister Kimball on a tour of the mission. President Ashcroft drove the car with Sister Ashcroft in the passenger seat. Elder and Sister Kimball sat in the back. Elder Kimball had a portable typewriter on his lap and papers spread out all over the back seat and the floor. He was working fast and furious. Over and over Camilla would exclaim, “Oh Spencer, look at that.” Each time, Elder Kimball would patiently say, “Camilla, I didn’t come to Ireland to look at the scenery. I have work to do. You enjoy the scenery and I will work.”

There was not a stake in Ireland while Theron was there, so he was the ecclesiastical leader for all of the members in Ireland, as well as supervising all the work and welfare of the missionaries. In addition to all of this, he and mother represented the Church at many meetings and social gatherings with government leaders and dignitaries.

The following account was given by Elaine Young, one of Theron’s grand daughters) while she was serving a senior mission in England.

“My husband and I had attended our first endowment session at the London Temple after arriving to serve a senior mission. We were able to attend with another senior couple and we were thankful that our last two family names, twin sisters, were able to be endowed together that day rather than having to choose which one would receive their blessings first. After the session, we were chatting with some of the brothers at the front desk, and they were asking us where we were from. In return, they shared where they were from, and one of them (later we found out it was the temple president, C. Raymond Lowry) said he was from Belfast. I mentioned that my grandfather had served as mission president there, and he asked who my grandfather was. I replied “Ashcroft”. He was silent for a moment, then said “that man was the meekest man I have ever known. When I returned from my own mission, he was mission president in Belfast. He was so humble and powerful ... he really made me all that I am today.”

Peter Berkhahn was one of Theron’s missionaries.  Fifty years later he said that the thing he remembered best about President Ashcroft was the way he always used stories and personal experiences in his teaching.  Elder Mangelson, another Irish missionary, expressed how powerful President Ashcroft was as a leader and how there was always a powerful spirit when President Ashcroft was teaching or speaking.

 Theron and Lucretia were released from their mission and returned to Cedar City in July, 1970.

Theron returned to his teaching, and they settled back into their home. In October, Theron was invited to come to St. George to visit with the new temple president, Reed Whipple. In the words of President Whipple:

“When I received a call from Salt Lake City, President Harold B. Lee called me and said, ‘We’d like you to serve as President of the St. George Temple.’ I was stunned. The October conference was scheduled a few days after that. He said, 'Come to Salt Lake, you and your wife, and come to my office.’ We went to his office. He asked me if there was any reason I knew of that I should not serve. Before I went, I could think of a lot of them, but when I sat across the desk from President Lee I couldn’t think of any of them. And the first thing he said was, ‘I’d like you to select some counselors and let me know who they are.’ And this was a challenge. During the conversation he paid a great tribute to Theron Ashcroft. He said, ‘Here’s a man that’s just been released from the Irish Mission. He did an outstanding job, he and his wife, presiding over the Irish Mission. I think you’d do well to consider him.’ Well, we discussed the call a little bit and my wife and I left, and then a few days after this the thought came to me, ‘Tell President Lee that you would like to have Andrew McArthur and Theron Ashcroft as your counselors.’ I had met President McArthur and I knew him casually. I had never met Theron. When I called him back and gave him these two names he said, ‘That’s a wonderful choice.’ Well, a few days after that I called Theron. He came to St. George. I was sitting in the evening, after dark, in the Temple President’s office. Theron promised to be there at a certain time and I went to the door and he was walking across the lawn from the visitor’s center. I opened the door and he came in. We shook hands and introduced ourselves to each other and I knew immediately that that choice was the one which not only I wanted, but that the Lord wanted’

A call was extended to Theron to serve as Second Counselor in the St. George Temple. Although Theron was mid-way through his Fall Quarter teaching assignment, he accepted this calling and immediately notified the College of his intention to resign at the end of the quarter. It should be noted that because he was only 61 at the time he resigned, his resignation was considered an “early” retirement, which affected his retirement salary for the rest of his life, but that was not important to Theron. His service to the Lord came first.