Dell R. Van Orden, who witnessed — and documented — the news of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more than 30 years, died Thursday, June 27, 2024, at age 88.
Van Orden was the editor of the Church News from 1976 to 1999 and originated the Deseret News Church Almanac in 1974. When he retired in October 1999, Van Orden reflected on his career and said it “has been great to stand at the window for the past 31 years and see the work of the Lord unfold.”
Through his view at the window, the Church News went from using manual typewriters and hot lead type to cover a 2 million-member, mostly western U.S. Church with 13 temples and 450 stakes to the rise of computers and the use of the internet to cover nearly 11 million members in more than 160 nations and 2,500 stakes, with more members outside the United States than inside, and with 115 temples in operation or announced.
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