David & Natalie Boucher
St. George Temple Visitors' Center Directors
February 2003 - February 2005
H. David Boucher. I was born in Zion, or Calgary Alberta Canada, on September 14, 1935. I have two sisters. My family lived in Regina, Saskatchewan, during WWII and then they moved to Toronto, Ontario, where I attended junior high and senior high school. My parents are Harold and Janet Hamilton Boucher. My father worked for Massey Harris (Massey Ferguson) making farm implements, retiring when he was 65. He came to Canada from Ireland when he was 14. After being married for 21 years, he joined the church and was sealed to his family in the Alberta temple. My mother completed a college degree when she was 65 and was an avid student her entire life. My father was a patriarch and my mother was stake Relief Society president wherever they lived.
I came to Utah to attend BYU in 1954 for one year before I went on a mission to South Africa and Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) from 1955-57. I have a great love for these two countries and I have been able to keep abreast of their current affairs over the years.
Natalie Hunt Boucher. I was born on March 27, 1936, the oldest of 10 children. I was born in Las Vegas and lived in Bunkerville, Nevada, until I was 10 years old. David says my parents gambled and won. My parents are Austin and Mildred Tobler Hunt. Austin was an educator who was a principal and superintendent. He was a stake president and patriarch. Mildred*s poems have been published in the Ensign and BYU Studies. She is known for her energy and intelligence.
Before the 4th grade, my family moved to Sacramento, California. I was 12 when I began playing the piano for church. I left for BYU the fall of 1954 and attended one year, and then transferred to the University of Utah, graduating from there August 1957. I studied organ with Roy Darley, Tabernacle Organist. I taught school in Utah
for 12 months and then, in 1959, went back to BYU to have fun before I went on a mission following my 23rd birthday. While at BYU, I met David at a mutual dance. We talked awhile, as he knew my cousins in Toronto. We were engaged three months later and married on June 6, 1959, in the Los Angeles temple. We returned to BYU where David did his senior year, graduating in August 1960. I worked to help him through.
After graduating, we moved to Sacramento where my family has lived since 1945. David and I have lived there since marrying for 43 years. We have five children:
Shauna Wolfe and Denise Orme (they live in Southern California) and David A., Andrew and Eric Boucher who live in or near Sacramento. The last two are unmarried. We have 11 grandchildren. The youngest was born days before we left for St. George.
I (Natalie) played the organ at a session of the Oakland temple dedication when I was eight months pregnant with our son, David. Later I taught Irish family history classes throughout northern California and did research on two trips to Ireland. I worked in the regional Family History Library for over 20 years.
I (David) coached a church basketball team that went to the
church championships
in Salt Lake City and did very well. Only the first place team beat us. I
thoroughly enjoyed being a bishop for 6-1/2 years. Later I was a counselor to
two
stake presidents. I was a school administrator at the junior high level for 34
years.
I have also been a history teacher and coach.
A year after I retired at age 58, we went to Zimbabwe as CBS missionaries. From there we were called to the Kenya Nairobi Mission as Mission President. This mission includes Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Tanzania. We were there about 2-1/2 years and loved the members, especially the missionaries. This mission lasted over three years.
In less than two years, we went back to Africa as welfare missionaries for 18 months and taught people in South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe how to get jobs. Most of our students got jobs, which was a great accomplishment for them.
We came home and worked as ordinance workers in the Oakland temple. Each of us had at least two other church callings. Eleven months after our second mission, we were called to the St. George Temple Visitors* Center. Five months later, after leading an African safari, we began our third mission where the loving couples and sister missionaries in St. George welcomed us with open arms.
Both of us are so happy to be here in Dixie where the pioneers worked hard and made things so lovely for all of us who followed. The gospel is true. We are blessed to know the plan of salvation and to have a living prophet.
26 Dec 2012