Editor’s note: this long article is the story of how D. Todd Christofferson witnessed the complete collapse of integrity within a presidential administration while he rendered public service and it teaches us that we too can render public service while in an alien culture and still keep our values intact.
David Todd Christofferson strode down the sidewalk with the judge, discussing matters that would change America’s political future for the foreseeable future.
Born in Utah County, Todd lived in Pleasant Grove and Lindon until age 15. While still a young man, he moved to New Brunswick and then Somerset, New Jersey, yet another suburb in the wave of housing developments built following World War II.
Christofferson credits his future success, in part, to the inspirational role of a woman in his local congregation, Anna Daines, one of the stalwart members of the Church in New Jersey. “Sister Daines took notice of me and often expressed confidence in my abilities and potential, which inspired me to reach high—higher than I would have without her encouragement.”
People should not “discount the power,” Christofferson recalled of his youth, “that good example can provide. . . you think back and remember, ‘they were strong. I can be strong.’”1 Decades later, Christofferson has looked back, observing that he has been “remarkably blessed” by his mother’s moral influence, also. 2
Read the full story at LDS.net.
