April 2000; Hartman Rector Jr. speaker at B'nai Shalom'

The topic was "Excavation of City of Lehi". We are unable to provide an account of the evening nor detail of what he spoke about. We weren't there at that time.

The author of this page heard Hartman Rector in a fireside in San Diego in 1974, 1975, or 1976 while in the USN.

The fireside was unforgettable, thus the need to add this page.

He died in a fall in 2002. The obit states that he was a gifted thinker, theologian, and mentor; a model of vitality, genuineness, and unconditional love.

Church Service:

• 1968 to 1994: First Council then Quorum of the Seventy.
• In 1969, interim president of the church's Italian Mission.
• In 1971, president of the Alabama–Florida Mission.
• In the late 1970s, president of the San Diego California Mission.

Books of Conversion Stories:
Hartman and wife Connie wrote four books on this writer's shelf: Volumes 1 thru 4, "No More Strangers". These each contained 20 to 30 most inspiring and conversion stories, of the nature we would like to gather from Jewish Mormons who have conversion stories of self or ancestor.

Military service:
Rector joined the United States Navy in 1943. He was released from active duty in 1947 and then married Constance Kirk Daniel. In 1950, with the outbreak of the Korean War, Rector returned to being a naval aviator. Rector moved his wife and two young children to San Diego, California, and then went to special training in Hawaii.

Conversion:
While he was away, his wife met Mormon missionaries and began taking lessons with them. Rector studied with the missionaries after returning from Hawaii and came to accept the LDS Church. He then was sent on a ship to Japan, on which he was able to study Mormonism with some church members.

Upon reaching Japan, Rector met with a counselor in the mission presidency and was able to get permission to be baptized. He was baptized February 24, 1952, in Japan. Rector spent a total of 26 years as a navy pilot.

This writer's personal observation is that faithful Christians who fly have furvent testimonies.

Hartman Rector Testimony.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY_63K5EREg

Text of the Testimony (it says he is living. He is deceased).
Text of Rector Testimony

Hartman Rector General Conference talk 1979:
“Following Christ to Victory”

General History
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartman_Rector,_Jr.