Biography
Elder Garth L. Rasmussen grew up in Provo, Utah, which he says explains his Western drawl. That fact would also play into his meeting his wife, Kathy, who also grew up there. They met at a Young Single Adult water skiing activity shortly after returning from his mission in Japan (Fukuoka.) Both, Garth and Kathy, graduated from the local hometown college, BYU. Garth has three post-high school degrees from BYU in Provo. His intended field was dentistry, but from his experience of teaching at the MTC, he says he discovered his real love was teaching the Gospel. He feels fortunate to be hired by the Church Education System in 1978, after their first year of marriage. They were married in the Provo Temple. After completing his doctorate in instructional science, he was asked to move his growing family to Fresno, California. After 14 years in the Institute program there, they were asked to move with their seven children to Las Vegas, Nevada. In those 16 years, the family grew by five marriages and the addition of 20 grandchildren. To their surprise, at age 59, they were asked to move to the San Francisco Bay Area, this time as empty nesters. During these last six years they added a marriage and 6 more grandchildren. They loved this last adventure with Church Education. After 42 years with CES, Garth retired and they recently moved back to Provo where it all began. Their Mission Call came to teach some more at BYU–Hawaii, remotely for now, and are excited to serve as full-time missionaries here.
