After completing high school, Gary
Zealand for two years. Only later did Annette discover that
joined the Marine Corps and completed
at Gary’s urging his mother had convinced the bishop to
basic training in Quantico, Virginia.
encourage Annette to serve a mission. Gary knew that if
He also enrolled at Snow College in
Annette chose to serve she couldn’t date or marry for at
Ephraim, where he played alto saxo-
least two years. “He planned it perfectly,” says Annette.
phone in the school’s dance band. Fellow
Indeed, Gary and Annette returned from their missions
student and band pianist Annette Dean
within five days of one another and immediately resumed
caught his eye, and the two began dating.
their courtship.1
When the time came for Gary to serve a full-time
Gary’s mission had a lasting impact on his life. Ever
mission, he was determined to serve the Lord. But he
warm and friendly, he became close friends with his fellow
was equally determined not to lose his sweetheart, so he
missionaries. Gary and eleven of his closest mission buddies,
hatched a plan to keep Annette safe from the advances of
known as “the Twelve,” traveled together after their
other young men while he served his two-and-a-half-year
missions and stayed in close contact for decades. But Gary
mission in Denmark. When Annette’s bishop asked her to
gained much more than a handful of close friends during
prepare to serve a mission shortly after Gary’s departure,
his years as a missionary; he gained a deeper, stronger
she gladly accepted, later receiving a call to serve in New
conviction of the truth of the gospel and a determination
Left: Gary with missionary companion Bent Jensen (left) in Randers, Denmark. Right: Gary married his sweetheart, Annette, after they both served missions.
12 B YU R EL I G I OU S EDUCATIO N REV IEW