A lot has changed in West Valley City over the past 40 years, but one constant has been the Salt Lake Hunter Copperhill Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

The stake in August celebrated four decades of existence with a barbecue that brought together hundreds of past and present members of the stake bounded by 5600 West and 7200 West and just north of 4100 South to 4700 South. 

The stake was officially created on May 12, 1985 by then-Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles at that time. 

The anniversary recognition and gathering was coordinated in part by David Madsen, currently a high councilor in the stake, one of 12 men who assist and serve at the direction of the stake presidency.

“Stanley Kimball was called as the first stake president,” Madsen said, noting there was no known relation to Spencer W. Kimball, who was church president at that time. Despite the passage of many years, Madsen said he was able to track down Stanley Kimball, who had moved out of the Hunter Copperhill Stake a number of years ago and is currently a volunteer worker at the church’s Los Angeles Temple. Kimball couldn’t make it to the reunion, but plenty of other people did. 

About 1,000 past and present stake members, their families and neighbors attended the reunion.  “We have some people that have been in the neighborhood 47, 50 years,” Madsen estimated. “It’s been special that we’ve rekindled relationships with neighbors and people that came back,” he said. 

Current stake president Cody Hopkins felt impressed a year ago to celebrate the stake’s 40 years. “Of course, in the church we get a committee together…and we decided we wanted to have several things as part of this celebration,” Madsen said. That ended up being a reunion with a barbecue with the theme “Forty Years of Miracles.” “We also wanted to compile a history” of the stake, he added. “That kind of directed us to ask people in this community to submit a story, submit an experience, submit a miracle that happened in their lives during this time.” 

Those are being assembled in a book to be published digitally and in print. “We are close to a hundred stories that people have submitted,” Madsen said. The publication will also include timelines and maps showing boundary changes in the wards of the stake over the years as new housing and other developments came along. “It’s been an effort to document this history and also celebrate the history” of the stake, he added. 

Forty years of existence has produced some significant numbers from the stake: 

• An estimated 420 missionaries have gone out to serve around the world. 
• It has had six presidents.
• 82 bishops have served in its 10 wards. 

Ground was broken for the stake center at 6710 W. 4145 South on Sept. 29, 1985. It was dedicated in January 1987. 

An estimated 1,000 people attended a celebration in August marking the 40th anniversary of the Hunter Copperhill Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in West Valley City. (Darrell Kirby/City Journals)