About Duane S. Crowther
Duane S. Crowther is well-known and highly respected as an author, theologian, lecturer, teacher, and choral conductor. Born in a suburb of Washington D.C., he lived in Arlington, Virginia until after graduating from high school.
Education:
He graduated with high honors from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor of Arts composite degree in choral and instrumental music education. He then earned a Master of Arts degree majoring in Old and New Testament studies from BYU. Later, he completed a Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix, and he has completed course work for a Ph.D. in music education at the University of Utah.
Missionary Service:
He has fulfilled six mission calls: three full-time calls and three part-time Stake mission calls. From 1955-1957 he served for 2½-years in the newly-opened Central American Mission, laboring in Guatemala (San Marcos, Quetzaltenango, Huehuetenango & Guatemala City) and for seven months in the Panama Canal area. In 2002-2004 he and Jean served for 1½ years as an office couple in the Mexico, Mexico City East Mission, stationed in Mexico City. There, in addition to other responsibilities, he supervised the creation of more than 450 maps showing the boundaries of all the Stakes and Wards in the greater Mexico-city area. Then, in 2015-2016, he served for 1½ years as a Counselor in the Presidency of the Asuncion Paraguay Temple. The three stake missionary calls he filled were in Arlington, Virginia; Burley, Idaho; and Bountiful, Utah. In Bountiful, when he became the senior president of the Seventy of his stake, he served as the Bountiful Stake Mission President for an extended period. His total Stake-missionary service totals about ten years. Now, he’s found that he can continue to be an effective missionary through his writing!
About Jean D. Crowther
She is recognized Church-wide as the foremost designer of counted cross-stitch patterns of Latter-day Saint temples. She’s also known as a life-long temple worker, an author, a talented musician, an outstanding teacher, and an exemplary mother and grand-parent.
Born and raised in Mesa, Arizona, Jean Decker (“Jean,” and “Jeanie”) is a descendent of pioneer ancestors who settled Southern Utah and Arizona.
A Temple Background:
Jean was raised in a home just three houses away from the Mesa Temple. This created a strong relationship for her with the temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She’s unique in that, since the age of eight, she had performed several thousand proxy baptisms for before graduating from high school.
Education, Marriage and Parenthood:
She graduated from BYU with a degree in Elementary Education in 1958. She’d met and married Duane during her senior year. They are the parents of eight children. As of March 2022, they have 35 grandchildren and 29 great-grandchildren. Counting their in-laws, their descendants currently number 84. In that same month she and Duane celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary.
Temple and Missionary Service:
Jean served as a part-time volunteer for the Church’s Primary General Board, for 7½ years, from 1986-1993. She also served from August 1995-2000 as a volunteer in the Bountiful Utah Temple’s Youth Center. She and Duane served full-time missions to the Mexico City East mission for 1½ years, from November 2000 to May 2002. She was an Assistant Matron in the Asunción Paraguay Temple for 1½ years, from April 2013 to November 2014.
About Horizon Publishers’ Bookstore
This internet bookstore has served for more than a decade as a retail outlet for products originally produced by the Crowther-owned book-publishing firm Horizon Publishers & Distributors, Inc. It stocks books created by hundreds of talented authors. But in recent years it has become a comprehensive outlet for a variety of products created by both Jean and Duane Crowther. One of the store’s objectives is to keep those Crowther products available for interested users and readers.
Jean’s counted cross-stitch creations have found a comfortable niche a sources for counted cross-stitch patterns portraying Latter-day Saint Temples. Marketed as Jeanie’s Creations, she has made them available in books and 4-page single-temple leaflets. In recent years she has made many of those patterns downloadable.
Duane’s books also are popular and available through the bookstore. Some of them are also available as downloadable e-books. He also has about 30 recorded talks on a variety of subjects which are frequently ordered as downloadable products. Duane has been a teacher for many years and has made dozens of handouts for his classes which add numerous insights to typical course manuals. They’re valuable enrichment materials which are being formatted to be downloadable products. We’re calling them “Helpful Handouts.” Over the coming months, several dozen of them will become available at very reasonable prices.
As this blog begins, finishing touches are being made on a new website showcasing all our products. For customers’ convenience, the products are being grouped into eleven categories. They are: