James Michael Moeller has been named president of the new Tucson temple for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to Deseret News, the church’s official publication.
Moeller, 74, is a retired lawyer and has served in various church leadership roles. His wife, Marina Evelyn Harrison Moeller, will serve as matron for the temple, at 7281 N. Skyline Drive. The temple is expected to open this summer.
Church leadership in Salt Lake City announced the construction of the Tucson temple in October 2012 and broke ground in 2015. This, Arizona’s sixth LDS temple, will eliminate a drive to Mesa or the Gila Valley for Mormons.
Moeller, of Tucson’s Tanque Verde Ward, served as president of the Salt Lake City Mission, was a temple worker in Mesa and held other church positions in Tucson.
The construction of a temple in Tucson indicates the Mormon community in Southern Arizona is large enough to sustain the volunteer-run temple.
The Tucson temple will serve 10 stakes covering much of Southern Arizona, said Jana Cherrington, a Tucson church member and public affairs worker, in an earlier interview with the Star. Stakes are comparable to dioceses.
The public can attend an open house at the temple beginning June 3, and it will conclude June 24. It will not be open Sundays.
Following the open house, the public will no longer have access to the temple, officials said.
