One Man's Journey: In Search of Freedom

by Obert C. Tanner

In this engaging volume of autobiographical reminiscences, Obert Clark Tanner traces his personal journey from rural Utah boyhood, through years of struggle to obtain an advanced education and achieve financial independence, and finally, to the business success and philanthropies of his later years.
Tanner was born September 20, 1904, to Annie Clark and Joseph Marion Tanner. Obert's father, exiled to Canada because of his practice of polygamy, was a fading presence in the life of his son. From an early age, Obert assumed responsibility for contributing to the support of his mother. She, in turn, instilled in him a profound respect for intellectual pursuits and the value of human freedom.
As a boy, Tanner learned habits of hard work on his uncle's farm, on railroad and construction crews, and in a lonely season herding sheep for his father in the Canadian Rockies. Despite reservations about his ancestral faith, he served a mission for the LDS church in a Germany recently devastated by the First World War. His soul-searching attempts to balance faith and reason and to reconcile human potential with human suffering led him to a lifelong interest in the example of Jesus Christ.
In debt after his mission and European tour, Tanner came home to a job teaching seminary for his church. An urgent desire to pay off his obligation so that he could return to school inspired his entrepreneurial spirit. He began selling seminary graduation pins and class rings from the back of his car - and so founded the O.C. Tanner Company. Balancing his teaching and writing assignments with his studies at the University of Utah, Tanner continued to develop his business, becoming increasingly convinced that he could reach true intellectual freedom only through financial security.
For the rest of his life he juggled twin education and business. In the early years of his marriage to Grace Adams, Obert studied and taught at Stanford and Harvard universities, commuting back to Salt lake City to supervise the growing Tanner Company, on its way to becoming one of the largest manufacturers and retailers of corporate recognition awards in the country. In 1945 he assumed a faculty position at the University of Utah where he taught each morning for twenty-nine years, spending afternoons and weekends in his business pursuits.
His remarkable partnership with Grace and his intense personal friendships with a diverse circle of business, academic, church, and civic leaders helped him transcend business reversals and family tragedies. He received numerous honorary degrees, was a Fellow of Cambridge and Oxford universities, and a member of the British Academy. In 1978 he permanently endowed the distinguished Tanner lectures on Human Values, which are presented annually at several universities in England and the United States. Among his many national and international awards are the United Nations Peace Medal (1978) and the National Medal of Arts conferred in Washington, D.C. (1988). Obert Tanner died October 14, 1993, in Palm Springs, California.

254 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Obert C. Tanner was a professor of Philosophy at the University of Utah. He wrote many books, including "Christ's Ideals for Living", which was a Sunday School Manual for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, published in 1955.

Reviews

[Jeff Birk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished reading Obert Tanner's autobiography today. I figured it was about time I read the book about the man who founded the company I work for. What a really cool book. I was amazed at his early work ethic on farms, railroads, cattle drives, and just about anything else you can imagine. He also didn't fit in well when he was younger, finding himself in fights quite often. He and his wife had six children, three of which died early which was also a touching part of the book. And, of course, it was cool to read about how he started this company. As I reflect on my blessings both temporal and spiritual a lot of that in the last five years is owed to what he created.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wish I had known him. Have been inside his old house in East Millcreek with the current owners. Wonderful creekside property and I could imagine Obert and Grace riding their golfcarts around the acres or across the street to visit Lowell and Merle Bennion. Obert Tanner apparently had similar naturalistic religious views to his friend Sterling McMurrin but was never in run-ins with the Mormon Church, perhaps because of his business employing hundreds of Utahns and his philanthropy benefiting thousands.

[Gus Gochnour · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to read about life in early 20th century Utah. Also found lots of connections with his mission in eastern Germany. He was the definition of a lifelong learner and has had a huge impact on Utah. Not a great literary read, but all Utahns should read this to appreciate the state and its development due to visionary people like this.

Fav quote -happiness is not something attained by direct assault. Happiness is a byproduct of a life fully engaged in good causes.

[Mark Stephenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Concise, touching and excellently written autobiography of a man who rose from poverty to wealth and from ignorance to erudition all the while striving to love and serve his neighbors with Jesus Christ as his beacon and ideal. I learned a great deal from this book and would recommend it to anyone.

[Heather W · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good book about Obert C. Tanner. I cried reading about the deaths of 3 of his children. It was sad and touching and yet he almost didn’t include it in his book. While it was a good read, I enjoyed his mother’s autobiography more: A Mormon Mother.

[John Hamilton · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a good memoir of O.C. Tanner that explains his success and the trials he went through in his life. He had many tragedies, loosing three of his children and growing up in poverty. He was able to rise above most of it and become a financial success, a university professor, and author. I have his manual he wrote for the Mormon Church's Sunday School classes on the life of Jesus Christ, "Christ's Ideals for Living," which is beautifully written and inspiring.

The only problem with this book—and the reason, I believe, for his ultimate failure to find true happiness in this life, again in my opinion—was his inability to forgive his father. Though justified, he harbored bitterness towards the polygamous man who essentially abandoned his mother and her eight children. I can't judge him on this, I know I have (like most) issues with forgiving others, but from the perspective of an outsider looking in, this is the crux of the disappointments in his life. He is certainly a wonderful man in other respects and certainly went far and learned much in his life. It is sad to wonder how much further he could have gone if he were able to let go of that anger. He never did find freedom.