Black Latter-day Saint, who co-founded Genesis Group, dies

Eugene Orr knew nothing about Mormonism when he was transferred to Utah in 1968 to work with the Job Corps beyond what a skeptical friend told him: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believed it was the only true gospel and its members didn’t like Black people.

Not long after arriving in the Beehive State, though, Orr met his future wife, a white Latter-day Saint, who asked, “Who said we don’t like Black people?”

That was the beginning of a decadeslong love story with Leitha (Lei) Derricott Orr and his journey as a Black convert in the global faith at a time when the church excluded Black members from its temples and its all-male priesthood.

Orr, who died Sept. 22 at 79 in Alberta, Canada, never regretted either decision. And, in 1978, the church lifted the ban.

“My lif