William (Bill) and Beth Brotherson were farmers and ranchers in the Uintah Basin in Utah, USA, and taught their children to give through their example. They supported many young people on missions. Bill loved studying about the setting of the Savior's life and teachings in the Holy Land. Although he never personally traveled there, Bill developed a love for the region's past spiritual history and its future significance. "It would have been wonderful to hear Jesus as he gave his Sermon on the Mount and to walk with him as he journeyed in Palestine," Bill once said. "But fortunately we do not need to have been there in order to follow him today. His message is universal."
It might seem that there would be little, if any, connection between the lives of Bill and Beth Brotherson in a remote farming community in rural eastern Utah and the Church's interests in the Holy Land. But the Lord touched the hearts of the Brothersons, prompting them to contribute generously to the creation on the Mount of Olives of a memorial to Elder Orson Hyde, who had dedicated the land of Israel for the latter-day gathering. Theirs was a quiet and crowning gift of consecration. When Bill died, his children, learning from the example he set, funded a scholarship in their father's name.
One of his sons, Jack Brotherson, a retired BYU botany professor, and his wife, Karen, who taught in the English department, continued to give when the opportunity presented itself. In 1990 their oldest son, Mark, was killed in an auto accident. Shortly after his death, they learned Mark, who was unmarried, had a $50,000 life insurance policy from a job he had recently taken. As the beneficiaries on the policy, the Brothersons endowed a scholarship in the History Department in Mark's name. Also, the Brothersons have helped finance the missions of many young people from their stake, continuing the legacy left by their parents.