President Jon Shute
1st Counselor John Tippets
John and DeAnne Tippets have been in Hawaii for seven years. John is building a small farm in Laie. DeAnne works at BYU-H as the Executive Assistant to Eric Conrad the V.P. Of facilities and construction.
Brother Jonathan Shute has a rich history in the Pacific. He lived in Western Samoa for three years, while his father served as Mission President, and was baptized there in the Sauniatu River.
After their mission in Samoa, the President Shute Family moved to Laie Hawaii for the next three years where Jonathan attended 5th, 6th, and 7th grades at Laie Elementary and Kahuku Intermediate schools. Brother Shute returned to Laie in 1984 to attend BYU-Hawaii, and met Meere Boanereke from Kiribati.
The two were married following Jonathan's mission to the California Santa Rosa Mission and Meere's mission to the Australia Brisbane Mission.
After graduating from BYU-Hawaii, the Shutes moved to Kiribati where they taught for three years at Moroni High School, the LDS Church owned school.
Brother and Sister Shute have six children: Tauea and Kalou born at Kahuku:), Terence, Lyle, and Birema born in Kiribati, and Sami, their baby, (19 years old) was born in Sandy, Utah.
After living in Kiribati, they lived for a time in Eagle Mountain, UT, Las Vegas, NV, and Hilo, HI, before returning home to Laie in 2013.
1st Counselor John Tippets
John and DeAnne Tippets have been in Hawaii for seven years. John is building a small farm in Laie. DeAnne works at BYU-H as the Executive Assistant to Eric Conrad the V.P. Of facilities and construction.
John, the eighth of nine children, was born in Spanish Fork, Utah. They met 42 years ago at BYU Provo and married her as soon he could persuade her to agree. They have four kids and thirteen grandkids.
They have lived about equal amounts of time in Utah, California, and Nevada. John was licensed as a general contractor in each of those states. He graduated from Cleveland Chiropractic College in 1990 and practiced in California and Utah.
John enjoys writing, DeAnne, a gifted mother, enjoys reading, needle point and all things related to her descendants. John and DeAnne are excited to be in the 1st ward and are anxious to make friends.
They have lived about equal amounts of time in Utah, California, and Nevada. John was licensed as a general contractor in each of those states. He graduated from Cleveland Chiropractic College in 1990 and practiced in California and Utah.
John enjoys writing, DeAnne, a gifted mother, enjoys reading, needle point and all things related to her descendants. John and DeAnne are excited to be in the 1st ward and are anxious to make friends.
Elder Robert Woods
Elder Robert (Bob) Woods and Sister Susan Woods joined Laie 1st Ward in January after serving three years in the YSA 2nd Stake. They are serving their second mission to the Polynesian Cultural Center – the first mission was 23 months as senior missionaries, the second is an additional 18 months as Church-service missionaries. They will return home to Provo, Utah in July.
Bob served as the PCC's Senior Missionary Coordinator for three years recruiting, assigning, orienting the Center's 84 senior missionaries, 10 Church-service, and BYU-H's 30 senior couples. He is now in the PCC's Facilities Department to help build 1,200 seats along the lagoon for the new Huki canoe pageant.
Susan serves at the PCC’s Mission Settlement where she directs the quilting and fabrication of many of its crafts, and she teaches the guests ukulele lessons. She also served in the PCC's Human Resource Department, accompanied Bob on over 200 trips to the airport to pick up and drop off missionaries, and created numerous silk flower arrangements for various PCC venues.
Bob was raised in San Diego, California. After serving in the US Army he attended BYU (Provo) where he joined the LDS Church and met Susan. Susan is from Kirtland, New Mexico and is a descendant of several generations of stalwart Church members. They are the parents of two sons and two grandsons.
Before coming to Laie, Bob was an employee of the Church for 38 years, which included director of Donor and Support Services and Controller for LDS Philanthropies. Susan has a wide range of interests and talents. In addition to quilting and sewing, she has a spinning wheel, has authored several books, and was teaching the Welsh language at BYU before they left on their first mission.