Beloved Mormon elder, 68, is killed in horrific LAWNMOWER accident
A senior missionary died while mowing the lawn of a historic Mormon site after the lawnmower flipped upside down.
Elder Brent Blackburn, 68, tragically passed away in a freak accident in Gallatin, Missouri, on Saturday August 23.
Blackburn was operating a sit-on lawnmower on the grounds of the church's Adam-ondi-Ahman historic site.
The site, located in Daviess County, Missouri, was named by Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, as a place where Adam lived after leaving the Garden of Eden.
Originally from Utah, Blackburn had been serving at the site in Missouri since April 2025 alongside his wife, Sister Carolyn Blackburn.
As the Elder maneuvered the lawnmower along a side hill, the machine overturned, according to the church.
Blackburn died from injuries sustained in the lawnmower crash.
Elder Brent Blackburn, 68, tragically passed away in a freak accident in Gallatin, Missouri, on Saturday August 23.
Blackburn had been serving at the site in Missouri since April 2025 alongside his wife, Sister Carolyn Blackburn (pictured together)
'Our condolences and prayers are with Sister Blackburn and their family at this difficult time,' the church's statement read.
Clay Sheffer, a friend of Blackburn, described him as a 'good man' and 'someone to look up to'.
'I had the privilege of getting to know him. He played a big part in helping the village of Jameson MO with building their new cook shack,' the friend explained.
'His amazing wife donated some beautiful paintings to the Jameson picnic to help raise money at the village.
'Elder Blackburn and Sister Blackburn are true disciples of Jesus Christ,' Sheffer said on Facebook.
A previous neighbor of the Blackburns from Utah said: 'Brent Blackburn was our neighbor.
'He was a great man, very friendly had a strong testimony. Worked with my boys in the Scouting program.'
Blackburn was operating a lawnmower on the grounds of the church's Adam-ondi-Ahman historic site (pictured)
According to Blackburn's Facebook, he studied at Brigham Young University - a popular college for LDS students founded in 1875 by Mormon leader Brigham Young.
'It is with sadness that we share with you that an accident in Missouri has claimed the life of a senior missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,' Church spokesperson Sam Penrod said in a statement on the LDS website.
Funeral services for Blackburn will be held on September 6 at 11 am at the Centerville, Utah South Stake Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
