Jerald and Sandra Tanner were married in Mission Hills, California, on June 14, 1959. The following year, both resigned from the LDS Church. In 1964, they began an outreach to Mormons at their house in Salt Lake City, which grew into UTLM. They had two daughters and a son together. After 47 years of marriage, he died in Salt Lake City on October 1, 2006, as a result of complications arising from Alzheimer's disease. He had retired a few months before his death.