Preston was born on Dec. 18, 1905 in Providence, Utah: the son of Conrad Alder Jr. and Julia Ann Theurer Alder. He lived for over 80 years on this same plot of property, building his home on the south end of his dad's property. He attended Providence grade school where he excelled in math, and South Cache High School. He also attended Brigham Young College in Logan, Utah wanting to become a doctor, but his parents discouraged him, telling him that to be a farmer was a honorable choice to make.
He had a beautiful tenor voice and sang in a barber shop quartet in his teen years. He was called to the Northern States Mission, where he met Apostle David O. McKay and in his later life he was able to say that he had personally met everyone of the Presidents of the Church from Pres. McKay to Pres. Hinckley. While on this mission he met his future wife, Cumorah Thurgood. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple on June 18, 1930.
He and his wife were blessed with five children- Reed Thurgood, Val Jean, Ruth Owena, Preston Larry, and Carol Millie. He worked on farms, both in Cache Valley and near Malad, Idaho, but became allergic to the wheat, so when the Alder brothers divided up the land, he was given the land in Cache Valley, not far from his home.
He was seriously hurt in many accidents. The first was chopping off his right index finger while killing a chicken for his mother to cook. He broke his back in a truck accident: which later caused major problems. He was the fifteenth person in Utah to have back surgery, which healed allowing him to recover remarkably well. Later the horses ran away from him, wrapping him around a telephone pole. The doctor said he would not live overnight. This left him deaf in his right ear. He got his arm caught in a pulley, wrapping his arm around a "power take-off" receiving multiple breaks in his left arm. It was a miracle his nephew found him and he begged his nephew to cut off his arm. It took the Paramedics a half hour to untangle his arm. He had to have metal plates put in this arm.
Early in life, he was elected to the Providence city council, and later served as mayor and took pride in paving many of the major streets in the city. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints church he served in the High Council and then as Bishop of the Providence 1st ward. While serving there, he was called to be a Councilor in the Stake Presidency; where he served for over twenty-two year. After being released, he and his wife served a mission to the North Carolina mission.
When he was eight-eight, he and Cumorah moved to the home of their daughter, Ruth, in Clearfield, Utah and then to Rocky Mountain nursing home until his death when he was almost ninety three.