After returning to Utah for his last year of high school, Backman later served as a missionary in the church's Northern States Mission, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

[1] Before his call as a general authority, Backman served as president of the church's Northwestern States Mission, based in Portland, Oregon, as a temple sealer, and as a regional representative.

In 1972, he was briefly the second assistant to W. Jay Eldredge, the general superintendent of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association (YMMIA).

Backman served in the Presidency of the Seventy until August 1992; in October of that year, he was designated an emeritus general authority.

[4] Backman married Virginia Pickett on July 5, 1941 in the Salt Lake Temple and they had seven daughters; she died on June 4, 1999.