Harold B. Lee (July 7, 1972 – December 26, 1973) Early life[edit] Lee was born in Clifton, Idaho to Samuel Lee and Louisa Emeline Bingham and was the second of six children. The Lee family lived the rural life and Lee and his siblings spent most of their youth doing farm chores. During his childhood, his mother saved him from several near-death experiences. When he was eight, he was sent to get a can of lye from the shelf and spilled the deadly product all over himself. His mother opened a vat of pickled beets and poured cup after cup of the red vinegar all over him, which neutralized the lye. The summer following his graduation Lee worked to receive his teaching certificate from Albion State Normal School at Albion, Idaho. Lee held his first teaching position in the fall of 1916. Marriages[edit] While on his mission, Lee met a sister missionary from Utah, Fern Lucinda Tanner.
Service in the LDS Church[edit] Elder Harold B. Under church president David O. Death[edit] Grave marker of Harold B. Legacy[edit] Works[edit] Notes[edit] Spencer W. Kimball (December 30, 1973 – November 5, 1985) Those who listened to Kimball speak publicly were often struck by his weakened, perpetually hoarse voice. Beginning in the 1950s, Kimball began experiencing symptoms of throat cancer, even though he had never smoked or used tobacco. He underwent numerous surgeries, biopsies, and radiation treatments on his throat and vocal cords, which resulted in lifelong impairment to his voice. When speaking to large congregations, Kimball often wore an additional ear-mounted microphone to help magnify his voice. Ancestry[edit] Early life (1895–1916)[edit] During his childhood, Kimball suffered from typhoid fever and facial paralysis (likely Bell's palsy) and once nearly drowned.
Four of his sisters died in childhood, and his mother died when he was eleven. Marriage and early career (1917–1925)[edit] Kimball's father died in 1924, having served as president of the St. Career and stake presidency (1925–43)[edit] In February 1938, LDS Church apostle Melvin J. Called to Quorum of the Twelve (1943)[edit] Ezra Taft Benson (November 10, 1985 – May 30, 1994) Biography[edit] Born on a farm in Whitney, Idaho, Benson was the oldest of eleven children. He was the great-grandson of Ezra T. Benson, who was appointed by Brigham Young a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles in 1846. Benson began his academic career at Utah State Agricultural College (now Utah State University), where he first met Flora Smith Amussen. The Bensons alternated quarters at USAC and work on the family farm.[2] After his mission Benson studied at Brigham Young University and finished his bachelor's degree there in 1926.
Just after receiving his master's degree he returned to Whitney to run the family farm. In August 1989, he received the Presidential Citizens Medal from President George H. Apostle[edit] Political career[edit] Benson while Secretary of Agriculture In 1948 Republican presidential nominee Thomas E. Church presidency[edit] Scouting[edit] Benson was a lifelong supporter of Scouting. Health problems and death[edit] Published works[edit] See also[edit] Notes[edit] Howard W. Hunter (June 5, 1994 – March 3, 1995)
Early life[edit] Hunter had a love for music and played the piano, violin, drums, saxophone, clarinet, and trumpet. He formed a band called Hunter's Croonaders, which played at many regional events and even for a cruise ship to the Orient. Professional career[edit] In 1928, Hunter tried a system where he would publish train and bus schedules and charge for advertising, placing them in hotels. The project worked moderately well in such cities as Nampa and Twin Falls but completely failed in Pocatello, Idaho. After this failure Hunter moved to southern California.[5] In June 1928, Hunter met Clara May "Claire" Jeffs, a young woman from Salt Lake City who had moved with her family to Los Angeles in 1926.
In November 1930, Howard was involved in booking for the merger of the Bank of Italy with the Bank of America of California to form the Bank of America National Trust and Savings Association. Leadership in the LDS Church[edit] Hunter ca. 1975 Leadership in other LDS Church-owned endeavors[edit] Gordon B. Hinckley (March 12, 1995 – January 27, 2008) Biography[edit] Early years[edit] Work for the church[edit] Family[edit] On April 29, 1937, Hinckley married Marjorie Pay (November 23, 1911 – April 6, 2004) in the Salt Lake Temple. Another of their daughters, Kathleen Hinckley Barnes Walker, co-authored several books with Virginia, and ran an events company. General authority[edit] Member of First Presidency[edit] The Mark Hofmann document forgeries, bombings, and investigation occurred during this time. After Benson’s death, Howard W. President of the church[edit] When Hunter died after a presidency of nine months, Hinckley succeeded to the presidency of the church at the age of 84, on March 12, 1995.
On September 23, 1995, Hinckley released "The Family: A Proclamation to the World", a statement of belief and counsel regarding the sanctity of the family and marriage prepared by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve.[15] In February 1996, church membership in countries other than the United States surpassed that of the U.S.[16] Thomas S. Monson (February 3, 2008 – Monson has received four honorary doctorate degrees, as well as the Boy Scouts of America's Silver Buffalo and the World Organization of the Scout Movement's Bronze Wolf—both awards the highest given in each organization.
Monson is a member of the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America, the organization's governing body.[3] Monson is chairman of the Boards of Trustees/Education of the Church Educational System, and was appointed by Ronald Reagan to the U.S. President's Task Force for Private Sector Initiatives. Monson married Frances Beverly Johnson Monson in the Salt Lake Temple in 1948 and they are the parents of three children. Frances Monson died on May 17, 2013.[4] Biography[edit] Monson was born on August 21, 1927, in Salt Lake City, Utah to G. Monson taught for a time at the University of Utah, then began a career in publishing.
Young adulthood and local church leadership[edit] Apostleship[edit] Positions with for-profit Latter-day Saint businesses[edit] Joseph Smith (April 6, 1830 – June 27, 1844) Joseph Smith, Jr. (December 23, 1805 – June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader who founded the Latter Day Saint movement, the predominant branch of which is Mormonism.
At age twenty-four, Smith published the Book of Mormon, and by the time of his death fourteen years later, he had attracted tens of thousands of followers, established cities and temples, and founded a religion and a religious culture that continues to the present day. Life[edit] Early years (1805–27)[edit] During the Second Great Awakening, the region was a hotbed of religious enthusiasm. While boarding at the Hale house in Harmony, Pennsylvania, Smith met and began courting Emma Hale. On September 22, 1827, Smith made his last annual visit to the hill, taking Emma with him.[24] This time, he said he retrieved the plates and put them in a locked chest. Founding a church (1827–30)[edit] In February 1828, Martin Harris arrived to assist Smith, transcribing as Smith dictated.
Life in Ohio (1831–38)[edit] Brigham Young (December 27, 1847 – August 29, 1877) Brigham Young (/ˈbrɪɡəm/; June 1, 1801 – August 29, 1877) was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1847 until his death in 1877. He founded Salt Lake City and he served as the first governor of the Utah Territory. Young also led the foundings of the precursors to the University of Utah and Brigham Young University. Young had a variety of nicknames, among the most popular being "American Moses"[3] (alternatively, the "Modern Moses" or the "Mormon Moses"),[4][5] because, like the biblical figure, Young led his followers, the Mormon pioneers, in an exodus through a desert, to what they saw as a promised land.[6] Young was dubbed by his followers the "Lion of the Lord" for his bold personality, and was also commonly called "Brother Brigham" by Latter-day Saints.
Early life and succession to Joseph Smith[edit] Migration west[edit] Conflicts[edit] John Taylor (October 10, 1880 – July 25, 1887) Wilford Woodruff (April 7, 1889 – September 2, 1898) Woodruff was one of nine children born to Aphek Woodruff, a miller working in Farmington, Connecticut. Wilford's mother Beulah died of "spotted fever" in 1808 at the age of 26, when Wilford was fifteen months old.
As a young man, Woodruff worked at a sawmill and a flour mill owned by his father. Woodruff was always known as a conservative religious man, but was also enthusiastically involved in the social and economic life of his community. He was an avid outdoorsman, enjoying fishing and hunting. Woodruff learned to fly fish in England, and his 1847 journal account of his fishing in the East Fork River is the earliest known account of fly fishing west of the Mississippi River.[2] As an adult, Woodruff was a farmer, horticulturist and stockman by trade and wrote extensively for church periodicals.
Marriage and family[edit] Like many early Latter Day Saints, Woodruff practiced plural marriage. Phoebe Whittemore Carter (8 March 1807 – 10 Nov 1885), m. Farmer[edit] Political offices[edit] St. Lorenzo Snow (September 13, 1898 – October 10, 1901) Joseph F. Smith (October 17, 1901 – November 19, 1918) Biography[edit] Early life[edit] Smith was born in Far West, Missouri on November 13, 1838. Just a few days before he was born, his father, Hyrum, had been taken prisoner under the auspices of the Missouri Executive Order 44 (infamously called the "extermination order").
At point of bayonet, Hyrum was marched to his home in Far West and ordered to say farewell to his wife. Winter Quarters[edit] Smith's family remained in Nauvoo until September 1846, at which time his mother took their family and fled the city, camping on the west side of the Mississippi River among the trees on its banks, without wagon or tent, while the city was bombarded by mobs. While at Winter Quarters, Smith and another boy, Thomas Burdick, were out on horseback some distance from the settlement, watching the cattle graze. Smith and his family remained at Winter Quarters until the spring of 1848 when Smith drove his mother's wagon across the plains to Utah.
Utah childhood[edit] Missions and military service[edit] Heber J. Grant (November 23, 1918 – May 14, 1945) Early life[edit] Heber J. Grant was known for his determination to achieve goals seemingly beyond his reach. As a child, he wanted to join the baseball team that would win the Utah territorial championship, but others believed him to be too physically awkward to be successful. In response, he purchased a baseball and practiced throwing the ball for hours against his barn to improve.
The team he joined later won the championship. In similar fashion, Grant expressed a desire to be a successful bookkeeper, although many of his associates criticized his penmanship. He practiced his writing to the point that he was invited to teach penmanship at one of the local academies. There were no free public schools in Salt Lake City when Grant was a child, but his mother kept him enrolled in various others while he was growing up.[5] Business activities[edit] In the late 1890s, Grant served as the business manager for the newly formed official LDS magazine, the Improvement Era.[7] Church service[edit]
George Albert Smith (May 21, 1945 – April 4, 1951) Early life[edit] Smith attended high school at Brigham Young Academy, graduating in 1884. He next graduated from the University of Deseret (later the University of Utah) in 1888. In 1896, he had joined the Republican Party and campaigned for William McKinley, who became President of the United States. [citation needed] He also favored Theodore Roosevelt, McKinley's successor. [citation needed] Smith was known for his patriotism, joining various American patriotic groups and was an ardent supporter of the Boy Scouts. Marriage and family[edit] On May 25, 1892, Smith married Lucy Emily Woodruff, the granddaughter of Wilford Woodruff, in the Manti Temple.
George Albert Smith, ca. 1890Lucy Emily Woodruff, wife of George Albert Smith LDS Church service[edit] Just prior to his marriage to Lucy, Smith served as a Mutual Improvement Association missionary throughout many areas in Southern Utah. Administration as President of the Church[edit] Death[edit] Works[edit] Smith, George Albert (1951). Notes[edit] David O. McKay (April 9, 1951 – January 18, 1970) Early life[edit] Emma Ray McKay (wife) For his first three years at Weber, McKay taught mainly religion and literature classes. On April 17, 1902, McKay was appointed principal of Weber succeeding Louis F. Moench, the founding principal who had resigned after nine years at the helm of the institution. One of his first actions as principal was to organize a school paper.[4] McKay also oversaw the inauguration of sports programs at Weber.
In 1905 they won their baseball game against the University of Utah. Prior to this appointment to full-time church service, McKay had planned on a career in education and educational administration. Member of the Quorum of the Twelve[edit] McKay while second counselor in the First Presidency (ca.1939) In October 1906, McKay became an assistant to the superintendent of the Deseret Sunday School Union. In 1934, McKay was called as second counselor in the First Presidency by Heber J. Influence on education[edit] President of the LDS Church[edit] Death[edit]
Joseph Fielding Smith (January 23, 1970 – July 2, 1972) Smith spent some of his years among the Twelve Apostles as the Church Historian and Recorder. He was a religious scholar and a prolific writer. Many of his works are used as references for church members. Early life[edit] Smith was the first son born to Julina Lambson Smith, the second wife and first plural wife of Joseph F.
Smith, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. By agreement between his parents, Smith was given his father's name, even though Joseph F. Smith's third and fourth wives had previously had sons.[2] Growing up, Smith lived in his father's large family home at 333 West 100 North in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory.[3] The house was opposite the original campus of the University of Deseret (name changed in 1892 to the University of Utah),[3] on a site now occupied by the LDS Business College. In January 1879, when Smith was two years old, the U.S. Family and personal life[edit] In April 1938, Smith married Evans in the Salt Lake Temple. Church service[edit] Death[edit]