(Reported by Deseret News)
Frances Beverly Johnson Monson, 85, wife of President Thomas S.
Monson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
for more than 64 years, died early Friday morning in a Salt Lake City
hospital surrounded by family.
An article on the
LDS Newsroom website indicates she died of "causes incident to age."
Sister Monson was often described as “quiet and unassuming.”
President Monson has said that his wife always supported him in his church assignments.
“But never once has she complained,” he once said.
“Never once. Not in our entire married life has she done anything to
keep me from any aspect of my service. I have never received anything
but support and encouragement from Frances.”
Their daughter, Ann Monson Dibb, once said of her
mother, “My mother is unlike many of the women of today’s generation.
Instead of looking for the recognition of the world, she has always
received her acknowledgment of worth from such things as the happy smile
of a son or the outstretched hand of a grandchild. President Wilford
Woodruff once said that the mother has greater influence over her
posterity than any other person can have, and her influence is felt
through time and eternity. I am grateful to my mother, thankful for her
influence, and pray that I might always be worthy of her love. As I
reflect upon the many blessings which I have received as the daughter of
an apostle of the Lord, the one which means the most to me is the gift
and blessing of the woman he married, my mother.”
Sister Monson was born in Salt Lake City on Oct. 27,
1927, the daughter of Franz Emanuel Johnson and Hildur Augusta Booth
Johnson, and attended Emerson Elementary School, East High School and
the University of Utah.
Sister Monson has served in the Primary, Sunday
School, Relief Society and Young Women. She also earned the Golden
Gleaner award.
President Monson first saw his future wife at a
University of Utah “Hello Day” dance, catching the first glimpse of her
as she danced with another boy. Watching from a distance, he determined
to find a way to meet her. A month later, he saw her waiting for a
streetcar with some friends, and caught the car with them to ride. He
called her later that night and arranged their first date.
Sister and President Monson’s first date was a dance at the Pioneer Stake building, when they double-dated with friends.
President Monson wrote of his date with Frances on
New Year’s Eve 1944, remembering she had to be home by 2 a.m. because
she had to go to work on New Year’s Day. He learned she worked in the
copy room at the Deseret News. “Little did I know at that time I would
have a career working at the same company,” he noted.
There were married Oct. 7, 1948, in the Salt Lake Temple, four years after they met,
Elias Monson, uncle of President Monson’s father,
helped bring the Johnson family into the church in Sweden, while serving
a mission there.
“I was soon to learn,” President Monson once said,
“Frances was an ideal bishop’s wife. Within a year of our marriage, I
was called to the bishopric, later bishop, and subsequently stake and
mission responsibilities. In each calling I have constantly discovered
new abilities and talents in my wife. She is at my side to help in every
way.”
Although their entire married life involved around
church leadership, she recalled her surprise to hear that her husband
had been called to the Quorum of the Twelve.
“He came home one evening and said, ‘I want you to go for a drive with me.’” she told the Church News.
“I couldn’t imagine why, all of a sudden, he would
want to go out for a drive,” she said. “We took our youngest son, who
was 3. We drove to the This Is the Place Monument, where he parked the
car. We got out and walked around the monument, reading the inscriptions
dedicated to the pioneers.
“He then told me that President David O. McKay had called him that day to be a member of the Quorum of the Twelve.”
“I was surprised and humbled,” Mrs. Monson said.
“That was a most significant call and an overwhelming responsibility,
but it has been very rewarding. Our lives have been enriched.”
She and President Monson were both awarded honorary
doctorate degrees from Utah Valley University in 2009 for their years of
service to the church and the community.
Sister Monson had been hospitalized for about four days in October 2008, after a fall.
The Monsons have three children, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Funeral services are pending.
