Thomas S. Monson

On October 7, 1978, he married Frances Johnson in the Salt Lake Temple after his graduation. They eventually had three children - Thomas Lee, Ann Frances and Clark Spencer.

Being a president of the church, he dedicated twelve LDS church temples along with the re-dedication of the two and dedicated seven church temples as a counselor in the first presidency.

He was born to G. Spencer Monson and Gladys Condie and was the second of their six children. He grew up in a closely-knit family and frequently went on vacations with his relatives who lived nearby. In his early teens, he took a job at the printing business managed by his father.

In 1940, he enrolled in the West high school in Salt Lake City. After attending it for four years, he joined the University of Utah in 1944. The following year, he joined the United States Naval Reserve where he was expected to participate in World War II in the pacific theatre of operations.

After the completion of his tour of duty, he returned to the University of Utah and graduated in 1948 with a bachelor’s degree in business management.

He rejoined the Naval Reserve after completing his college, with the aim of becoming an officer. But soon he was asked by his ward bishop to serve as a counselor in the bishopric and consequently he had to apply for a discharge in Navy which was granted to him before the advent of Korean War.

He served his tenure as a teacher in University of Utah for some time and then moved to publishing. He joined the Deseret News as an advertising executive. In 1952, he joined the advertising operations of the Newspaper Agency Corporation and later transferred to the Deseret News Press, where he began as sales manager and eventually became general manager.

On May 7, 1950, he became an LDS (Latter-day Saints) bishop. During his service period, his ward contained 1080 people, including 84 widows whom he visited on a regular basis. He also wrote personal letters to the men who were serving in the US military from his ward.

In June, 1955, he became counselor in the presidency of the Salt Lake City ‘Temple view stake’. After four years, he was made the president of the Canadian mission. After his return from the Canadian Mission, he was called to serve on the high-counsel in Holladay (supervising over nine stakes mission) and on General church committee (Priesthood Genealogy and Priesthood Home Teaching Committee).

In 1963, he was conferred an ‘Apostle’ and was chosen and blessed as a member of the ‘Quorum of the Twelve Apostles’ by Joseph Fielding Smith. As an apostle, he looked upon many operations of the Church including KSL Newsradio and Bourneville International Corporation.

During 1965-1968, he oversaw church’s modus operandi in the South Pacific and the Australia along with organizing the first LDS stake in Tonga. In the following year, he was on the Mountain Bell board of advisors, also serving as member of the board of directors of Commercial Security Bank alongside. He also chaired the bank’s audit committee for twenty years, where he also became member of the board of directors when the bank was bought out by Key Bank.

In 1982, he coordinated the first stake in East Germany and was actively involved in obtaining permission for the church to build a temple in Freiberg, East Germany, in the next three years.

He also represented the Boys scouts of America as a delegate to the World Conference in Tokyo, Nairobi, and Copenhagen.

During his tenure as the president of the LDS church, he announced the construction and planning of 31 temples in various general conferences.

He has written many books and published compilations of his own speeches including an autobiography, ‘Faith Rewarded’ (1996), which is a collection of journal entries from his experiences in East Germany. His other important works include ‘Christmas gifts, Christmas blessings’ (1983), ‘Live the good life’ (1988), ‘The search for Jesus’ (1992), ‘Invitation to exaltation’ (1997), ‘A Christmas dress for Ellen’ (2004), ‘Teachings of Thomas S. Monson’ (2011).