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Jan 2007 Issue
by Robert Moss
“I never thought it could happen. I sincerely wanted it not to ever happen.” So said Elder Spencer W. Kimball, President of the Quorum of the Twelve when he found out that President Harold B. Lee had died. Elder Kimball would then become President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since his teachings will be the focus of priesthood and Relief Society meetings for 2007, now is a good time to get reacquainted with this beloved latter-day prophet.
President Kimball was a humble man. He had grown up in the small farming community of Thatcher, Arizona. He was a normal boy in a normal town, excelling in sports and getting into mischief like any other boy. He served a mission to the Central States Mission. He served faithfully and after a year was called by his mission president to be a presiding elder.
Returning from his mission, he met and married Camilla Eyring. Together, they had four children, whom he admitted spoiling.
My first real recollection of Elder Kimball was in 1952, when my sweetheart, Roberta, and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple. Elder Kimball was a favorite of Roberta’s mother, and she asked him to do the sealing. He was very busy in his calling and arrived three hours late, but was very kind and apologetic to us. I have often marveled at his humility and his quiet manner.
Elder Kimball had desired a college education, but as children came along he sacrificed that desire as he worked at earning a living for his family. He worked at various jobs, and to earn extra income, he played the piano for several orchestras. He and Camilla also earned income to help their growing family by writing small articles for the local paper, being paid so much an inch for copy that the paper used.
Spencer was finally hired as a bank clerk. When the bank failed during the Great Depression, he went into business for himself. He sold insurance, investments, and real estate. He enjoyed the independence of being his own boss. “Rather than work again as an employee,” he once remarked, “I would set up a peanut stand on the corner.” But he continued to work other jobs. At one point he held down four jobs and sometimes worked twenty hours a day, leaving little time for family or relaxation.
In the Church he served as stake clerk and then was called as second counselor in the stake presidency—but still was asked to continue as stake clerk. At a stake conference where Melvin J. Ballard was the visiting general authority, Spencer asked if he could give up one of the positions. Elder Ballard asked which he would rather have and Spencer said “I would rather be stake clerk.” So once again he was called to that position.
In 1938 Spencer W. Kimball was called as stake president of the newly created Mount Graham Stake. In his humble way, he said he was “inadequate to the calling but set to with a will to organize the newly formed stake and get it functioning.”
On July 8, 1943, while at lunch, the telephone rang. It was J. Reuben Clark of the First Presidency, telling Brother Kimball that the brethren had chosen him to fill one of the vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve. Brother Kimball sank to the floor before responding. “Oh, Brother Clark! Not me? You don’t mean me? There must be some mistake…I am so weak and small and limited and incapable.”
For weeks he struggled with the calling, feeling totally inadequate and unworthy. Finally, on a trip to Colorado, he went by himself up the mountain, fasting and praying for a confirmation. “How I prayed! How I suffered! How I wept! How I struggled!” He said. But while there, he received an answer to his humble prayers. A calm feeling of assurance came over him.
During his apostleship, he wrote two books, The Miracle of Forgiveness, and Faith Precedes the Miracle. These books have touched the lives of millions of people.
In 1973, at the death of President Harold B. Lee, Elder Spencer W. Kimball became prophet, seer, and revelator, and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. During his presidency his motto for the Church was: “Lengthen your Stride.” On his desk a small plaque presented his personal motto: “Do it.” Good advice.
