At a glance
- Age
- 97
- Born
- June 23, 1910
- From
- Salt Lake City
- Nationality
- United States
Biography
The quotes that circulate under his name come from a man who spent the last thirteen years of his life speaking as president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — a position church members understand as that of prophet, seer and revelator. He held it from March 1995 until he died in January 2008, aged 97.
Born in Salt Lake City in June 1910, he was an author as well as a religious leader, and is credited as a hymnwriter. That combination is part of why his material travels: he was writing and speaking for a congregation, not for a lecture circuit, and much of what gets clipped and shared was originally addressed to people inside his faith.
He was the oldest person ever to preside over the church, a distinction he held until Russell M. Nelson passed his age in 2022 — which means the bulk of his best-known counsel was delivered when he was in his eighties and nineties, by someone who had already lived through most of the twentieth century.
Born in Salt Lake City in June 1910, he was an author as well as a religious leader, and is credited as a hymnwriter. That combination is part of why his material travels: he was writing and speaking for a congregation, not for a lecture circuit, and much of what gets clipped and shared was originally addressed to people inside his faith.
He was the oldest person ever to preside over the church, a distinction he held until Russell M. Nelson passed his age in 2022 — which means the bulk of his best-known counsel was delivered when he was in his eighties and nineties, by someone who had already lived through most of the twentieth century.
