Celebrating 5 Apostles' Birthdays in August

Turns: 92

Did you know? Elder Perry first wanted to turn down being called as a 2nd counselor in his bishopric.

In humorous instance of reluctant church service, Elder Perry related in a 1982 Conference address how he changed his tune mid-way through an interview with an area authority concerning his then-bishop. The stake presidency was going to be released soon, and after glowing about his bishop for several minutes, Elder Perry realized what was going on: they were going to call his bishop to the new stake presidency.  With a joking smile, he stopped his train of thought to add, “The only difficulty he has is that when he is under pressure, he goes home and beats his wife.” To this, the sharp interviewer replied, “Isn’t that peculiar? He was in here just a minute ago and said you have leadership capabilities but you too have a fault. You like to go out behind the barn on occasion and smoke a cigar.” Neither man’s attempt to spare the other from Stake service was successful, and both were called into the new presidency.

Learn more about Elder L. Tom Perry here.

Turns: 63

Did you know? During his time at BYU, Elder Andersen worked as a custodian cleaning the library bathrooms starting at 4am.

It was also while at BYU that Elder Andersen first realized he needed glasses. After entering a large classroom at the beginning of the semester, he chose to sit in the back. Once class started and the professor began writing on the chalkboard, others began taking notes leaving Elder Andersen to squint at the board and get entirely lost. One trip to an optometrist later, and he describes, “My world improved immensely. I could see many things that I had not been seeing for some time. The world became much more alive for me. I remember asking myself, ‘Why didn’t I realize before that I needed glasses? How could I have not known that I was not seeing?’

Learn more about Elder Neil L. Andersen here.

Turns: 82

Did you know? Before he was 16, Elder Oaks obtained a first-class radiotelephone operator’s license so he could operate commercial radio transmitters. He later got a job as an announcer and transmitter engineer. 

After his father died when Elder Oaks was eight years old, his mother left to return to school in order to get the education she needed to support her children. During that time, Elder Oaks stayed with his grandparents. Of that time, he recalls: “In school, I was hopeless as a student. I didn’t learn how to write cursive, and to this day I can hardly write in cursive except my own signature. My spelling was terrible, and my mathematics was worse.” Despite how brilliant he would later be, at that time, he believed he was, “the dumbest boy in the room.” After his mother returned, her love, support, and expectations quickly turned young Dallin Oaks around so that, “by the time I finished my fifth-grade year, I was competing with the better students.”

Learn more about Elder Dallin H. Oaks here.

Turns: 87

Did you know? As a boy, President Monson raised prize-winning pigeons.

Also in his youth, President Monson played basketball. In one particularly close game, he was called off the bench to run a critical play. Excited and doubtless somewhat bewildered, young Tommy Monson took the ball, drove through the opposing team, and took a shot at the basket… only to realize he was shooting at the wrong end of the court—into his own basket! While thankfully the ball bounced out, he reported in a 1987 Conference address that the animated audience chanted, “We want Monson, we want Monson, we want Monson . . . OUT!”

Learn more about President Thomas S. Monson here.

Turns: 82

Did you know? Elder Hales played baseball for the University of Utah until an injury ended his baseball career. 

During his time as starting pitcher for his high school’s baseball team, Elder Hales hit a pitching slump where his team lost three games in a row 1-0. The school’s paper wrote a story titled, “Hard-Luck Hales Loses Again.” Ready to quit, he went to his coach’s office to turn in his uniform, but instead of accepting it, the man explained, “Do you know why you’re losing? Your pitching arm is tired at the end of the game because before the game when you’re supposed to be warming up, you’re out there impressing everybody with your fastball and curveball. You probably pitch [the equivalent of] two or three innings doing that. Quit showing off and you won’t wear out your arm.” He decided to stay on, and the next game, pitched a shutout.

Learn more about Robert D. Hales here.