"He was always mindful," Ann Monson Dibb, the daughter of President Monson, told Deseret News about her father. "He was a means by which individuals' prayers could be answered if he listened, if he looked around and perceived who might need help or a friendly hello. It was just all wrapped up in a 'whirlwind of a man.'"
President Thomas S. Monson's legendary and prodigious memory deteriorated at the end of his life, creating an ironic challenge for a man revered as a prophet by 16 million Mormons.
"He was a man who believed in creating memories," his daughter Ann Monson Dibb said Friday, "and that's why it was so sad that he had this belief and knowledge his whole life — that 'God gave us memories that we might have June roses in the December of our lives' — and then his memories were taken.
"This was Tom Monson's test."
A large, energetic man with a still larger-than-life presence and a fixture in LDS Church leadership for more than half a century, President Monson died peacefully Tuesday night in Salt Lake City at age 90 of causes incident to age.