"Ever faithful." That's one of the phrases The Washington Timesuses to describe Francis Marion Gibbons, a man who served as a secretary to prophets before serving in the First and Second Quorum of the Seventy.
Gibbons recently passed away while sleeping in his home. He was 95. And with nearly a century of experience, Gibbons made quite an impact on the LDS faith.
As The Washington Times notes, Gibbons was a successful lawyer when he answered the call to be a secretary for the First Presidency, despite the pay cut. He worked for 16 years with apostles and prophets as a secretary before continuing to work with them as a general authority.
Gibbons also wrote the biographies of 14 presidents of the Church, starting with Joseph Smith and continuing on to Howard W. Hunter.
Gibbons “was a great man, dedicated, astute, helpful,” John Boyden says in The Washington Times. “It was always a joy for me to hear him talk. His legal experience helped him be very organized in his speeches.”
A naval officer during WWII, a father of four, and a patriarch, Francis Marion Gibbons will be remembered for his incredible faith throughout his 95 years on this earth.