Latter-day Saint Life

Proposal Stories of Members of the First Presidency

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How did President Thomas S. Monson, Henry B. Eyring, and Dieter F. Uchtdorf meet their one true love? What dates did they go on? How did they handle meeting their in-laws for the first time? 

To answer these questions, we've compiled the inspiring, tender stories of what the First Presidency experienced during their courtship with their eternal companions. 

1. President Thomas S. Monson

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President Thomas S. Monson first glimpsed his future wife, Frances Johnson, at the University of Utah "Hello Day" dance in 1944.

She happened to be dancing with another boy, but that didn't deter President Monson, and he was determined to see her again.

About a month later, he got his chance when he saw Frances with three of her friends waiting for a streetcar.

According to his biography, To the Rescue, President Monson recognized one of the friends Frances was with as a schoolmate from his former elementary school, though he couldn't remember his name.

To solve this awkward dilemma, President Monson greeted his grade-school classmate with, "Hello, old friend," and his friend introduced him to the group. After he rode the streetcar with them, President Monson circled "Frances Beverly Johnson" in the student directory and called her that very night. 

For their first date, President Monson took Frances to a dance at the Pioneer Stake building where this time he was the boy who was dancing with her. 

After meeting her parents for the first time, Frances's father, Franz, asked President Monson if his last name was Swedish. He replied that it was, and Franz showed him a picture of two missionaries. President Monson recognized one as his father's uncle, Elias Monson.

Immediately, Franz began to weep as he told President Monson that Elias had visited his family while he lived in Sweden. Soon, Thomas Monson was embraced by both Frances's mother and father.

According to his biography, he knew he had “halfway won the hand of the Johnsons’s daughter” by the end of the visit. 

In the spring of 1947, President Monson proposed to Frances, though it wasn't as much of a surprise as he wanted it to be. With the ring in his pocket as they stopped by his home, President Monson's 4-year-old brother, Scott, announced, "Tommy has a ring for you, Frances," according to his biography.

Regardless, President Monson and his wife, Frances, were married on October 7, 1948, in the Salt Lake Temple. 

► You'll also like: Love Lessons from the Prophets & Their Wives

2. President Henry B. Eyring

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After a "morning side" or devotional in Rindge, New Hampshire, President Henry B. Eyring was walking toward his red Volkswagen Beetle when he first saw his future wife, Kathleen Johnson.

In his biography I Will Lead You Along, President Eyring says he was, "immediately impressed with the goodness she radiated" and thought, "If I could be with her, I could be every good thing I ever wanted to be."

The next day, President Eyring happened to attend a sacrament meeting at the Longfellow Park chapel in Cambridge when he saw Kathleen sitting in the front row. After the meeting, he asked her for her number and called her a few days later. 

But Kathleen was only in Boston for a Havard summer school program, and though the two dated throughout the summer, she later returned to California to resume her studies at Berkeley. 

The couple dated long-distance for a time until Kathleen visited Henry Eyring in Boston in early 1961 and told him it would be her last visit.

Though he had prayed to know whether or not he should marry Kathleen before, President Eyring prayed with even more fervency that night to know if Kathleen was the one for him.

Eventually, President Eyring received the answer, "Go!"

Meeting Kathleen the next morning, he drove with her in the car to the airport for a while before stopping the car, turning to her, and saying, "I've been told to ask you to marry me." 

Kathleen, "replied only with tears," according to President Eyring's biography. 

The two were married July 27, 1962, in the Logan Utah Temple. 

► You'll also like: What LDS General Authorities Say About Their Wives

3. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf 

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President Dieter F. Uchtdorf met his wife, Harriet Reich, as they attended meetings at the Church’s Mutual Improvement Association.

But when he first saw his future wife, who was a convert, while he was a deacon passing the sacrament, he thought, "These missionaries are doing a great job!" according to his talk "Fourth Floor, Last Door."

He also said of this moment in his "Your Happily Ever After" general conference talk, "I think I fell in love with her from the first moment I saw her."

Though he also mentioned in that talk that he didn't think Harriet felt the same way, President Uchtdorf wasn't deterred.

He made sure he was the one who passed the sacrament to her on Sundays. And when there would be special activities at Church, he would ride his bike to her apartment to take her there, but the result wasn't always as he expected. 

As President Uchtdorf said in his talk, "I would ask if Harriet would like a ride to church on my bicycle. Harriet’s mother would say, 'No, she will be coming later, but I will be happy to ride with you to church.' This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but how could I decline?" 

But President Uchtdorf did not give up. And after finishing his training as a fighter pilot, Harriet remarked, "Dieter, you have matured much over these past years." President Uchtdorf continued, "I moved quickly after that, and within a few months I was married to the woman I had loved ever since I first saw her."

President Uchtdorf was married to Harriet on December 14, 1962, in the Bern Switzerland Temple. 

► You'll also like: President & Sister Uchtdorf: Rare Photo & Facts

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