President Howard W. Hunter, the 14th president of the Church who touched millions of lives throughout the world with his gentleness and compassion, died Friday, March 3 at 8:35 a.m. in his Salt Lake City residence. He was 87.
President Hunter became president of the Church June 5, 1994, following the death of President Ezra Taft Benson. President Hunter was the first president of the Church to be born in the 20th century. He chose President Gordon B. Hinckley as his first counselor and President Thomas S. Monson as his second counselor. Both served as counselors to President Benson.During his short presidency, President Hunter maintained, despite his own personal health problems, a busy schedule of travel and speaking until this past January when it was announced by the Church that he had prostate cancer that had spread to the bones.
On June 6, 1994, the day it was publicly announced that President Hunter was the new prophet and president of the Church, he said in a news briefing in the Church Administration Building:
"I pledge my life, my strength, and the full measure of my soul in serving [the Savior] fully."
His service through an arduous schedule that took him, as president of the Church, from Hawaii to Switzerland clearly exemplified that pledge.
President Hunter's last public appearance was at the dedication of the Bountiful Utah Temple, which he dedicated on Jan. 8. During the next couple of days, he attended six sessions and addressed four of them. But during the week, he was admitted to the LDS Hospital for four days on Jan. 12 for treatment of exhaustion. It was the second time he had been hospitalized within a month. In mid-December he was hospitalized shortly after his return from Mexico.
After his release from the hospital in January, the announcement came that he had prostate cancer and his condition was serious.
The weeks following as he rested at home were very difficult for him. In spite of meeting regularly with his counselors and members of the Council of the Twelve, and also transacting Church business every day, up until three days before he died, "he just felt like he was being unproductive by not being able to perform all of his duties," said an associate in the Church Administration Building.
President Hunter, a gentle, kind and gracious individual, will be remembered for his compassionate nature. He treated everyone exactly the same - with kindness and gentleness - whether they were the highest station in life or the lowest. He was concerned less about his own health and more about the comfort and care of those around him, particularly his wife and family. His last words in "a very quiet, sweet voice" to those caring for him were, "Thank you."
Even though he served as prophet for only eight months and 26 days - the shortest tenure of any Church president - President Hunter made an impact on Church members that was enormous. That impact was immediate and profound.
He was a prophet among the people.
"He felt like he was not doing his duty unless he was accessible to the people. There were times when he shook upwards of thousands of hands," according to those close to him. "He felt it was his responsibility and duty as the president of the Church to be out among the Saints. He was not satisfied to sit at his desk." He loved to travel.
But it was his message that had the greatest impact on the members of the Church and touched their hearts the very deepest.
The day it was announced to the public that he was the new prophet and president of the Church, President Hunter admonished Church members to do two things.
He asked them "to live with ever-more attention to the life and example of the Lord Jesus Christ, especially in the love and compassion He displayed and . . . to establish the temple of the Lord as the great symbol of their membership and the supernal setting for their most sacred covenants."
The message was readily accepted by members throughout the world. Time and time again, President Hunter's counsel was repeated by leaders and members alike in conference sessions; sacrament meeting talks; in home teaching and visiting teaching visits; in priesthood, Relief Society, Sunday School and other auxiliary classes; and in homes.
Elder W. Eugene Hansen of the Presidency of the Seventy and executive director of the Temple Department said that President Hunter's "lifelong example and commitment to the work of redeeming our ancestors has been an inspiration to the members of the Church worldwide. This is reflected in their willingness to move forward in response to his invitation given in June 1994. . . . We have noted a marked increase in participation in temple work in many of the temples throughout the world.
"There has also been a clear indication of increased effort by members to become more temple worthy and to qualify for and carry a current temple recommend.
"Families are coming to the temple in increasing numbers. They are bringing with them names of their deceased ancestors, thus enabling family members to participate as proxies for baptisms and other sacred ordinances.
"The increased spirituality which results from temple worthiness and temple service will undoubtedly be a great legacy of President Hunter's service as prophet."
President Hunter's counsel has also affected individuals in a real way.
"I personally have become a richer person for having had an association with President Hunter," said an associate. "I feel in my own life a sense of love, of graciousness, of kindness toward others that I didn't have to that same degree previously. It has been a sanctifying influence in my life, and one that I want to continue to engender."
President Hunter lived in total harmony with what he taught. As he asked Church members "to treat each other with more kindness, more courtesy, more humility and patience and forgiveness," he reflected attributes of his own life.
Those Christlike characteristics aptly describe President Hunter.
"I am personally convinced," said an associate, "that he became more and more like the Savior through his life, and that was more important to him than any other thing I know of."
President Hunter's life was refined in the fires of adversity, with the death of an infant son and of his first wife and with his own health problems. He said many times that life has its share of ups and downs, and that challenges and adversity "hone us and refine our lives so we can be more like the Savior."
Before becoming president of the Church, President Hunter served for nearly 35 years as a member of the Council of the Twelve. He was sustained to the Twelve in the October 1959 general conference. He served as acting president of the quorum from 1985 to 1988, and as president of the quorum from June 1988 until he was set apart and ordained president of the Church.
After he was called as president of the Council of the Twelve, President Hunter spoke of his 30 years as an apostle during a Church News interview. "Those 30 years have been a refining influence in my life as far as I'm personally concerned," he said. "I've learned patience. I've learned to have confidence. I think I've learned something about the principle of faith. We have learned compassion. It's been a humbling experience."
One of his responsibilities as a member of the Twelve was that of Church historian. It was an assignment for which he was well suited as he enjoyed both history and reading. In an Improvement Era interview in 1970, he said: "I think that most people have an interest in history, and I, too, have had a very deep interest in history. I have a 20-volume work containing the history of civilizations, which I have enjoyed reading and rereading. I believe that when we understand what has gone on in the past, we can make better plans for the future."
President Hunter was born Nov. 14, 1907, in Boise, Idaho, the son of John William and Nellie Marie Rasmussen Hunter. He began working early in life, selling newspapers on street corners, delivering telegrams and later working in a newspaper office.
On June 10, 1931, he married Clara May (Claire) Jeffs in the Salt Lake Temple. They had three sons, Howard William Jr. (who died at seven months), John Jacob and Richard Allen. Sister Hunter died Oct. 9, 1983. He married Inis Bernice Egan April 12, 1990.
President Hunter earned a law degree from Southwestern University Law School in Los Angeles. During the time he was studying for his law degree, he held down a full-time job in the daytime. After being admitted to the California State Bar, he became a member of the Los Angeles Bar Association and enjoyed a successful career as a corporate attorney. After he moved to Utah, he was admitted to the Utah Bar.
In the Church, he served as bishop of the El Sereno (Calif.) Ward for seven years, as a member of the Pasadena Stake High Council for two years, and as president of the Pasadena Stake for nine years until he was called to be an apostle. While serving as stake president, he was chairman of the Southern California Welfare Region and later served as chairman of the Los Angeles Welfare Region.
President Hunter lived a rich and full life.
At the last general conference, he commented during the Oct. 1 opening session: "I have wondered on occasion why my life has been spared. But now I have set that question aside and ask only for the faith and prayers of the members of the Church so we can work together, I laboring with you, to fulfill God's purpose in this season of our lives."
Undoubtedly, few, if any, today wonder why President Hunter's life was spared for a season. Millions of lives throughout the world - and not only Church members - have been profoundly influenced by his Christlike life and his words of love, kindness and compassion.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Thanks given for sympathy
The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the family of President Howard W. Hunter extend their thanks and appreciation to all who have sent expressions of sympathy upon President Hunter's death.
Cards, letters and flowers from throughout the world have been received. The Church News has been asked to express appreciation for the many acts of kindness during this time of bereavement.
