LOGAN, Utah — President Ezra Taft Benson, 13th president of the Church, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture in the Eisenhower cabinet, and a champion of the U.S. Constitution, was honored posthumously here Sept. 15 as the first recipient of the "Freedom's Call" award.
The award was accepted in the Logan Tabernacle by Mark Benson and Beverly Parker, a son and a daughter of President Benson, as part of the 11th annual Cache Valley Commemoration of the signing of the Constitution. The week-long event included the pageant "A Day to Remember" and other activities. The Sabbath day event in the tabernacle, at which the award was presented, featured a keynote address by Elder Lance B. Wickman of the Seventy and music by the combined Logan LDS Institute Choirs.
Sculpted in bronze by Brad Teare of Providence, Utah, the award depicts a Minuteman running into battle. Scott N. Bradley, chairman of the commemoration, said, "It is awarded to individuals in whose hearts burn the glorious cause of God-given liberty and a love of the eternal principles which allow freedom to prevail."
In making the presentation, he read Book of Mormon passages pertaining to Moroni, the great Nephite general, and said, "Ezra Taft Benson [1899-1994] lived the ideal of these words with every fiber of his being throughout his life; thus they became words which accurately describe him. He was stalwart in the cause of righteousness, firm in his dedication to principle, unyielding in his service to his God, his family and his country."
