BOUNTIFUL, Utah — Janath Russell Cannon, one of the first four missionaries sent to West Africa after the 1978 revelation on the priesthood, died Thursday, July 5, 2007, in Bountiful, Utah. Sister Cannon, 88, also served as first counselor to Relief Society General President Barbara B. Smith from 1974-1978.
The pioneer missionary was born Oct. 28, 1918, in Ogden, Utah. She married Edwin "Ted" Q. Cannon Jr. on Aug. 13, 1941, in the Salt Lake Temple. She served with him when he presided over the Swiss Mission from 1971-1974. The Swiss Mission, at the time, included the Middle East, Greece and much of Africa. She also served with her husband when he was director of the Nauvoo Visitors Center from 1988-1990, interim president of the Germany Hamburg Mission in 1990 and when he presided over the Frankfurt Germany Temple from 1990-1993. She served as temple matron.
Sister Cannon was a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for 18 years and was a former member of the Relief Society general board. She served on the first Church Adult Correlation Committee in the mid-1960s and on the executive board of the Thrasher Research Foundation from 1980-1985. She co-authored Women of Covenant: The Story of Relief Society and wrote Nauvoo Panorama.
After the June 1978 revelation on the priesthood, the Cannons, along with Elder Rendell N. Mabey and his wife, Sister Rachel W. Mabey, were sent to West Africa as special representatives for the Church and began organizing the Church in Ghana and Nigeria. Sister Cannon photographed the well-known picture of her husband in a river in Nigeria with a long line of Africans waiting to be baptized.
Elder and Sister Cannon have six children, 26 grandchildren and 40 great-grandchildren. Elder Cannon died on April 6, 2005. The Mabeys have also passed away.
