In his October 2025 general conference message, President Dallin H. Oaks spoke about his family in a way few members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had heard before. He spoke of the death of his father, the loving care of his widow mother, and of the important role his grandmother and grandfather played in helping raise him.
The doctrine of the eternal family is something the Church’s President has spoken of many times since he was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on April 7, 1984. What many don’t know about him is that his family — all of his extended family — has met together every other year for more than a century. He has missed only a few such family reunions in his nine-plus decades.
This year, while participating in the reunion with his family, he and his wife, Sister Kristen M. Oaks, spoke with Church News editor Jon Ryan Jensen about family — his own, specifically; and God’s, generally. President Oaks shared his testimony of Heavenly Father’s plan for His children, the blessings his family saw from missionary service and the importance of preserving personal agency.
“We are here to further our growth toward eternal beings — as children of eternal heavenly parents. And so our Church doctrine is rooted in the concept of family. And so what we do in a family reunion is to further our belief in God and His eternal plan of salvation,” President Oaks said.
Listen to this episode of the Church News podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon, Spotify, bookshelf PLUS, YouTube or wherever you get podcasts.
Transcript:
President Dallin H. Oaks: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a family-oriented church. And that doesn’t just mean that we pull together as a family in our life on earth, but we began as a family, spirit children of heavenly parents, and the world was created for the benefit of the children of heavenly parents, and that is everyone who is born on this earth. And we are here to further our growth toward eternal beings as children of eternal heavenly parents. And so our Church doctrine is rooted in the concept of family. And so what we do in a family reunion is to further our belief in God and His eternal plan of salvation.
1:07
Jon Ryan Jensen: I’m Jon Ryan Jensen, editor of the Church News. Every other year for more than 100 years, the descendants of Abinadi and Hannah Seely Olsen have gathered together on the Fourth of July weekend when the United States of America celebrates its independence. The 2026 family reunion included more than 600 people, among them the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Dallin H. Oaks.
President Oaks has been attending the reunion since his childhood and says he has many fond memories of being there with family that has included siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and now grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
I sat down with President Oaks and his wife, Sister Kristen Oaks, inside a small cabin on the property where he has attended this reunion for 85 years, to talk about faith, family, tradition and testimony.
1:57
Sister Kristen M. Oaks: You look perfect. Your bolero is —
President Dallin H. Oaks: A lot of people have been noticing that. First one I have ever worn in my life.
Jon Ryan Jensen: Is it? There’s not a selection of them at home that you were choosing from?
President Dallin H. Oaks: No.
2:15
Jon Ryan Jensen: Well, President and Sister Oaks, thank you for taking a few minutes. We know this is valuable time with your family. President Oaks, I want to start with that.
You have been coming here to the Joe’s Valley family reunion for a number of years. What makes this so important?
2:30
President Dallin H. Oaks: About 85 years ago, I went to live with my Harris grandparents just after my father died and my mother was seriously ill. And as I lived with my grandmother right after the death of my father, I was in effect for a couple of years an orphan. She just filled me full of stories about growing up in Castle Dale and about her father homesteading this ranch in the mountains near Castle Dale. She always said he always believed and told her that he felt the Lord had led him to homestead this choice land as a reward for serving the Lord in Samoa.
And that was an emotional thing in my growing up, because he was a member of my family who had answered the call of Brigham Young to come over the mountains with his family and establish the Church in the 1880s and ’90s. And my grandmother was full of stories about Church pioneering.
And I am not sure exactly when the Olsen reunion was established. They brought me to a reunion. At that time, there were just a handful of people, but I met most of the 10 children. I was then 8 or 10 years old, and I have been coming to this Olsen reunion on this site since I was about 10 years old — so that is about 85 years — and I have never missed a two-year Olsen reunion except when I was in the east and had schedules that made it impossible for me to attend.
So this is a voice experience, an emotional experience. I suppose I am the oldest as I approach my 94th birthday. I suppose I am the oldest of the living descendants of Abinadi Olsen. It happens that my grandmother, Chasty Olsen, was the oldest of Abinadi’s children. And my mother was the oldest of Chasty’s. I am the oldest of my mother’s. And we have the oldest of the oldest of the oldest for seven generations following Abinadi and Hannah, who homesteaded this area.
One more thing I would mention. This cabin was built by the descendants of S.A. [Silas Albert] and Chasty Olsen Harris. The construction was begun in a summer when I was back from my employment in Chicago, and I helped dig the footings for this cabin that we are in now. And we call it the Chat Lodge, “Chat” for “Chasty.” And I have helped with the construction and the maintenance and the financing and all of that of this cabin now.
And we have over 100 descendants in our family. And add to that the spouses of children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren, it makes up a substantial contribution. But there were 10 children, and you see the results of it all around here.
6:25
Jon Ryan Jensen: More than 500 people here this weekend celebrating. You talked about how it’s been every other year in this same location. It’s also been on the same weekend, the Fourth of July.
President Dallin H. Oaks: Exactly.
6:36
Jon Ryan Jensen: Which for the United States of America this year marks the 250th anniversary of the country. I know that’s a date and a topic dear to your heart.
Would you like to share a little bit about why the founding of this country laid a groundwork for the Church and for the growth of families like yours?
6:55
President Dallin H. Oaks: We are all patriotic American citizens, and many in the descendants of Abinadi and Hannah have served the uniform of their country, some in combat in World War II, some in the Vietnam War, Some in the current difficulties.
I met earlier and talked to a nephew who is currently a jet pilot in the U.S. Air Force and a graduate of the Air Force Academy. That is typical of our commitment to the country. And the commitment to the country and the commitment to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints run in parallel, because in both instances we are blessed by the association. With it go principles, responsibilities that we accept readily, even covenants made with God and with country. And the spirit of all of those relationships is that we help each other and we are not just in it for what we get out of it; we are in it for what we contribute to it.
8:15
Jon Ryan Jensen: I love that. I love that principle. Sister Oaks, you came into the family reunion a little bit later than he did.
Sister Kristen M. Oaks: Much later, but about 30 years ago. About 26 years ago.
8:26
Jon Ryan Jensen: When you first came, do you recall your emotions or what your observations were that first time and what you feel coming into the family?
Sister Kristen M. Oaks: Well, I can tell you the first thing the children asked me. When he introduced me and people knew we were marrying, the first question they asked is, “Will you come to Joe’s Valley?” They love to be together.
This is a holy place, and what he says about it — and I say this to everyone — create a place that your family can consistently come to on a consistent basis. And in this case especially, because we love our Heavenly Father. And I can just say I’ve loved it. And I always find a few hundred people I know now that I’m related to by marriage.
9:16
Jon Ryan Jensen: President, she talks about those first memories and how important it was for your children. And we see that with everyone who we talk to here.
What are the principles that can be learned by having a regular family reunion, for those who don’t have this kind of experience? What would their families gain by doing something like this?
9:36
President Dallin H. Oaks: If a family was trying to establish a tradition, I think they should have as many as possible of the following criteria:
Have a place where you always gather. Have a time when you always come together. Have a duration — don’t do it too often, and don’t do it too seldom. In this case, we have it every two years on the weekend, including the Fourth of July, and have a tradition where as many as possible get together.
They love each other, and this is not the only time of the year when they see one another. Cousins meet in Los Angeles or in Chicago and along the Wasatch Front. They share rides to come to the reunion, and they come for more than overnight. They come for several days. They camp, and they have a place and a time and a purpose.
10:41
Jon Ryan Jensen: We’ve heard a lot of the families talk about how this is the once every two years, but they have regular Sunday dinners with each other, or that they’ll do other things during the summer with each other as smaller groups of family, and they all credit this with being the root of those gatherings.
When they leave here after these weekends, what do you hope they take home with them out of this association?
11:07
President Dallin H. Oaks: Well, first of all, a commitment to come back in two years, a commitment to bring prospective spouses here so that, like Kristen, her relationship with the Olsen family has been built by coming again and again and by my loving memories of the place this has in my life and development.
So many of our descendants serve missions, and in this afternoon’s programs, every one of those who has returned from a mission since the last two-year anniversary will say where they served. We have former mission presidents. We have members of the First Quorum of the Seventy. We have a tradition of employment, full commitment and loyalty to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
12:03
Sister Kristen M. Oaks: Oh, I wanted to say I get to speak just a little to introduce people today. And when I opened the Book of Mormon, I came to Mosiah and Abinadi, and Abinadi is his great-grandfather. When he was called to this place, he was familiar with the prophet. He even called him Nad. And I’m going to lift up the brand for this ranch is Nad, and I feel we’re all branded in a very spiritual way. And especially because of my husband’s calling, it means we’re really serious about what we believe, and we’re committed to it, and it’s on our hearts.
12:46
President Dallin H. Oaks: Illustrating what she has said, I remember a reunion here at Joe’s Valley where Nad Peterson, my mother’s first cousin, was fresh back from serving in World War II in the United States Navy. And he was with the Navy when they were attacked by kamikaze suicide. And so many of the people he served with had given their life. That is just a road mark on the journey that you have been asking about.
13:35
Sister Kristen M. Oaks: You know, since he has had this mantle of prophet, I think everyone in the Church — he’s known for being quite a serious orator, and he has such a tender heart now, especially related to anything where he’s hearing the word of the Lord. And it’s a new thing for both of us because he does — tears come easily to him, and that has never been the case ever. And I think they’re sweet tears. They’re tears of faith.
President Dallin H. Oaks: Thank you, my dear.
Sister Kristen M. Oaks: It’s true.
14:08
Jon Ryan Jensen: President, we spoke with one of your cousins yesterday, Art, Arthur.
President Dallin H. Oaks: Yes.
Jon Ryan Jensen: And he shared — because Sister Oaks, you talk about the change — but Art actually said that he could tell from a young age that you were different than the others. And then we talked a little bit about the Book of Mormon and how the Book of Mormon prophets were talked about as being sober from a young age, and he said, “I saw that in President Oaks.” And it helped — he talked about how that helped his testimony of prophets and apostles grow, that he saw that at a young age, and then when he saw you become a prophet, he said, “I knew there was something there.”
14:42
President Dallin H. Oaks: Let me tell you a little something about Arthur. He has a unique relationship to this Joe’s Valley ranch because his father is DeLon Olsen, the youngest of Abinadi’s 10 children.
During the Depression, many ranchers lost their ranches. But this ranch that Abinadi homesteaded was preserved for the family because DeLon went unmarried, working and putting all of his salary into paying the taxes to preserve this ranch. And then he is the one who reminded the family that Abinadi wanted each of his 10 children to have a lot to build a cabin on and to come to this site as reunions of the family.
So, Arthur is the oldest son of DeLon, who owns the ranch around these lots. He and his loyalty and his Church service and that of his brother — who is now in the mission field like Arthur was a few years ago — the whole family owes so much to them for hosting this because all the motorized vehicles have a tendency to tear up the place. And Arthur and Henning Olsen and their spouses and their children put up with that to host a reunion when those who come here just look to having a 100-by-200-foot lot that brings them together.
16:31
Jon Ryan Jensen: Yeah, I think there are probably some out there who hear this story and say, “Well, that’s nice for them, and that’s a nice kind of family history story.”
But what do we learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ through this kind of experience? What’s the take-home that helps these family members build faith and that can help those hearing about it to build their faith?
16:50
President Dallin H. Oaks: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a family-oriented church. And that doesn’t just mean that we pull together as a family in our life on earth, but we began as a family, spirit children of heavenly parents, and the world was created for the benefit of the children of heavenly parents, and that is everyone who is born on this earth.
And we are here to further our growth toward eternal beings as children of eternal heavenly parents. And so our Church doctrine is rooted in the concept of family. And so what we do in a family reunion is to further our belief in God and His eternal plan of salvation.
That is why at base, at root, and through the plan of our Heavenly Father and through our Church doctrine, and with the overwhelming purpose of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, we are furthering our eternal life by what happens in perpetuating these organizations.
Jon Ryan Jensen: I love that.
18:20
Sister Kristen M. Oaks: Well, you know, the interesting — I totally support my husband. For me too, there’s a wide variety of people on different places on the path. And what he just said, because it is rooted in a belief of Jesus Christ, people don’t even realize why they’re drawn here. They just know it feels good. They know they feel loved. They know they feel accepted. And they are right now so proud of their Uncle Dallin, because they know how much he loves Heavenly Father.
18:56
Jon Ryan Jensen: President, I know you’re going to share a message, a devotional, with your family, but I wondered if you would also like to have a moment to share your testimony with those who will see this today as well.
19:07
President Dallin H. Oaks: There are very few things you can say in life that you know are true, because we live in a situation where our knowledge of science is replaced from year to year, and our confidence in different principles is replaced from year to year. But when I say that I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is true, I am talking about something I know as well as I know that I live and breathe and think and enjoy the blessings of God and the knowledge of His plan for His children.
And making all that possible is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, whose atoning sacrifice gives us the promise, the reality, of resurrection. After we die on this earth, we will live again as resurrected beings.
And it also gives us the opportunity through the lives we live and the realities we espouse and the covenants we make and keep, and the ordinances, culminating with the ordinances of the temple, that guarantee us the destiny that God, our Heavenly Father, planned for all of us, which is implemented through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Of that I bear testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
