Alma Sonne
Born: 5 March 1884
Called as Assistant to the Twelve: 6 April 1941
Called to First Quorum of the Seventy: 1 October 1976
Died: 27 November 1977
Called as Assistant to the Twelve: 6 April 1941
Called to First Quorum of the Seventy: 1 October 1976
Died: 27 November 1977
Talks About Alma Sonne
Biographical Articles
Improvement Era, November 1967, Alma Sonne Assistant to the Council of the Twelve
Ensign, January 1978, Elder Alma Sonne Dies
Ensign, January 1978, Elder Alma Sonne Dies
"Alma Sonne Assistant to the Council of the Twelve." Improvement Era. November 1967. pg. 43
Alma Sonne Assistant to the Council of the Twelve One of the distinguishing features of the April conference of 1941 was the calling of five Assistants to the Council of the Twelve, who were "set apart to act under the direction of the Twelve in the performance of such work as the First Presidency and the Twelve may place upon them." Among them was Alma Sonne. Elder Sonne was born in Logan, Utah, on March 5, 1884, to Niels Christian and Elisa Peterson Sonne. After his graduation from Brigham Young College in Logan in 1904, he worked for the Logan First National Bank. From 1910 to 1912 he filled a mission in England, where he had charge of emigration work, traffic, and transportation. Returning from the British Isles, he married Geneva Ballantyne on May 16, 1912, and they had five children—four sons and a daughter. After the death of his wife in 1941, he married Leona Ballantyne Woolley. Elder Sonne has played an important role in the business and agricultural development of northern Utah. He is president of the First National Bank in Logan and a member of the board of trustees of Utah State University. When Elder Sonne was called to preside over the European Mission with headquarters in London in 1946, someone asked him: "Why must you go? Isn't the soul at home as precious to save as the soul in Europe?" Elder Sonne answered, "I suppose it is a matter of conviction. It is very important what we believe." Then he recalled that when he was a young man, he had asked his father, "Why did you join the Church?" the father he stated for a moment and then replied, "Because I read the Book of Mormon." With the conviction that this was the word of God, his father had asked for baptism. Elder Sonne recalled that his mother had walked across the prairie from Council Bluffs to Cache Valley, Utah, behind a yoke of oxen and a covered wagon. "Why?" Elder Sonne asked. Because, he was told, they had the conviction that the Church was true. The same conviction characterizes the unselfish devotion and service of Alma Sonne. Countless individuals bear personal testimony that he is sincere when he says. "There is nothing more important than people." He served in two bishoprics in Logan, as stake YMMIA superintendent, on a stake high council, and as counselor in the Cache Stake presidency. He was serving as Cache Stake president and chairman of the Cache welfare region when he was called to be an Assistant to the Council of the Twelve. Love of people and love of the gospel form the foundation of Elder Sonne's life. "The only infallible guide for men and nations," he says, "is the gospel of Jesus Christ." |