Spencer W. Kimball
Born: 28 March 1895
Called to the Quorum of the Twelve: 7 October 1943
Became President of the Quorum of the Twelve: 7 July 1972
Sustained as President of the Church: 30 December 1973
Died: 5 November 1985
Called to the Quorum of the Twelve: 7 October 1943
Became President of the Quorum of the Twelve: 7 July 1972
Sustained as President of the Church: 30 December 1973
Died: 5 November 1985
Talks by Others About Spencer W. Kimball
Biographical Articles
Biographical Encyclopedia, Volume 4
Improvement Era, August 1943, Spencer W. Kimball, Apostle
Relief Society Magazine, September 1943, Spencer W. Kimball, the Arizona Apostle
Improvement Era, October 1943, Spencer W. Kimball, The Apostle From Arizona
Instructor, October 1943, Spencer Woolley Kimball
Improvement Era, October 1954, Spencer W. Kimball of the Council of the Twelve
Improvement Era, March 1970, President Spencer W. Kimball Acting President of the Council of the Twelve
Relief Society Magazine, April 1970, President Spencer W. Kimball to Serve as Acting President of the Council of the Twelve
Ensign, February 1974, President Spencer W. Kimball Ordained Twelfth President of the Church
Ensign, March 1974, President Spencer W. Kimball: No Ordinary Man
Ensign, March 1975, President Spencer W. Kimball: On the Occasion of His 80th Birthday
Ensign, July 1976, President Kimball Condemns Wrongdoing by Government Officials
Ensign, September 1976, President Kimball and President Ford
Ensign, May 1977, President Kimball Visits Five Presidents of Nations
Ensign, March 1979, Spencer W. Kimball: A Tribute
Ensign, May 1980, President Kimball--Going Strong at Eighty-Five
Ensign, March 1981, In Honor of President Spencer W. Kimball at His 86th Birthday
Ensign, May 1985, Ninety Years, and Many Good Wishes, for President Kimball
Ensign, December 1985, Spencer, the Beloved: Leader-Servant
Ensign, December 1985, Spencer W. Kimball: A Star of the First Magnitude
Ensign, December 1985, Spencer W. Kimball: Man of Faith
Ensign, December 1993, Spencer Kimball and Recharging the Battery
Ensign, January 2007, Spencer W. Kimball: Man of Action
Ensign, April 2010, President Spencer W. Kimball (1895-1985)
Improvement Era, August 1943, Spencer W. Kimball, Apostle
Relief Society Magazine, September 1943, Spencer W. Kimball, the Arizona Apostle
Improvement Era, October 1943, Spencer W. Kimball, The Apostle From Arizona
Instructor, October 1943, Spencer Woolley Kimball
Improvement Era, October 1954, Spencer W. Kimball of the Council of the Twelve
Improvement Era, March 1970, President Spencer W. Kimball Acting President of the Council of the Twelve
Relief Society Magazine, April 1970, President Spencer W. Kimball to Serve as Acting President of the Council of the Twelve
Ensign, February 1974, President Spencer W. Kimball Ordained Twelfth President of the Church
Ensign, March 1974, President Spencer W. Kimball: No Ordinary Man
Ensign, March 1975, President Spencer W. Kimball: On the Occasion of His 80th Birthday
Ensign, July 1976, President Kimball Condemns Wrongdoing by Government Officials
Ensign, September 1976, President Kimball and President Ford
Ensign, May 1977, President Kimball Visits Five Presidents of Nations
Ensign, March 1979, Spencer W. Kimball: A Tribute
Ensign, May 1980, President Kimball--Going Strong at Eighty-Five
Ensign, March 1981, In Honor of President Spencer W. Kimball at His 86th Birthday
Ensign, May 1985, Ninety Years, and Many Good Wishes, for President Kimball
Ensign, December 1985, Spencer, the Beloved: Leader-Servant
Ensign, December 1985, Spencer W. Kimball: A Star of the First Magnitude
Ensign, December 1985, Spencer W. Kimball: Man of Faith
Ensign, December 1993, Spencer Kimball and Recharging the Battery
Ensign, January 2007, Spencer W. Kimball: Man of Action
Ensign, April 2010, President Spencer W. Kimball (1895-1985)
Jenson, Andrew. "Kimball, Spencer W." Biographical Encyclopedia. Volume 4. pg. 601.
KIMBALL, Spencer Woolley, second counselor in the St. Joseph Stake presidency, Arizona, from 1924 to 1930, was born March 28, 1895, in Salt Lake City, Utah, a son of Andrew Kimball and Olive Woolley. He was baptized when eight years old, filled a mission to the Central States in 1914-1917, was ordained a High Priest and set apart as second counselor Sept. 8, 1924, by Pres. Heber J. Grant.
KIMBALL, Spencer Woolley, second counselor in the St. Joseph Stake presidency, Arizona, from 1924 to 1930, was born March 28, 1895, in Salt Lake City, Utah, a son of Andrew Kimball and Olive Woolley. He was baptized when eight years old, filled a mission to the Central States in 1914-1917, was ordained a High Priest and set apart as second counselor Sept. 8, 1924, by Pres. Heber J. Grant.
"Spencer W. Kimball, Apostle." Improvement Era. August 1943. pg. 510.
Spencer W. Kimball, Apostle
Called to fill the vacancy in the Council of the Twelve created by the death of Sylvester Q. Cannon is President Spencer Woolley Kimball of the Mount Graham Stake, who brings to his high office wide experience in Church service and a rich pioneer heritage.
Born in Salt Lake City on March 28, 1895, he is the son of Andrew Kimball and Olive Woolley and the grandson of Heber C. Kimball, counselor to Brigham Young, and of Bishop Edwin Dilworth Woolley, business manager for Brigham Young. When Elder Kimball was three years of age, his father was called to go to Arizona and become president of the St. Joseph Stake at Thatcher.
Elder Kimball served as a missionary in the central states from 1914 to 1917. In 1924 a new stake president succeeded Andrew Kimball, and young Spencer Kimball was chosen counselor. In 1938 the Mount Graham Stake was organized and he became stake president.
Elder Kimball has also been active in the Church Welfare Program. One of the outstanding projects he directed was the work of rehabilitation following a major inundation of three communities by the Gila River in 1941. (See Elder Kimball's account, "The Duncan Flood," Improvement Era, June 1942, p. 364.)
Elder Kimball is married to Camilla Eyring, who was born in Colonia Juarez, a daughter of Edward C. Eyring and Caroline Romney. The couple have four children and one grandchild. Their eldest son, Spencer Levan Kimball, 25, is an ensign in the U. S. navy. The other children are Olive Beth, 20; Andrew, 16; and Edward, 12.
An article to appear in an ensuing issue of the Era will give fuller account of Elder Kimball's life and numerous Church and civic activities.
Spencer W. Kimball, Apostle
Called to fill the vacancy in the Council of the Twelve created by the death of Sylvester Q. Cannon is President Spencer Woolley Kimball of the Mount Graham Stake, who brings to his high office wide experience in Church service and a rich pioneer heritage.
Born in Salt Lake City on March 28, 1895, he is the son of Andrew Kimball and Olive Woolley and the grandson of Heber C. Kimball, counselor to Brigham Young, and of Bishop Edwin Dilworth Woolley, business manager for Brigham Young. When Elder Kimball was three years of age, his father was called to go to Arizona and become president of the St. Joseph Stake at Thatcher.
Elder Kimball served as a missionary in the central states from 1914 to 1917. In 1924 a new stake president succeeded Andrew Kimball, and young Spencer Kimball was chosen counselor. In 1938 the Mount Graham Stake was organized and he became stake president.
Elder Kimball has also been active in the Church Welfare Program. One of the outstanding projects he directed was the work of rehabilitation following a major inundation of three communities by the Gila River in 1941. (See Elder Kimball's account, "The Duncan Flood," Improvement Era, June 1942, p. 364.)
Elder Kimball is married to Camilla Eyring, who was born in Colonia Juarez, a daughter of Edward C. Eyring and Caroline Romney. The couple have four children and one grandchild. Their eldest son, Spencer Levan Kimball, 25, is an ensign in the U. S. navy. The other children are Olive Beth, 20; Andrew, 16; and Edward, 12.
An article to appear in an ensuing issue of the Era will give fuller account of Elder Kimball's life and numerous Church and civic activities.
"Spencer W. Kimball, the Arizona Apostle." Relief Society Magazine. September 1943. pg. 530, 555-556.
Spencer W. Kimball, The Arizona Apostle
SPENCER WOOLLEY KIMBALL, who was called to become a member of the Council of the Twelve Apostles in July 1943, comes to the circle of the General Authorities of the Church with a rich heritage of Mormon pioneer ancestry and a varied and wide experience in Church discipline. His father, Andrew Kimball, was the son of that close friend and counselor of Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Ann Alice Gheen. His mother, Olive Woolley, was a daughter of Edwin Dilworth Woolley and Mary Ann Olpin. Brother Woolley served as bishop of the 13th Ward for many years, the ward in which President Grant lived as a boy, and was also the business manager of President Young.
Elder Spencer Kimball was born in Salt Lake City, March 28, 1895, the sixth child in a family of eleven. When he was three years old, his father, who for ten years had been mission president of the Indian Territory, later the Central States Mission, was called to Arizona to serve as stake president of St. Joseph Stake, over which he presided for over twenty-six years, until his death, serving as a civic, educational, economic, and religious leader during the pioneer era. Here the young Spencer had close personal contact with prominent state officials and Church leaders, including President Joseph F, Smith and President Heber J. Grant. Under such circumstances Spencer absorbed the Church program and learned Church discipline.
Thrift and industry became a part of his life when still a mere child. His father gave to him and his sister Alice the potato crop from a small plot of land. The children dug the potatoes and putting them in their little red wagon, they sold all their crop, retaining the money except for ten per cent which the wise father had taught them should go for tithing. Among Spencer Kimball's papers today are tithing receipts from his potato- selling days to the current year.
The new member of the Twelve is prominent in the Southland where he is favorably known by many Arizonians for his work in Church, business, civic enterprises, and service clubs, notably in Rotary. Banking was his first work, but after eight and a half years of banking experience, he resigned to purchase an interest in a small new struggling insurance business which has since become the leading insurance and realty firm in eastern Arizona. He has derived great pleasure from his farming and livestock operations as well.
The Church activities of the new member of the General Authorities have been varied and continuous. When but fourteen, he became an assistant teacher in Sunday School and while yet in high school he was appointed chorister of the stake Sunday School. He sang, for many years, in ward and stake choirs, at times substituting as organist or pianist. His missionary work under President Samuel O. Bennion, in Missouri, was one of the highlights of his life. Upon returning from his mission he became first, stake clerk in 1918, then counselor in the stake presidency in 1924, where he continued to serve until the St. Joseph Stake was divided in 1938, and he was called to be the first stake president of Mt. Graham Stake, the position he was occupying at the time of his call to the apostleship.
This is the first time in the history of the Church that an apostle has been called from Arizona, and many people in the seven Arizona stakes will rejoice in his appointment, and business and professional men will feel honored by his call.
Elder Kimball has been favored with a charming wife, who has always been helpful and understanding. Camilla Eyring is the daughter of Edward Christian Eyring and Caroline Romney who lived in Mexico until 1912. Four children have been born to the Kimballs, Spencer LeVan, a commissioned officer in the United States Naval Reserve, Olive Beth, Andrew Eyring, and Edward Lawrence. The love, consideration, and thoughtfulness manifested for each other by the members of the family have made this family unit the pride of many admirers.
President Kimball is rugged and strong, due to his outdoor life, early hard work, and strict observance of the Word of Wisdom. Although he has worked with rough characters in mining camps and one summer as a stevedore in a Los Angeles freight yard, as well as dining with European nobility and aristocracy at which dinners many different kinds of intoxicants were served, still, due to his strict early training, he has never tasted tea nor coffee, tobacco nor liquor.
With extreme humility, Elder Spencer Woolley Kimball will enter upon his new duties after the October conference where he will be presented for the sustaining vote of that body.
Spencer W. Kimball, The Arizona Apostle
SPENCER WOOLLEY KIMBALL, who was called to become a member of the Council of the Twelve Apostles in July 1943, comes to the circle of the General Authorities of the Church with a rich heritage of Mormon pioneer ancestry and a varied and wide experience in Church discipline. His father, Andrew Kimball, was the son of that close friend and counselor of Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and Ann Alice Gheen. His mother, Olive Woolley, was a daughter of Edwin Dilworth Woolley and Mary Ann Olpin. Brother Woolley served as bishop of the 13th Ward for many years, the ward in which President Grant lived as a boy, and was also the business manager of President Young.
Elder Spencer Kimball was born in Salt Lake City, March 28, 1895, the sixth child in a family of eleven. When he was three years old, his father, who for ten years had been mission president of the Indian Territory, later the Central States Mission, was called to Arizona to serve as stake president of St. Joseph Stake, over which he presided for over twenty-six years, until his death, serving as a civic, educational, economic, and religious leader during the pioneer era. Here the young Spencer had close personal contact with prominent state officials and Church leaders, including President Joseph F, Smith and President Heber J. Grant. Under such circumstances Spencer absorbed the Church program and learned Church discipline.
Thrift and industry became a part of his life when still a mere child. His father gave to him and his sister Alice the potato crop from a small plot of land. The children dug the potatoes and putting them in their little red wagon, they sold all their crop, retaining the money except for ten per cent which the wise father had taught them should go for tithing. Among Spencer Kimball's papers today are tithing receipts from his potato- selling days to the current year.
The new member of the Twelve is prominent in the Southland where he is favorably known by many Arizonians for his work in Church, business, civic enterprises, and service clubs, notably in Rotary. Banking was his first work, but after eight and a half years of banking experience, he resigned to purchase an interest in a small new struggling insurance business which has since become the leading insurance and realty firm in eastern Arizona. He has derived great pleasure from his farming and livestock operations as well.
The Church activities of the new member of the General Authorities have been varied and continuous. When but fourteen, he became an assistant teacher in Sunday School and while yet in high school he was appointed chorister of the stake Sunday School. He sang, for many years, in ward and stake choirs, at times substituting as organist or pianist. His missionary work under President Samuel O. Bennion, in Missouri, was one of the highlights of his life. Upon returning from his mission he became first, stake clerk in 1918, then counselor in the stake presidency in 1924, where he continued to serve until the St. Joseph Stake was divided in 1938, and he was called to be the first stake president of Mt. Graham Stake, the position he was occupying at the time of his call to the apostleship.
This is the first time in the history of the Church that an apostle has been called from Arizona, and many people in the seven Arizona stakes will rejoice in his appointment, and business and professional men will feel honored by his call.
Elder Kimball has been favored with a charming wife, who has always been helpful and understanding. Camilla Eyring is the daughter of Edward Christian Eyring and Caroline Romney who lived in Mexico until 1912. Four children have been born to the Kimballs, Spencer LeVan, a commissioned officer in the United States Naval Reserve, Olive Beth, Andrew Eyring, and Edward Lawrence. The love, consideration, and thoughtfulness manifested for each other by the members of the family have made this family unit the pride of many admirers.
President Kimball is rugged and strong, due to his outdoor life, early hard work, and strict observance of the Word of Wisdom. Although he has worked with rough characters in mining camps and one summer as a stevedore in a Los Angeles freight yard, as well as dining with European nobility and aristocracy at which dinners many different kinds of intoxicants were served, still, due to his strict early training, he has never tasted tea nor coffee, tobacco nor liquor.
With extreme humility, Elder Spencer Woolley Kimball will enter upon his new duties after the October conference where he will be presented for the sustaining vote of that body.
Udall, Jesse A. "Spencer W. Kimball, The Apostle From Arizona." Improvement Era. October 1943. pg. 590-591, 638-639.
Spencer W. Kimball The Apostle from Arizona By Jesse A. Udall It was a typical Arizona day in May, 1898, a brilliant sun in a clear blue sky, when Andrew Kimball with his wife, Olive, and their family of children stepped off the train in Thatcher, Arizona. He had been called by the first 'presidency of the church to succeed Christopher Layton as president of the 'then young St. Joseph Stake in the great Gila Valley of eastern Arizona. It was a most striking family group, the parents in the full bloom of life, the children fine-looking, intelligent, and strong of body. It must have been a thrilling 'experience for the Saints who were [there to meet them. But perhaps none of those present could sense the true significance of their coming nor could they then know that the chubby three-year-old Spencer, the next to the youngest of the children, would one day be an apostle of the Lord. Forty-five years pass by. It is July 8, 1943. Again the Arizona sun shines brilliantly from the heavens. Spencer Kimball, the three-year-old boy of 1898, has just come home for lunch when his young son, Eddie, calls, "Daddy, you are wanted on the 'phone." As he picks up the receiver, the clear, resonant voice of President Clark comes over the wire from Salt Lake City. After the opening greetings President Clark comes to the point quickly: "Spencer, President Grant and the brethren have just chosen you to be a member of the quorum of the twelve." Other things are said but Brother Kimball can remember them only vaguely. . . . It is likely only the few who have received this holy calling know what he passed through in the hours and days that followed that important conversation. In his own words, "I felt as though the sky had fallen in—this seemed utterly impossible." He was overwhelmed with a flood of intense humility. He knew then, as he will always know, that only God could make him equal to the duties of this divine responsibility. Who is Spencer Woolley Kimball? For a true appraisal, we must go back to his antecedents. He was born in Salt Lake City on March 28, 1895, the son of Andrew Kimball and Olive Woolley. Like Nephi of old, he may thank the Lord that he came of goodly parentage. His two grandfathers were outstanding colonizers and peers among men. Heber C. Kimball was an apostle of the Lord, friend and disciple of the Prophet Joseph, counselor to President Young, and missionary extraordinary for his church; Edwin D. Woolley was a colorful Salt Lake leader, business manager for President Young, and a great bishop of the Thirteenth Ward for a period of forty years. His own father, Andrew Kimball, was likewise a most remarkable man. Energetic and zealous always, as an advocate of the restored gospel, he presided over the mission in the Indian Territory for ten years and at intervals returned to Salt Lake to earn a living for his family. For twenty-six and a half years, from 1898 to the day of his death, he was president of the St. Joseph Stake of Zion, the stake which had been named at the suggestion of President John Taylor in honor of the Prophet Joseph. His ability as a builder and organizer did much toward the development of a great agricultural empire in eastern Arizona, and in the years of his administration the stake developed from a few wards on the Gila River to some seventeen wards and branches of the church, extending from Miami, Arizona, to El Paso, Texas. It is recorded: "And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favor both with the Lord, and also with men." (I Samuel 2:26.) How well this word picture describes the growth of the boy Spencer. He learned thrift and industry early in life. When but a child, he was given a small pitchfork to assist in the haying, and he rode the derrick horse in the unloading of hay. Herding and milking several cows were his daily tasks. From money that he earned as a young boy Spencer has among his papers tithing receipts in an uninterrupted yearly sequence from that date to the current year. From childhood he has been most conscientious in his work—nothing short of the best was good enough. For years he had a record of perfect attendance at Sunday School and Primary. One Monday he was in the field tramping hay for his older brothers when the meetinghouse bell rang for Primary. "I've got to go to Primary," he timidly suggested. "You can't go today; we need you," they said. "Well, Father would let me go, if he were here," the boy countered. "Father isn't here," they said, "and you are not going." The piles of hay came pouring up, literally covering Spencer, but finally he had caught up; sliding noiselessly from the back of the wagon, he was halfway to the meetinghouse before his absence was noticed, and his perfect record remained unbroken. He was a most happy and even-tempered youngster, but he was brought face to face with the grim realities of life when he was stricken with a paralysis of the face which threatened to blight his future; but after administration under the hands of the priesthood he was gradually and completely restored. A great void came into his life when his mother died in his eleventh year. Death came threatening again when typhoid fever struck him as a boy of thirteen, and for weeks his life was held in the balance. Again the power of the Almighty restored him to perfect health. THE young Spencer grew to maturity at Thatcher. Having completed the public schools he entered the Gila Academy, the institution which had been established by the church early in the colonization of the valley. Later, its name was changed to the Gila Junior College. In 1914 he was graduated with highest honors and as president of his class. In addition to his scholastic achievements he was a star forward on the basketball team, and many a game was won by his accurate goal-throwing from every angle on the. floor. President Kimball has a rugged constitution, developed through clean living, years of hard work and outdoor life. He has a most engaging personality, is pleasant, friendly, ready to be of service, and possesses the firmness and dignity of a strong man with the, smile and optimistic viewpoint of a boy. The scriptures tell us that Daniel, in young manhood, "purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine." (Daniel 1:8.) Like Daniel, Spencer has never defiled himself. If you were to ask him point-blank if he had always observed the Word of Wisdom, he would modestly tell you that he had never tasted tea, coffee, liquor nor tobacco. One of the highlights of his life was the three years spent in the mission field under President Samuel O. Bennion in the Central States. At the conclusion of his mission he was the president of the Missouri conference and had thirty missionaries serving under his leadership. The following experience illustrates his tact and ability as Ja missionary. While tracting in St. Louis one day he saw through the partly opened door a new piano and said to the woman who was in the act of closing the door in his face, "I see that you have a new piano." "Yes, we've just bought it," she replied with pride. "It is a 'Kimball,' isn't it? That is my name, also," he said, as the door opened wider. "Would you like me to sing and play for you?" "Surely, come in," she answered. Walking to the piano he played and sang "O, My Father." This pleasant introduction led to many subsequent gospel conversations. Upon his return from his mission he attended the University of Arizona and subsequently accepted a position as teller and bookkeeper in a bank in his home county. Later he became branch manager and assistant cashier in one of a chain of banks. How much a man's success depends A upon his wife! Elder Kimball has been favored with a charming helpmate who has been constant, patient, full of understanding and encouragement. Her training in, and teaching of home economics has enabled her to feed and clothe her family well, even though the income sometimes was small. Camilla is the daughter of Edward Christian Eyring and Caroline Romney. They had come to Arizona from Mexico in 1912 as a result of the Mexican revolution. It was in 1917 when she was teaching at the Gila Academy at Thatcher that she met Spencer, and it was not many months before their courtship ripened into marriage. It is said that "transplanted flowers are usually the fairest" and so it was in her case; the blue-eyed, golden-haired girl with the Spanish name, transplanted from Mexico, blossomed into glorious womanhood as an intelligent, well-trained woman, prominent in her own right. Her church activities are many. In a stake capacity she has served in the presidency of the Primary twelve years, in the presidency of the Mutual five years, and for eight years she was literary class leader in the Relief Society. In a ward capacity she served as literary leader of the Relief Society for, eighteen years and at intervals has been a teacher in the Sunday School. She has also been active in civic affairs and at the present time is serving for the second term as president of the Safford Women's Club and is completing the second year's presidency for the southern district of Women's Clubs for Arizona. She is a wonderful mother, a charming hostess, and a faithful, trustworthy friend. Together, Spencer and Camilla have made for themselves a host of friends throughout the state of Arizona. President and Sister Kimball are the parents of four children: Spencer Levan, a returned missionary and a commissioned officer in the United States Navy, who with his wife, Kathryn Murphy of Salt Lake City, are the parents of Barbara Jean, the one grandchild of the family; Olive Beth, a graduate of the University of Arizona; Andrew Eyring, a senior, and Edward Lawrence, a freshman in high school. Those of his brothers and sisters still living are Clare K. Claridge, Safford, Arizona; Andrew Gordon Kimball, bishop of the Tucson Ward, Tucson, Arizona; Delbert Gheen Kimball, Seattle, Washington; Alice K. Nelson, Tucson, Arizona; and Helen K. Farr, Provo, Utah. His sister, Ruth K. Udall, died in 1915. The new leader has found time to engage in many civic activities during his busy life. He is a former district governor of Rotary International, a past president of the Safford Rotary Club, and a director of the Arizona Association of Insurance Agents. For a number of years he has been a member of the Gila Junior College board of trustees and was recently appointed by the governor of Arizona as a member of the Arizona Teachers' Retirement Board. 638 He has been active in Boy Scout work for many years and at one time served as vice-president of the Roosevelt Council of Boy Scouts. The war has added new duties and he now is serving as chairman of the U.S.O. and of the United War Fund campaign in Graham County. In connection with his activities in Rotary, he and his wife traveled to Europe and visited most of the capitals of the old world. They have traveled also to many points in the United States, to Mexico City, and to various places in Canada. The high regard with which he is held by the citizens of Arizona is well expressed in Oasis, the Safford Rotary Club weekly publication: If there's one man that would be missed in any organization, it is Spencer Kimball, and this is more especially true of the Safford Rotary Club than any other. He's been so faithful and so "on the job" all the time, we often accept him as a fixture—like the president's gavel. Ponder the past of the club for a moment. Who'll be ready to play the piano on call? Who'll put on a program on short notice? Who'll direct community singing for our parties, and what good will a party be without Spencer to be master of ceremonies? . . . Regardless of his religion, every member of the club joins in wishing Spencer godspeed and success in his new work. In business Elder Kimball is regarded as a successful man. Three years ago he moved with his family into their lovely pueblo-type' home which is situated on their farm on the outskirts of the thriving town of Safford. From the sun deck atop the building one looks across their fertile acres of cotton and alfalfa toward the colorful hues of an Arizona sunset and the snow-covered summit of rugged Mt. Graham, which reaches into the sky to an elevation of 10,500 feet. It is from this heavily timbered mountain that the stake over which he now presides derives its name. His business interests have included banking, real estate, and insurance, and he is part owner and a director of the Gila Broadcasting Company of Safford. An attractive, restricted subdivision of modern homes known as the Kimball- Greenhalgh Addition to the town of Safford will long be a monument to him and his former partner, the late Joseph W. Greenhalgh. THERE is an old saying that if you A want a job done well, get a busy man to do it. This homely truth fits well into the religious work and service that has been rendered to the people of the St. Joseph and Mt. Graham stakes by Elder Kimball. In his early youth he was Sunday School teacher, chorister of the stake Sunday School, and he sang in the ward and stake choirs. He was chosen as stake clerk of the St. Joseph Stake in 1918, in which capacity he served until 1924, when he was selected as second counselor in the stake presidency, serving there for fourteen years. In 1938, the new Mt. Graham Stake was organized from a portion of the St Joseph Stake with Elder Kimball as its president, which position he still held at the time of his new calling. Some of the problems of his stake work may be visualized when it is realized that the stake comprises thirteen wards and branches extending from Safford, Arizona, through New Mexico to El Paso, Texas, two hundred forty-five miles distant. He has given the new stake most vigorous leadership since the date of its organization. The statistics will show that the stake has been consistently on a high level in the matter of efficiency. In Welfare work Mt. Graham Stake has done an excellent job. One of the outstanding projects President Kimball directed was the work of rehabilitation following a major inundation of three communities by the Gila River in 1941. (See his account, "The Duncan Flood," Improvement Era, June, 1942, p. 364.) President Kimball possesses so many qualities which fit him for church leadership that it is difficult to point out particular traits and say therein lies his success. Two of his outstanding characteristics are, first, his love for people, a love which begets love; people warm to his teachings; his dealings instil confidence; the well-to-do farmer or the humble laborer, the housewife or the adolescent boy or girl, all have confidence in his integrity; and second, his relentless attention to the duties of the day. The great English philosopher, Francis Bacon, once said, "When the soul resolves to perform every duty immediately, it is conscious of the presence of God." A kindred idea was expressed by the great American statesman, Daniel Webster: "The greatest thought that ever entered my mind is that of individual responsibility to God." The new apostle has lived his life in such a manner that it would appear that he is in the presence of God at all times, and that not for one moment of his busy life has he forgotten his responsibility to his Creator. The Latter-day Saints in Arizona are not losing President Kimball. Its deserts, mountains, and valleys are part of his very being. His father came to their land from the headquarters of the church to enter a life of expanding opportunity for service; so his son returns to the headquarters of the church to accept humbly a sacred appointment that will be a blessing to all mankind. |
SPENCER W. KIMBALL
THE SPENCER W. KIMBALL FAMILY
Front row: President Kimball, Camilla Eyring Kimball, Kathryn Murphy Kimball and granddaughter, Barbara Jean, and Spencer L. Kimball. Back row: Olive Beth, Andrew Eyring, and Edward Lawrence Kimball. CHILDREN OF ANDREW AND OLIVE W. KIMBALL, 1906. SPENCER W. IS THE ELEVEN-YEAR-OLD BOY STANDING EXTREME RIGHT.
SPENCER WOOLLEY KIMBALL IN 1914 AT THE TIME OF GRADUATION FROM GILA ACADEMY
PRESIDENT KIMBALL IN THE DEEP SNOW ON MOUNT GRAHAM, FROM WHICH THE STAKE OVER WHICH HE PRESIDED TAKES ITS NAME
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Evans, John Henry. "Spencer Woolley Kimball." Instructor. October 1943. pg. 514-515.
Spencer Woolley Kimball
(Recently called to the Council of the Twelve)
By John Henry Evans
If there is anything in heredity, this new Apostle should be right good material for a high Church official.
His father, Andrew Kimball, was for many years a stake president and a member of the General Board of the Sunday School. His grandfather, Heber C. Kimball, was one of the first Apostles in this dispensation and a counselor in the First Presidency. His other grandfather, Edwin D. Woolley, was a bishop in the thirteenth ward, in Salt Lake City.
Two stories about the grandfathers are worth citing here as showing their faith in the Cause.
Grandfather Woolley, a merchant in Nauvoo, was once told by Joseph Smith that "we want all your goods for the building up of the Kingdom." The storekeeper thereupon boxed his wares, and then called upon the leader to find out where to send them! Grandfather Kimball, also in Nauvoo, was asked by President Smith for his attractive wife, Vilate. After a night of prayer, anguish, and tears, the two went next morning to the Prophet. "Here she is. Brother Joseph," said the disciple!
In the case of the Bishop the President said, "Put your goods back on the shelf, Brother Edwin." In the case of the Apostle, he put Vilate's hand in Heber's and joined them in the bonds of holy matrimony for eternity. This was a new idea then. The Prophet was merely trying these two men at a time when "brethren" were falling away from him by twos and threes, and he was deeply moved by the faithfulness of these members.
Spencer Kimball, it is safe to say, will never be tested that way, but, if he were, he would doubtless come out of the trial with the same spirit as they did.
One does not have to talk very long to Elder Kimball to arrive at the impression that here is a man who is intelligent, who is converted, who is conscientious, who is sincere, and who is humble in the sense that Jesus meant. And one feels sure that a further acquaintance with him will but confirm this first impression. He is not only easy to know, but extremely likable.
"A sweet-spirited man" is what one of his old friends said on being asked his opinion of the appointee. And another long-time associate put it this way: "I've always believed that he was my special friend, but I find that he is the special friend of everybody." This quality of friendliness, one gathers, is very strong in the new Apostle, as it should be in a leader.
Central, and not peripheral, in his life is his religion. This is not so common among a socially isolated people as it should be. He has never in his forty-eight years made so much money as he did last year. This would presage a steady increase of his income for the future. Ordinarily one would look upon the giving up of this prospect as a sacrifice. But Spencer Kimball does not so regard it. When he joined the Rotary (he has been a Rotarian for twenty years), particularly when some friends in the Club pressed upon him to run for District Governor, his chief motive in doing so lay in the fact that it might redound to the honor of his people in Arizona. The Church has always been his primary interest.
Elder Kimball has a farm in Safford, on which he grows many and varied crops, one of which is cotton. It is at the foot of multicolored Mount Graham, for which the stake over which he presides was named. In a bank there he rose from a bookkeeper to assistant cashier of a chain of banks. At the time of his call to the Apostleship he was part owner of the leading insurance and realty firm in Eastern Arizona, and of the local broadcasting station. Farmer, banker, business executive, as well as religious leader, Spencer Kimball should be able to understand the problems with which his people everywhere are struggling.
And what about his wife and family, whose picture accompanies this sketch?
Sister Kimball, before her marriage, was an Eyring. Her mother was a Romney. These are well known and honorable names in the Mormon Country everywhere. One of her brothers is a university president; another, a professor in Princeton university; and an uncle is a professor in the Brigham Young University and a member of the General Board of the Sunday School. She herself has studied at the B.Y.U., at the Agricultural College in Logan, Utah, and at the University of California, in Berkeley, California.
The couple have five children and a grandchild. The family, all but the married daughter, who is in Colorado, now make their home in Salt Lake City.
Spencer Woolley Kimball
(Recently called to the Council of the Twelve)
By John Henry Evans
If there is anything in heredity, this new Apostle should be right good material for a high Church official.
His father, Andrew Kimball, was for many years a stake president and a member of the General Board of the Sunday School. His grandfather, Heber C. Kimball, was one of the first Apostles in this dispensation and a counselor in the First Presidency. His other grandfather, Edwin D. Woolley, was a bishop in the thirteenth ward, in Salt Lake City.
Two stories about the grandfathers are worth citing here as showing their faith in the Cause.
Grandfather Woolley, a merchant in Nauvoo, was once told by Joseph Smith that "we want all your goods for the building up of the Kingdom." The storekeeper thereupon boxed his wares, and then called upon the leader to find out where to send them! Grandfather Kimball, also in Nauvoo, was asked by President Smith for his attractive wife, Vilate. After a night of prayer, anguish, and tears, the two went next morning to the Prophet. "Here she is. Brother Joseph," said the disciple!
In the case of the Bishop the President said, "Put your goods back on the shelf, Brother Edwin." In the case of the Apostle, he put Vilate's hand in Heber's and joined them in the bonds of holy matrimony for eternity. This was a new idea then. The Prophet was merely trying these two men at a time when "brethren" were falling away from him by twos and threes, and he was deeply moved by the faithfulness of these members.
Spencer Kimball, it is safe to say, will never be tested that way, but, if he were, he would doubtless come out of the trial with the same spirit as they did.
One does not have to talk very long to Elder Kimball to arrive at the impression that here is a man who is intelligent, who is converted, who is conscientious, who is sincere, and who is humble in the sense that Jesus meant. And one feels sure that a further acquaintance with him will but confirm this first impression. He is not only easy to know, but extremely likable.
"A sweet-spirited man" is what one of his old friends said on being asked his opinion of the appointee. And another long-time associate put it this way: "I've always believed that he was my special friend, but I find that he is the special friend of everybody." This quality of friendliness, one gathers, is very strong in the new Apostle, as it should be in a leader.
Central, and not peripheral, in his life is his religion. This is not so common among a socially isolated people as it should be. He has never in his forty-eight years made so much money as he did last year. This would presage a steady increase of his income for the future. Ordinarily one would look upon the giving up of this prospect as a sacrifice. But Spencer Kimball does not so regard it. When he joined the Rotary (he has been a Rotarian for twenty years), particularly when some friends in the Club pressed upon him to run for District Governor, his chief motive in doing so lay in the fact that it might redound to the honor of his people in Arizona. The Church has always been his primary interest.
Elder Kimball has a farm in Safford, on which he grows many and varied crops, one of which is cotton. It is at the foot of multicolored Mount Graham, for which the stake over which he presides was named. In a bank there he rose from a bookkeeper to assistant cashier of a chain of banks. At the time of his call to the Apostleship he was part owner of the leading insurance and realty firm in Eastern Arizona, and of the local broadcasting station. Farmer, banker, business executive, as well as religious leader, Spencer Kimball should be able to understand the problems with which his people everywhere are struggling.
And what about his wife and family, whose picture accompanies this sketch?
Sister Kimball, before her marriage, was an Eyring. Her mother was a Romney. These are well known and honorable names in the Mormon Country everywhere. One of her brothers is a university president; another, a professor in Princeton university; and an uncle is a professor in the Brigham Young University and a member of the General Board of the Sunday School. She herself has studied at the B.Y.U., at the Agricultural College in Logan, Utah, and at the University of California, in Berkeley, California.
The couple have five children and a grandchild. The family, all but the married daughter, who is in Colorado, now make their home in Salt Lake City.
Evans, Richard L. "Spencer W. Kimball of the Council of the Twelve." Improvement Era. October 1954. pg. 704-708, 746-751.
Spencer W. Kimball OF THE COUNCIL OF THE TWELVE by Richard L. Evans The record does not show that Spencer W. Kimball's life was ever easy. Even if it could have been, his was not the temperament to let it be so. But the record does show, as we read it, that he has been guided and safeguarded by a kind and farseeing Providence, to become the man that he has proved himself to be. He was born to a tradition of hard work and was transplanted to a pioneering community at three years of age. He was reared in a family of eleven children. At about the age of seven he was all but drowned. At ten, one side of his face became paralyzed, and continued so for several weeks. At age eleven he lost his mother. At twelve he was stricken critically with typhoid fever. In all these events, as in all others, he has kept a steady, driving course, with faith in the power and purposes of his Father in heaven—to guide, to protect, to heal, to bring things about. Spencer was born on March 28, 1895, in the family home on the corner of 4th North and 3rd West in Salt Lake City. The Deseret News noted this event with a good-humored comment which suggested that he might have been given another name. His father, Andrew Kimball, was a delegate to the Utah Constitutional Convention at that time, where B. H. Roberts, whom he much admired, was debating against granting woman's suffrage. And so the paper said: "Delegate Andrew Kimball . . . is an ardent suffragist. Yet he is broad enough to be an enthusiastic admirer of Roberts' intellect. Under such circumstances he has made up his mind that a nine-pound stranger who arrived at his home on Thursday night shall be called 'Roberts.' The only thing that stands in the way is Mrs. Kimball. As she is an enthusiastic woman suffragist and fully understands the meaning of equal rights, he has not yet carried the day." Concerning this, Spencer has observed, "And so my parents 'compromised' and I was named Spencer Woolley Kimball!" Woolley was his mother's maiden name — Olive Woolley — and his grandfather was Edwin D. Woolley who served for some forty years as bishop of the Thirteenth Ward of Salt Lake City, and who was closely associated with Brigham Young. (He was the bishop President Grant mentioned so often in his baseball stories—the bishop who thought the Widow Grant's son would never amount to anything.) Intermixed in Spencer also are the Kimball qualities and character, from his grandfather, Heber C. Kimball, apostle, prophet, missionary, and trusted and courageous counselor of Brigham Young. With the strength and faith (yes, and even the constructive stubbornness) of the Kimballs and the Woolleys, Spencer has in him the stuff of which strong men are made. And all his antecedents and traditions and experiences in life seem to point up to a special purpose. One cannot look at the portraits of Spencer as a steady-eyed, dark-haired youngster, keen and earnest and intent, without feeling that he has met at least the beginnings of a man who later faced life with a faith and forthrightness that have led him to success in his personal affairs and to distinguished Church and civic service. First of all, he seems to have been blessed with the ability to believe. Secondly, he seems to have been blessed with a willingness to work, with the spirit of faithful performance. He grew up on a small farm, and recalls how he worked at haying, plowing, harvesting and hauling grain, milking cows, and caring for horses, pigs, and poultry. He painted the large family home many times, painted the buggy and the wagons, and soaped and oiled harnesses, pruned the orchards, and sprayed and marketed fruit. He knows people; he knows his purpose; he knows that he must be about his Father's business, and he lives life with a great, impelling, sustaining faith. He often speaks of Nephi who couldn't have accomplished the "impossible" tasks he accomplished without a surpassing faith—and Spencer Kimball goes about his affairs with faith that his Father in heaven will help him to accomplish all that is expected of him. He drives himself relentlessly. It is characteristic of him to take a typewriter in the car, and to write letters as others are driving. His home is an office after hours, where, early and late, he dictates many, sometimes long letters, suggesting, persuading, pleading, exhorting others to more effective work in Church assignments, or to give encouragement and counsel to people with personal problems. To shake his hand is a heart-warming experience, for in his handshake there is not only firm physical strength, but warmth of heart and sincerity of fellowship and a whole souled affection for his fellow men. He is a man of much courage, physical as well as moral courage. He is aware of his important position, and respects it, as he must. But he never seems to be conscious of "rank" or of personal priority. He never gives a suggestion of self-righteousness. He has never forgotten his sense of humor—and with his humor there is always the evidence of an understanding heart. Earnestly he has befriended minority peoples, especially the Indians — and seems always to understand them. He has befriended them when theirs was an unpopular cause. He has seen ' in them children of promise, and has talked untiringly of the day when they will be the recipients of the choicest of our Father's blessings, and will not be an underprivileged people. I have heard him speak to his Lamanite brethren as a father would speak to children, pleading with them to improve their lives, to conserve their means, to beautify their homes, to rise to their high destiny. And Spencer Kimball's sense of responsibility for the Indians doesn't come of himself only. His father, Andrew Kimball, served as president of the mission in Indian territory for twelve years, before he was called by the First Presidency to leave Salt Lake City and take his family to preside over the St. Joseph Stake in the Gila Valley of eastern Arizona—a stake that came to extend from El Paso, Texas, on the east, to Miami, Arizona, on the west, and to the Mexican border on the south. This calling his father faithfully filled for over twenty-six years—until the day he died. And so it was that Arizona was the home of Spencer Kimball from the time he was three years old until he moved to Salt Lake City in 1943 to become a member of the Quorum of the Twelve. Modern Arizona history virtually began with Mormon colonization, when the First Presidency called upon some of the Latter-day Saints to settle there in the late '70s and early '80s, although some members had been living there a decade earlier. When the Kimballs went there in 1898 it was not the place of lush living that some parts of it have since been made to be. General Sherman is quoted as having said in 1854, "We have had one war with Mexico and took' Arizona. We should have another and compel them to take it back." Few if any would agree with General Sherman today — and certainly Spencer Kimball would not—for he holds Arizona in a particular kind of affection—an affection that is mutual, as evidenced by an article which appeared in the Oasis, a publication of the Safford Rotary Club, in July 1943, when Spencer was leaving Arizona, after four and one half decades, to return to Salt Lake City: If there's one man that would be missed in any organization, it is Spencer Kimball, and this is more especially true of the Safford Rotary Club than any other. He's been so faithful and so "on the job" all the time, we often accept him as a fixture — like the president's gavel. Ponder the past of the club for a moment. Who'll be ready to play the piano on call? Who'll put on a program on short notice? Who'll direct community singing for our parties, and what good will a party be without Spencer to be master of ceremonies? . . . Regardless of his religion, every member of the club joins in wishing Spencer godspeed and success in his new work. It is evident now that during those years in Arizona—and before and since—there was an unusual man in the making, with qualities that were early in evidence, which saw him to success: Success in school, where at the Gila Academy he was president of his class, president of the student body and was graduated with highest honors. Success as an athlete, playing forward on the Gila Academy basketball team, with an enviable scoring record. Success as a missionary. Success in business as a banker and builder of a real estate and insurance business. Success in civic and community service, including Rotary where he was honored not only with the presidency of his own club, but as governor of his district, and in many other activities. Success as a husband, a father, and friend. Success in church service, from deacons' quorum president to Apostle. And in all this, his earnest drive and willingness has helped him to lead others to catch the fire of his enthusiasm. Jesse A. Udall of Arizona tells this story from Spencer's boyhood, which indicates some of the earlier evidences of his conscientious character: "One day he was in the field tramping hay for his older brothers when the meetinghouse bell rang for Primary. " 'I've got to go to Primary,' he timidly suggested. " 'You can't go today; we need you,' they said. " 'Well, Father would let me go, if he were here,' the boy countered. " 'Father isn't here,' they said, 'and you are not going.' "The piles of hay came pouring up, literally covering Spencer, but finally he had caught up. Sliding noiselessly from the back of the wagon, he was halfway to the meetinghouse before his absence was noticed and his perfect record remained unbroken." He has paid a full tithing from the time he was a boy—and will tell you if you ask him (and you'll believe him when he tells you) that he has never tasted tea or coffee or tobacco or intoxicating liquor. It is inevitable that Spencer should look back now and recall some of the situations in which he has been safeguarded and protected: There was the time when at the age of about seven he went swimming at Cluff's Ranch with his father, and was all but drowned. Cluff's Ranch with its swimming pond and shade trees and swings, was the favorite picnic grounds for the people of the Gila Valley. On holidays and special occasions whole communities would travel by buggy and wagon to this cool retreat at the foot of the mountains. It was on one of these community picnics that Spencer's father, being an expert swimmer, had taken his small son on his back for a long swim over the deep part of the pond. As they returned Spencer told his father he could feel solid ground under his feet, and with this assurance Andrew Kimball left his young son and returned to deep water. Spencer began to wade to the shore, but dropped into a deep hole, and struggled until he lost consciousness. Finally someone among the swimmers saw the gravity of the situation and called for help and Spencer was pulled out. After some time, as his lungs were emptied of water, consciousness returned. Then, at about ten years of age, there was the morning when he awoke with one side of his face paralyzed. There was no pain, but complete loss of muscular control, and his brothers and sisters joked about the strange look on his face. (Spencer reports that when he smiled or laughed "it was a one-sided affair.") There was no medical specialist in the area and the country doctor provided only a liniment. Spencer was administered to by his father and others of the priesthood who were called in. In a few weeks the paralysis was entirely gone. That was over fifty years ago, and it has never since returned. Despite the sorrow and disappointment of his mother's death, when he was eleven, he made the adjustment to the new circumstances of life, and continued on his course of faithful performance. And there was the time when at twelve years of age, the motherless boy had a critical case of typhoid fever, with his father absent in Salt Lake City, and with others dying from it in the area. With faith, administration by neighbors, and the blessings of his Father in heaven, he survived this illness also. More recently, about five or six 746 years ago in the midst of his arduous official labors, he was stricken again — with a severe heart ailment—and ordered to inactivity. But inactivity is almost impossible to Spencer Kimball— and he spent frustrating, heartbreaking months as a man who knew he had a mission, and was prevented from performing it. Again faith and blessings—and there is no evidence today of an impaired heart in this man who travels up and down the Church with the tireless pace of one who knows that life is only good for what it is used for. About three years following the onset of his heart impairment Brother Kimball was stricken also with a serious throat ailment, first with symptoms of hoarseness, then virtual loss of voice. But one cannot imagine Spencer Kimball without a voice to plead with people. Life he was willing to give, and all else also, if need be—but he knew that he must have his voice to do the work that had been given him to do. And, in a matter of hours after President J. Reuben Clark had administered to him, with Brother Harold B. Lee and Brother Henry D. Moyle, Brother Kimball's voice came back, miraculously, from what was said to have been a malignancy—and this man of dedicated purpose was again in full service. With all the confidence he has in his mission, yet upon his call to the Council of the Twelve, Brother Kimball was beset with doubts and inner worries—not doubts as to the work, but as to his own ability and powers. Between July 18, 1943, when President Clark, speaking for President Grant, telephoned him from Salt Lake City to tell him that he had been J called to the Council of the Twelve between then and when he was sustained and set apart after the general conference in October, he underwent an intense inner adjustment of which perhaps no one who has not been through it can quite conceive three months of sensitive, acute self-searching— like Paul in his Arabian preparation for his ministry—followed by a determination to dedicate his life to the call that had come to him. And that he has done. Prior to his call to the Council of the Twelve, Spencer's Church career had included many offices and activities. He was ordained to the usual priesthood offices, from deacon (where he served as president of his quorum) to high priest. He served as a Sunday School teacher at fourteen, as ward teacher, ward chorister and choir member and leader; served on the stake Sunday School board while still in his early teens. He became clerk of St. Joseph Stake at the age of twenty-two. Spencer spent his mission in the Central States under President Samuel O. Bennion. When released, he was president of the Missouri Conference with some thirty missionaries under his supervision. And he has never lost the missionary zeal. As vice-chairman of the Church missionary committee today he is constantly pressing for more effective performance. Stake missionary work and work among "the minorities" have had his particular attention, and have made much progress under his prodding. Each week he goes over a thick file of reports, and dictates a long list of letters to the General Authorities assigned to stake conferences, to assist them in their interviews and inquiries. In 1952 Brother Kimball and President Bruce R. McConkie were sent on a missionary journey for the Church to Mexico and Central America. On this trip the Mexican Mission was divided, the Central American Mission organized, and its first president installed, and the land dedicated for proselyting. When Spencer's father died after serving as president of the St. Joseph Stake for over a quarter century, President Heber J. Grant traveled to Thatcher, Arizona, to attend his funeral. (President Grant and Andrew Kimball had been friends from childhood.) Following the funeral, President Grant reorganized the stake presidency and installed Harry L. Payne as president, with John F. Nash as first counselor, and Spencer W. Kimball as second counselor. That was September 8, 1924, when Spencer was twenty-nine. In 1936 other changes were made in the St. Joseph Stake presidency and Spencer was released as counselor and sustained as stake clerk again, (which position he had been filling part of the time even as a member of the stake presidency and he and Elder Melvin J. Ballard felt that he should not carry both responsible positions.) Then, two years later, February 1938, Mt. Graham Stake was created (named for the beautiful towering peak that rises to some 11,000 feet, in the Pinaleno Mountains), from a division of the St. Joseph Stake. Spencer Kimball was named its first president, with responsibility for thirteen communities in eastern Arizona, southern New Mexico, and western Texas, and with more than 250 miles to travel from one end of the stake to the other. This distance didn't keep President Kimball from displaying an administrative efficiency that ranked his stake high among some of the more compact performers. His resourcefulness and service were always in evidence—in routine matters as well as in meeting emergencies. Meanwhile, Brother Kimball had been going forward with business and civic activities, and with making a home and rearing a family. Following his return from the Central States Mission, he attended the University of Arizona (financing himself with work before and after hours)—and then, after his marriage, entered employment as teller and bookkeeper in a branch bank, of which he became branch manager and assistant cashier. After eight and one-half years of banking, he purchased a half interest in an infant, struggling insurance and real estate business, which became a prosperous one of service, recognized throughout the state and which he left, with his new, comfortable Safford home and farm, when the call came to come to Salt Lake City. In Rotary, having been honored by serving the Safford club as president, Spencer was proposed by his club as a candidate for District Governor of an area comprising Arizona and part of California. That same year, the Glendale, Arizona, club proposed its own past-president, Harold Smith, as a competing candidate. There followed a vigorous campaign and contest, but as the annual district conference convened at Prescott, the president of the Glendale club died on the golf course, and in the nominating meeting that followed, after consultation with his sponsors, Spencer Kimball electrified the convention by being the first on his feet to nominate his opponent, Harold Smith. Another supporter of a neighboring club seconded the nomination, and still another of Spencer's sponsors moved that Smith be elected by acclamation. Thus that year's election was settled as a mark of respect for the deceased president of the Glendale club. When the next year's election was held, Spencer Kimball was unanimously elected District Governor without opposition. In connection with Rotary, Spencer and his wife traveled to Europe and visited most of the capitals of the old world as well as visiting many places in the United States, Mexico, and Canada for International conventions and other Rotary activities. In the field of civic and professional service, Brother Kimball also served as a director of the Arizona Association of Insurance Agents, as a member of the Gila Junior College board of trustees, and as a member of the Arizona Teachers' retirement board (the latter being an appointment from the governor of Arizona) and numerous other important services; and as Vice-President of the Roosevelt Council and board member of the Three G Council of the Boy Scouts of America; and chairman of the U S O and of the United War Fund Campaign in Graham County during World War II. Among the many ways in which Spencer has been most blessed is in the choice of his wife, Camilla Eyring, daughter of Edward Christian Eyring and Caroline Romney Eyring and one of a distinguished and able family. She came out of Mexico in the troubled days of the Mormon colonies in 1912, and later, in 1917, went to Thatcher to teach school. Spencer saw her—and was impressed with what he saw—and proposed to her another kind of career. Blessedly for both of them—she accepted. As an intelligent and devoted mother, as a hostess, as a Church and civic servant, and as a woman of good judgment and even temperament, and as a choice companion, Camilla Kimball complements Spencer in a remarkable manner. She has been a choice and wonderful mother and wife, and has met all the changes of fortune and all the shifting of scenes, and all the travel from place to place as one who knows that home is wherever her husband's career calls. Her home is always a place of hospitality and sincere welcome. Camilla has also served and achieved in many ways in Church and community activities—in the stake presidency of the Primary, in the presidency of the M.I. A., as class leader in Relief Society, as a Sunday School teacher, as president of the Safford Women's Club, and as president of the southern district of Women's Clubs for Arizona. Brother and Sister Kimball are the parents of four children: Spencer LeVan, former missionary, officer in the United States Navy, Rhodes scholar, and, until his recent resignation, Dean of the School of Law, and now professor of law at the University of Utah; Olive Beth, a graduate of the University of Arizona, and now Mrs. Grant M. Mack; Andrew Eyring, former missionary, now living with his young and growing family in Schenectady, New York, and employed by General Electric; and Edward Lawrence, former missionary, recently married, and currently a law student at the University of Utah. There are thirteen grandchildren. Who one knows all that Spencer Kimball does for people—not even Camilla, his wife—not even his brethren. No one knows the extent of the personal funds that he takes from his own pocket for the assistance of the needy, especially for his Lamanite brethren. No one knows of all the letters he writes, of all the meetings he holds, or of all the travel he does—driving, preaching, encouraging, counseling—never sparing himself. People in trouble flock to him, both the young and the old, with personal problems. He is early and late at the office. His home is a place where visitors from outside the city find hospitality and sustenance. He loves people; he loves sociability; he loves to sing, to play the piano; he loves the greatness of the out-of-doors, and the beautiful and finer things. He loves life—and lives it purposefully. He is a man of strength and dignity, of personableness and persuasion — and of faith. He believes that the impossible is possible with the help of God. He knows the profound importance of his calling, and devotes himself to it with a kind of dedication that is rare among men. And when Spencer Kimball has visited a stake, those who are responsible for its activities know that they have been visited and instructed and interviewed and taught with a thoroughness that they don't soon forget. And yet they also know that there has been in their presence a kindly and understanding man, a friend with a firm hand and a warm heart, with a lovable nature, an unaffected manner, and a kindly relieving humor. And they know that he has been there, not in the spirit of criticism, but in earnest exhortation, because of his love of God and his love of men. This is a rare man—Spencer Kimball— as approachable as a child, as wise as a father, as loving as a gentle brother. And he has not shunned any obligation that he was aware of—as a father, friend, and brother; or as a businessman, citizen, and civic servant—or as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. May he have health, and long life, and every needed blessing, with his loved ones, this day—and always. (Note: For further biographical data on Elder Spencer W. Kimball, see The Improvement Era, Vol. 46: 1943, beginning page 590—Spencer W. Kimball, the Apostle from Arizona, by Jesse A. Udall.) |
One of Elder Kimball's hobbies is collecting Indian souvenirs
which abound in his office and home. Sister Camilla Kimball admires one of her husband's Navajo
blankets. Brother and Sister Kimball with their four children, two daughters-in-law, one son-in-law, and ten of their thirteen grandchildren.
The Kimballs' youngest son Edward and his bride of last June, Evelyn Bee Madsen.
Elder Andrew Kimball, father of Spencer W.
Olive Woolley Kimball, mother of Spencer W.
Spencer as a baby with his sister, Ruth.
Elder Kimball as a missionary in 1914.
The Kimball home in Thatcher, Arizona, boyhood home of Spencer. Built about 1900.
Spencer and Camilla Kimball at the time of their marriage.
Young Spencer (left) with a boyhood friend, Clarence Naylor.
Spencer (center) about the age of twelve, with his brothers Gordon (left), and Delbert.
While working his way through high school, Spencer milked about 23 cows night and morning by hand.
Spencer, (standing, far right) was star forward on the basketball team while attending Gila Academy.
Elder Kimball was a member of a popular quartet for many years. Here the quartet represents (Spanish) Conquistadores.
Music is one of Brother Kimball's hobbies. Here he is shown entertaining seven of his grandchildren.
In the deep snows of Mt. Graham when Elder Kimball was president of the Mt. Graham Stake.
Elder Kimball's home in Safford, Arizona, built three years before he moved to Salt Lake City.
Brother and Sister Kimball with a group of Aztec Indians, members of the Church in southern Mexico.
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"President Spencer W. Kimball Acting President of the Council of the Twelve." Improvement Era. March 1970. pg. 13.
President Spencer W. Kimball Acting President of the Council of the Twelve When Spencer Woolley Kimball, recently called and set apart as acting president of the Council of the Twelve, was but a youth, his father once said to a neighbor: "Brother, that boy Spencer is an exceptional boy. He always tries to mind me, whatever I ask him to do. I have dedicated him to be one of the mouthpieces of the Lord—the Lord willing. You will see him someday as a great leader. I have dedicated him to the service of God, and he will become a mighty man in the Church." That early benediction has proved to be prophetic. Elder Kimball has indeed become a great mouthpiece for the Lord and a great leader. His general conference addresses have long been treasured by members of the Church for their probing counsel, easy-to-comprehend analogies, and refined and imaginative qualities of expression. Born in Salt Lake City on March 28, 1895, to Andrew and Olive Woolley Kimball, young Spencer spent most of his life in Arizona, where in 1898 his father was called to serve as president of the St. Joseph Stake in Arizona's Gila Valley. His father previously served 12 years as president of the Indian Territory Mission, an experience that greatly influenced young Spencer's love for and desire to serve the Lamanite people. In his school days at Thatcher, Arizona, he was a class leader, honor student, and athlete. Then came a mission to the Central States, after which he attended the University of Arizona, where he prepared himself for a career in business. He worked first in banking and then as owner-manager of an insurance and realty company, and held many responsible positions in civic and professional organizations. In 1917 he married Camilla Eyring, and they became the parents of four children. Always willing to serve in the Church, he became stake clerk of St. Joseph Stake at the age of 22 and six years later was named a counselor in the stake presidency. In 1938 he was called as the first president of the newly organized Mt. Graham Stake. On July 8, 1943, he received the call to serve as a member of the Council of the Twelve. For almost 30 years he has visited and built up the Saints in the wards, stakes, branches, and missions. He is quick to analyze a problem and then, with love unfeigned, give the solution. He has carried a major role in financial matters for the Church and has helped to build the widely acclaimed Church Indian Program. He has become a "mighty man" in the Church. |
"President Spencer W. Kimball to Serve as Acting President of the Council of the Twelve." Relief Society Magazine. April 1970. pg. 252-253.
President Spencer W. Kimball to Serve As Acting President of the Council of the Twelve With the naming of President Harold B. Lee, senior member of the Council of the Twelve, to the First Presidency, Elder Spencer Woolley Kimball has been named acting President of the Council of the Twelve. President Kimball is a noteworthy speaker, especially among the younger members of the Church. He was ordained to the apostleship and sustained as a member of the Council of the Twelve in October of 1943, and has devoted his life since that time to being a special witness of Jesus Christ. President Kimball was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, March 28, 1895, one of eleven children of Andrew and Olive Woolley Kimball. One of his grandfathers, Heber C. Kimball, was a Counselor to President Brigham Young. His heritage is rich in devoted Church service. He was educated in the public schools and Gila Academy at Thatcher, Arizona, and at the University of Arizona. He has an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Brigham Young University. President Kimball served a three-year mission in the Central States Mission, finishing his mission as a district president. Upon completion of his mission he returned to Arizona, where he met and married Camilla Eyring, November 17, 1918, in the Arizona Temple. They are the parents of three sons and one daughter: Mrs. Grant M. (Olive Beth) Mack, Spencer L., Andrew, and Edward Lawrence. There are twenty-seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. President Kimball has traveled widely among the Indians. He has been a delegate to national and international meetings in behalf of the Lamanites. Church members throughout the world will benefit from Elder Kimball's zeal and devotion to his new calling. |
Sister Kimball has been a devoted companion and helpmeet to Elder Kimball in his many important callings.
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