Sister Frances Monson, The "First Lady" Of The LDS Church, Passes Away At The Age Of 85

Update May 25th: Videos of the tributes to Sister Frances Monson now embedded in this post.

The following video, published on Mother's Day as a Mother's Day tribute to Sister Frances Monson, has unexpectedly become a memorial tribute as well. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially reports that Frances B. Monson, the wife of President Thomas S. Monson, passed away at 6:35 A.M. MDT on May 17th, 2013 in a Salt Lake City hospital. She was surrounded by family at the end. She had been hospitalized for several weeks and passed away peacefully of causes incident to age. Sister Monson was 85 years old. Update March 20th: Funeral services will be held in the Salt Lake Tabernacle at noon on Thursday May 23rd; the public is invited. There will be no public viewing of the decedent herself. Stations and web sites planning to carry the services include KSL.com, BYU TV, BYU TV Global, BYU TV International, KBYU, the church’s international satellite system and LDS.org.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR91yxMUxRY



Born on October 27th, 1927, Frances Beverly Johnson was one of five children produced by Franz E. Johnson and Hildur Booth Johnson; she was the youngest of the brood, and the only daughter. She first met Thomas Monson in 1944; the two were married October 7th, 1948 in the Salt Lake Temple. The couple was blessed with three children: Thomas Lee, Ann Frances and Clark Spencer. Sister Monson will not only be remembered for her own service in the Relief Society, Primary, Sunday School, and Young Women, spending many hours preparing lessons for those callings, but also for the love and support she showed to her husband and family and the service she rendered to others. She completely supported her husband in all of his Church duties, and excelled as a mother, continually teaching her children the importance of sacrifice and serving the Lord. Read a more complete summary of her life on Mormon Newsroom, as well as media stories in the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News.

The Provo Daily Herald reports that Sister Monson had a brush with death in 2000. Her daughter Ann Dibb was delivering some homemade Swedish treats to her parents when she walked into the kitchen and found her mother on the floor in a pool of blood. Frances Monson had a gash on the back of her head that apparently was from hitting it on a drawer that was open. For the next two and a half weeks she was unconscious and when she awoke was still unable to speak.

Despite some sharp political differences between them, LDS bloggers on the Bloggernacle are united in paying tribute to Sister Monson. Hard-left progressive blogger Chris Henrichsen writes, "I hope and pray for peace and comfort for the Monson family on this day. Times like these can be emotional and stressful, as they are for all us when a loved one dies". By Common Consent writes "We send love, support, prayers and comfort to President Monson and their children during this time".

In lieu of flowers, the Monson family has requested that donations be made to the church’s General Missionary Fund through the web site set up at http://give.lds.org/frances-monson.