In August 1991 the LDS Church celebrated the centennial of its work in Tonga, and the king attended major events and declared a public holiday. The Tongan post office issued two commemorative stamps in honor of the occasion.

While on his mission, 1954-57, President Groberg became friends with the future king. "One of the places I was assigned to was in the islands of Ha'apai," a group of islands within Tonga. He became friends with the royal couple when they visited Ha'apai. At the time, the future king was crown prince and his mother, Queen Salote Tupou III, was ruler.

"They had two or three of their children with them, and I used to just visit with them a lot," President Groberg recalled in a telephone interview. "And a couple of times I would say, 'Why don't you go out and take an evening off, and I'll watch your kinds for you?'"

Their friendship continued when President Groberg returned to Tonga as a mission president. After Queen Salote died, President Groberg was invited to King Tupou IV's coronation. "We just had association with him over the years, the king and the queen and my wife and I," he said, referring to his wife, Jean.

President Groberg noted that he and his wife had a baby born in Tonga who had some problems. Members of the LDS community there prayed and fasted.

Queen Mata'aho told him it wasn't only LDS members who were doing that. "I was, too," she said. King Tupou IV attempted many ventures to improve Tonga's economic status, from agricultural changes to oil, aircraft and other investments. "Some of them worked out, some of them didn't," President Groberg said.

"He was a good man. He was very articulate, very interested in all aspects of life. ... He liked to travel, he liked to see what's going on in different parts of the world."When the king was in Utah to dedicate the Tongan United Methodist Church, President Groberg was in Salt Lake City as a General Authority. "He just invited us up to visit him," he said.

King Tupou IV was friends with many Utahns, and spoke at Brigham Young University at one occasion, he noted. "They (the Tongan people) have been expecting it," said Semisi Pau'u, president of the Salt Lake Utah LDS Tongan Stake, referring to the king's death. The stake has 2,700 members in the Salt Lake City and West Valley areas.

"He was very ill and he was also very old. But the people really love him and respect him as their leader."

People in the region will participate in mourning, he said.

"He has been a great king for us," he added. When King Tupou IV dedicated the Methodist church building, he said, he was able to meet him. "It was great for me personally to meet the king."