President Monson recalls influence of family on his life

He met his future wife, Frances Johnson, at "Hello Day" there, catching the first glimpse of her as she danced with another boy. Watching from a distance, he determined to find a way to meet her. A month later, he saw her waiting for a streetcar with some friends, and caught the car with them to ride. He called her later that night and arranged their first date.

After growing up in a home he remembered was, "rather noisy and gregarious, I was not prepared for the dignity and quiet which prevailed" at the Johnson home. Her father, Franz Johnson, first asked about his ancestry, then brought out a picture of two missionaries in top hats and asked, "Are you related to this Monson," pointing at the picture. "Yes, that's Elias Monson, my father's uncle," he replied.

Tears formed in his future father-in-law's eyes. "He was one of the missionaries who helped bring my family into the gospel" in Sweden, his future father-in-law said, hugging the boy.

The couple's first date was a dance at the Pioneer Stake building, and they double-dated with friends. All of them enjoyed bands with live music as a popular pastime at dances.

He wrote of his date with Frances on New Year's Eve 1944, remembering she had to be home by 2 a.m. because she had to go to work on New Year's Day. He learned she worked in the copy room at the Deseret News. "Little did I know at that time I would have a career working at the same company."

In 1945, he joined the U.S. Naval Reserve, serving for a year before returning home in August 1946. He and Frances exchanged letters regularly during his absence.

"I had a little romantic streak in me," he later told the LDS Church News. "I'd go to the commodore's garden in San Diego, pick off the head of a snapdragon and put that bloom in my letter to her. The bloom would be dried by the time she got it; nonetheless, she'd find a flower from me in the envelope."

When he returned, they resumed their courtship, and on Oct. 7, 1948, they were married in the Salt Lake Temple. Benjamin L. Bowring, who had been president of the Hawaii and Los Angeles temples, performed the sealing. He counseled the young couple on how to avoid long-term misunderstandings.

"Kneel down by the side of your bed every night and one night, Brother Monson, you offer the prayer, aloud on bended knee; and the next night, Sister Monson, you offer the prayer, aloud on bended knee. If you do this, you'll never retire angry one with another. No misunderstanding that terminates at the end of one day will ever get out of line," President Monson said of his advice.

He told the Church News, "I've shared that same formula with all the couples whose sealings I have performed since I became a General Authority."

The young couple set up housekeeping at their first apartment, 508 S. 200 West, where he had grown up.