"I'd tell them that I hadn't known much else, since from the earliest days of our marriage, Tom was busy with church service." She kept herself busy serving church auxiliaries and rearing their three children. "I learned quite early to stand on my own feet."

Upon release as a mission president in 1962, President Monson was named manager of the Deseret News Press and worked on committee assignments with the church in addition to serving on the Valley View Stake high council.

He was sustained a member of the Quorum of the Twelve on Oct. 4, 1963, at age 36, replacing Elder N. Eldon Tanner, who was called as a counselor in the First Presidency.

Among his many earlier assignments with the Twelve, he served as chairman of the missionary executive committee; a member of the correlation executive committee; and as area adviser of Europe and Europe West mission areas.

Before 1996, some general authorities were also active in business, serving on various corporate boards. President Monson served on the board of the Deseret News Publishing Co. for 31 years, 19 of those as president, and as vice president of the Newspaper Agency Corp.

He also served for many years as a board member for several other businesses, as a member of the Utah Board of Regents, a trustee of the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge and the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America.

He currently serves as a trustee of Brigham Young University, where he earlier received an MBA and was honored in April 1981 with an honorary Doctor of Laws. He received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Salt Lake Community College in June 1996, and an honorary Doctor of Business from the U.

In December 1981, President Monson was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to serve on the President's Task Force for Private Sector Initiatives, completing his assignment a year later.

Other honors include the University of Utah's Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1966; the Boy Scouts of America's Silver Beaver, Silver Buffalo and Bronze Wolf awards; the Minuteman Award from the Utah National Guard in 1997; and BYU's Exemplary Manhood Award.

On Nov. 10, 1985, he became a member of the First Presidency, as second counselor to President Ezra Taft Benson, and again as second counselor to President Howard W. Hunter beginning June 5, 1994.

He joined President Gordon B. Hinckley in the First Presidency on March 12, 1995, serving as first counselor until President Hinckley's death on Jan. 27, 2008.

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Editor's note: The details in this story about President Monson's early life and memories are drawn from his personal memoirs, which he published privately in 1985 under the title, "On the Lord's Errand — Memoirs of Thomas S. Monson."