On Sundays, President Monson's mother would fix a large dinner and send a plate of food with her son to Robert's home. "Mother would also insure that no person who ever knocked at her door in search of food would go away hungry."

The family home was near the railroad tracks during the Depression, and she would invite transients who came in on the train and were looking for something to eat to sit at the kitchen table while she made them a sandwich and served it with a glass of milk.

By the time young President Monson turned 16, duck hunting, canyon camping and fishing had become hobbies that would remain favorites pastimes. He worried about the future as World War II played out during his years at West High School, where "each young man knew that if (the war) continued, he would be in the military" and go off to distant battles from which some would not return.

Shortly after he turned 17, he enrolled as a student at the University of Utah, working part-time in his father's print shop. His father paid the tuition, which he remembered at that time was "$40 or less," and he enjoyed the fact that "there were about eight girls to every boy on the campus."

He met his future wife, Frances Johnson, at a U. Hello Day dance, 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.