Sister Ruth Faust, widow of Pres. Faust, dies at 86

Ruth Wright Faust, the widow of President James E. Faust of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died of causes incident to age Sunday morning at her home surrounded by her family. She was 86.

Her death comes exactly six months after her husband died.

"Surely his almost storybook romance is among the sweetest in the annals of the church," said Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, at President Faust's funeral. "Ruth Faust adored James E. Faust — everything he did and said, every act or deed or gesture melted her. He felt the same way about her, and they were 'melted."'

Ruth Wright Faust was born April 11, 1921, in the Millcreek area of Salt Lake City, the sixth of eight children of Elmer Wright and Elizabeth Hamilton Wright.

Sister Faust graduated from Granite High School in Salt Lake and attended the University of Utah. While attending school, she worked as a secretary and modeled clothing for a local department store.

She met her husband-to-be while they were students at Granite High, but the two did not date until President Faust returned from his mission to Brazil and after he was called into the military service in 1942.

The former classmates finally reunited when Sister Faust was working for her husband-to-be's uncle in the fingerprint bureau at the state Capitol.

"Uncle Jim, I am sure, influenced his nephew, Jim, to pay him a visit at the office in order for him to become better acquainted with me and to see if he wanted to ask me for a date," she said.

"I must have passed the test because I was invited to the Faust home for Sunday dinner for some of Father Faust's famous Dutch oven chicken."

The meal must have worked. The pair later married in the Salt Lake Temple on April 21, 1943, while President Faust was on a brief military leave.

President and Sister Faust raised five children: James H. Faust; Janna (R. Coombs); Marcus G. Faust; Lisa (A. Smith); and Robert P. Faust. Sister Faust spent her life raising her children and supporting President Faust in his church assignments.