Letter and Explanation

Kris in front of 33 W. 126th St., New York City, 2016

[Kris' Note, February 5, 2019: 

Over 50 years ago, Weldon P. Monson began to write histories of his father Walter Peter Monson, his mother Leona Smart Parkinson Monson, his sister Venna and his brothers Lafe, Lysle, Maurice and Richard, plus his own.  I am Kristine Monson Westover, the daughter of Maurice P. Monson.  The following documents posted on this blog were recently discovered in the home of the late Weldon P. Monson family.  I transcribed them from handwritten histories.  Weldon and his wife Erma had one child, Diane, who never married and had no children.  They moved to their home in Stamford, Connecticut in ~1947 and it was still Diane’s home when she died in 2018.  All three are buried at the Riverview Cemetery in St. Anthony, Idaho.  Diane's executor allowed us one day of access to the home to see if we could locate Monson family records, which we found toward the end of that day.  My husband found them in an old folder, laying down flat underneath boxes of copies of Diane's doctoral dissertation in the very back of the bottom drawer of a rusty old file cabinet in the back room tucked away in the corner of the small, low, musty basement.  The folder was found very late in the day, as the light was dimming.  I did not edit the histories, but I added some notes.]

6/26/68

Dear Blanche:

Here are some further thoughts on mother.  There are so many things I would like to write about but I think I will have to leave the rest to you and the others, who will also have much to say.

May I suggest that you ask Maurice to write about Dad’s views on religion, the gospel etc and Keyne on the missionary diary that he has and life at 1888 So. 11^th East with Dad and Mother.  I was away a great deal and I think Maurice and Keyne could do that better than I.  I think possibly you could too.

Also, after you have things moving along I would suggest you make an appointment with Hugh B. Brown and ask him to tell you some of the more intimate details of his relationship with Dad and Mother.  You might check with Maurice on this before you see him as he will, undoubtedly, want you to obtain certain information while you are there.

Good luck, Blanche, and thanks for asking me to write about our wonderful parents.  I think it is splendid that you are going to the graves occasionally and helping to keep them looking nice.  They are the most sacred places on earth to me although I have never left any flowers or done anything special such as you are now doing.  However each Memorial Day I will try to remember to send you $10.00 to buy a few flowers as a remembrance from our little family back here, and you can place them with yours as you would wish.

Our best love to you, Blanche, always,

Your brother,

Weldon

[Kris' Note:  From this letter we learn that the biographies were written by Weldon at Blanche’s request.  Perhaps she had a project in mind.  Weldon began writing about their parents in 1961 and completed them in 1968.  Weldon completed writing the other histories in 1973.  He wrote about Venna, Lafe, Lysle and Richard but not about Elna Rose.  He did not write about Walter who had died in 1969.  He actually began writing about Lafe in early 1968 while Lafe was still alive, but completed it in 1973.  Lafe died unexpectedly in October of 1968.  

Weldon wrote about my father, Maurice, who was still alive, but further suggested that Blanche have Maurice write more.  However, he said there were a few things he doubted Maurice would include that he wanted to make sure were recorded.  Maurice did write his own history, and it is included here.  Maury died in 1996.  Weldon did not write about Blanche or Keyne, and perhaps expected them to write their own.  They lived until 2000 and 2008, respectively.  I have included the histories that I have for them, by their kids.  I do not have a history for the eldest son, Walter Parkinson Monson.

Weldon did write his own history, but only into his college years, which was also in the folder.  His more complete history is already archived in special collections at the Harold B. Lee Library at BYU, placed there by Diane and then-President Jeffrey R. Holland because Weldon had been on the BYU football coaching staff under Ott Romney in the early 1930s.  I added the transcript of Diane's life sketch about Weldon from his funeral.

The graves of their parents that he mentions are at Wasatch Lawn at 3401 S. Highland Dr. in Millcreek area in Salt Lake City, Utah.  They are in the front section of the cemetery, not far from the pond and the buildings, in a section called Arlington. 

Buried there together are:

Walter Peter Monson

Leona Parkinson Monson

Richard Parkinson Monson

DeLysle Parkinson Monson

Rosetta Grover Monson

Walter Parkinson Monson

Maurice Parkinson Monson (my Dad)

Elizabeth McFate Monson (my Mother)

Elsewhere in the Wasatch Lawn cemetery (but where?) is Margaret Simons Monson (Uncle Lafe’s first wife who died at age 36) and Elizabeth Marie Monson (my brother Eric and Joanne’s daughter who died at age 5, buried in a section called Rosemont, I think).  Venna Monson Taylor is buried in the Salt Lake Cemetery up in the Avenues with the John Taylor family.  Lafayette Parkinson Monson and Helen Marrs Monson have plaques at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California in the mausoleum memorial area.  Keyne Parkinson Monson and Geraldine Kirkham Monson are at Oakmont in Lafayette, California (so is Matthew Michael Lyon, Keyne's grandson).  I have no idea where Elna Rose is buried.  I have looked at the Preston cemetery and have not yet found it.  Maybe it's in Franklin.

As Keyne's son Doug pointed out once when we were paying respects at Wasatch Lawn, Walter Peter and Leona Parkinson Monson's children lived in three centuries!  The eldest, Walter Parkinson Monson, was born in 1896.  Keyne Parkinson Monson died in 2008.

I believe it is important to note that the calling of mission president was considered a lifetime assignment at the time Walter P. Monson was called by Joseph F. Smith, who died late in 1918.  There were nine mission presidents world-wide at that time.  They were:  Charles A. Callis, Samuel O. Bennion, Melvin J. Ballard, Rey L. Pratt, Nicholas G. Smith, German E. Ellsworth, John L. Herrick, Charles A. Hart (I can't find any information about him), and Walter P. Monson.  

When President Joseph F. Smith died and President Heber J. Grant was ordained in 1919, he released all 9 mission presidents and changed it to a shorter-term calling.  One of those presidents, Pres. N. G. Smith, remained in South Africa for two more years.  Another of those presidents, Pres. R. L. Pratt, was called back to his mission in Mexico within a couple of years and served until his death.  

Pres. Melvin J. Ballard, was called to the Quorum of the Twelve in 1919.  

“President [Heber J.] Grant received revelations as President of the Church to guide the Church as a whole. One such revelation came just after he was set apart as President of the Church, when he sought the will of the Lord in appointing a new member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. As he pondered this responsibility, his thoughts turned repeatedly to his lifelong friend Richard W. Young, a faithful Latter-day Saint and a proven leader. President Grant discussed this possibility with his counselors, who supported his decision. When he finally felt confident with this course of action, he wrote his friend’s name on a piece of paper and took the paper with him to the weekly temple meeting with the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve. However, when he was about to present the name for the approval of his Brethren, he was unable to do so. Instead of presenting the name of Richard W. Young, he presented the name of Melvin J. Ballard, a man whom he hardly knew. President Grant later told of the impact this experience had on him:

“‘I have felt the inspiration of the living God directing me in my labors. From the day that I chose a comparative stranger to be one of the apostles, instead of my lifelong and dearest living friend, I have known as I know that I live, that I am entitled to the light and the inspiration and the guidance of God in directing His work here upon this earth’” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Heber J. Grant [2002], 181–82).

The remaining gentlemen each had a unique and different outcome, based upon his own circumstances and decisions.  Years later, in 1933, Charles A. Callis was also called as an apostle.

Walter's health began to fail in late 1923 when he had a strangulated hernia, nearly died and was hospitalized for weeks.  He had various health problems including a bad heart and had two heart attacks before a fatal one.  He died in February of 1935 at the age of 59.

Thank you for reading about our wonderful, complicated and diverse Monson family.]