1994
Ezra Taft Benson Highlights
July 1994


“Ezra Taft Benson Highlights,” Tambuli, July 1994 (Special Edition), 22

Special Edition

Ezra Taft Benson Highlights

(1899–1994)

Date

Event

1899

August 4: Is born at Whitney, Idaho.

1914–18

Attends Oneida Stake Academy at Preston, Idaho.

1918

Begins attending Utah State Agricultural College, Logan, Utah.

1918–21

Serves as assistant Scoutmaster, then Scoutmaster in the Whitney Ward.

1921–23

Is ordained an elder by his father and serves as a missionary in Britain.

1926

Spring: Graduates from Brigham Young University.

September 10: Marries Flora Amussen in the Salt Lake Temple.

Fall: Begins attending Iowa State College at Ames, Iowa.

1927

Graduates from Iowa State College with an M.S. in agricultural economics. Returns to Idaho.

Is ordained a seventy.

1929–30

Works for the extension division of the University of Idaho.

1931

Becomes head of the university’s new Department of Agricultural Economics and Marketing.

1932

Becomes superintendent of the Boise Stake YMMIA.

1933–38

Serves as executive secretary of the Idaho Cooperative Council.

1935

Is ordained a high priest and is set apart as first counselor in the Boise Stake presidency.

1936

Begins graduate studies at University of California at Berkeley.

1938

Becomes stake president in Boise, Idaho.

1939

Becomes executive secretary of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives in Washington, D.C.

1940

Becomes president of the Washington (D.C.) Stake.

1943

October 7: Is ordained an Apostle.

1946

February–December: Serves as president of the European Mission; coordinates distribution of food and supplies to victims of World War II.

July: Dedicates Finland for preaching of the gospel.

1949

Is elected a member of the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America, succeeding President George Albert Smith.

1953–61

Serves as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture under President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

1964–65

Serves again as president of the European Mission.

1966

Dedicates Italy for the preaching of the gospel.

1969

Dedicates Singapore and Indonesia for the preaching of the gospel.

1970

Organizes the Tokyo Stake, the first Asian stake.

1973

December 30: Is set apart as President of the Quorum of the Twelve.

1976

September 14: He and Sister Benson celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary.

1977

Organizes the Helsinki Finland Stake, the first in Finland.

1978

Receives American Farm Bureau Federation’s Award for Distinguished and Meritorious Service; receives the George Washington Medal Award from the Freedom Foundation at Valley Forge.

Participates in the dedication of the Orson Hyde Memorial Gardens in Jerusalem.

1985

November 10: Becomes President of the Church.

1986

January: Visits U.S. President Ronald Reagan in Washington, D.C.

Participates in dedication of the Denver Colorado Temple.

1987

July: Participates in the British Isles Sesquicentennial in London.

August: Participates in dedication of the Frankfurt Germany Temple.

1988

February: Participates in groundbreaking for the San Diego California Temple.

May: Is honored as Utah State University’s most distinguished alumnus.

1989

August: Participates in the dedication of the Portland Oregon Temple.

December: Participates in dedication of the Las Vegas Nevada Temple.

1990

January, March: Attends regional conferences in Utah and Idaho.

1992

May: Participates in groundbreaking for the Bountiful Utah Temple.

August 19: Attends funeral services for his wife, Flora.