It was two years ago that Elder Joseph Anderson became the longest-lived General Authority in the history of the Church. He is now one year away from reaching another milestone: living an entire century.

Elder Anderson, a General Authority Emeritus, will observe his 99th birthday Sunday, Nov. 20.Exceptionally fit and healthy for his age, Elder Anderson still occupies the dignified house in Salt Lake City in which he has dwelt for more than 40 years. There, he spoke with the Church News about his upcoming birthday. The interview was on the day of the season's first snowfall; otherwise, it might have taken place in his office on the 20th floor of the Church Office Building.

He still goes to his office on days with mild weather, and he regularly attends the Thursday meetings of the General Authorities. The first Thursday of the month, the meetings are held in the Salt Lake Temple. During the meeting at the temple in November, Elder Anderson was called upon to speak.

He also spoke Nov. 13 in the Salt Lake Tabernacle at the conference of the Bonneville Utah Region in which he lives. Elder Boyd K. Packer of the Council of the Twelve presided at the conference and Elder Victor L. Brown of the First Quorum of the Seventy also was present.

"They put me on the stand," Elder Anderson said. "I thought that was all right, since it was a regional conference. But darned if they didn't call on me to speak! Once in a while I do speak in meetings, but not by my request."

As a matter of fact, on his birthday, Elder Anderson is scheduled to address a meeting in the Salt Lake Cottonwood Heights Stake at the invitation of his grandson-in-law, Pres. Bruce Lindsay, second counselor in the stake presidency.

A frequent theme of Elder Anderson's talks is his close association with several of the prophets of this dispensation. In fact, he wrote a book, published in 1973, titled Prophets I Have Known.

In 1922, he went to work as personal secretary to President Heber J. Grant. After President Grant's death, he became secretary to the First Presidency. In that capacity, he served the administrations of Presidents George Albert Smith and David O. McKay and briefly in Joseph Fielding Smith's.

At the April 1970 Solemn Assembly in which President Smith was sustained as 10th president of the Church, Joseph Anderson was sustained as an Assistant to the Twelve. With the other Assistants to the Twelve, he was called to the newly organized First Quorum of the Seventy in October 1976. He received emeritus status two years later.

"I feel that I've been a very fortunate person to be so closely associated with so many of the General Authorities of the Church," Elder Anderson reflected. "These men have been wonderful and are wonderful men. There are no better men anywhere. I loved them, one and all, and I still do."

Sometimes, he said, he goes to his office when he has nothing more to do than eat lunch in the cafeteria of the Church Administration Building. That gives him the opportunity to associate with one or more of the Brethren.

"It has been an unusual experience to be with these brethren," he said.

"I had the experience of going to Europe in 1937 with President Grant. We visited all the missions in Europe at that time. There weren't any stakes in Europe. This was the 100th anniversary of the opening of the gospel in England. We held meetings there and visited those places where meetings were held in the beginning. It was a glorious experience.

"President Grant was kind enough to call on me - I guess it was kind - to speak in most of those places. Not that I was a good speaker, but I was a good secretary."

When Elder Anderson started to work for President Grant, there were only 500,000 members of the Church. He said he kept carbon copies in a binder of all letters sent by the First Presidency to Church members on matters of doctrine. In those days, the members of First Presidency answered every letter they received, and when someone would write in asking a question, the brethren would refer to the book kept by Elder Anderson to see what had been written before on the subject. Thus, they were able to remain consistent in what they said.

"President J. Reuben Clark, when he came to work, said that was the best record he had ever seen in the office."

With affection, he remembers his association with President Grant.

"A day or two before he died, I was up to see him. He said, `Joseph, have I ever been unkind to you?' And after 23 years, I could say, `No, President Grant, you have never said an unkind word to me.' "

For most of his life, Elder Anderson maintained a regimen of daily walking and swimming. Within the last three years, health problems forced him to cease swimming. "It was a sad time for me," he said.

He still walks about a mile a day, taking the arm of his resident housekeeper. Until about a year ago, he walked alone. But after suffering a fall, he thought it unwise to continue his walks unaccompanied.

His wife, Norma Ettie Peterson Anderson, passed away in August 1985. But he maintains close ties with his two daughters and son. He has 10 grandchildren. "As a matter of fact I have 34 great-granchildren and one on the way," he said.

"I don't have any great-great-grandchildren, although a couple of the girls are old enough to get married. I think they have some good friends. They told me when they do get married they want me to perform their marriages in the temple. I don't know whether I'll be able to do that. They'll have to hurry, I guess."

Elder Anderson declared his love for the gospel and knowledge of its truthfulness.

"The Lord has been so good to me over the years, answering my prayers and inspiring me. Even now, I don't know what I'd do without the Lord. I'm a great advocate of prayer, a great advocate of testimony."