Prophet's wife notes 88th birthday July 1
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As the photographer was preparing to take pictures of Sister Flora Amussen Benson, wife of President Ezra Taft Benson, for her 88th birthday, she observed that people have always made a big fuss each year on that occasion.
"All my birthdays have been good, but I'm not certain they have been good for everyone else," she said, commenting on the efforts family members and friends put forth each year to help her celebrate.When asked if she had any particular wishes for her July 1 birthday, Sister Benson smiled and quickly said, "The most perfect birthday would be to spend the day with my husband. He has always been so good to me."
She noted that in their nearly 63 years of married life (they were married Sept. 10, 1926), there have been some birthdays that they have not been together because his Church duties required him to travel a great deal.
"I always missed him when he was away from home, but I tried not to be selfish," she said. "He has always been busy with the Lord's work, and that has blessed our family."
President Benson, in speaking to a family gathering a few years ago, recalled that if he had to take a train or plane at midnight or later, she would either sit up with him or lie awake to make sure he did not oversleep.
"If duty required me to leave at 5 a.m., she was always ready to prepare me a bite of breakfast before I left home and extend a goodbye kiss," he said.
In paying tribute to Sister Benson, he told their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, "Never to this day have you heard her say a cross or disrespectful word to a child. This can be said truthfully, I think, of but few women in the world.
"Under all conditions and circumstances, she has been the perfect lady. Her rich heritage and education have enabled her to be a true helpmate; her congeniality, fine sense of humor, and interest in my work, a pleasing companion; unbounded patience and intelligent insight to childhood, a most devoted mother - these and many other virtues, combined with her loyalty and self-sacrificing devotion to her husband, impel me to crown her the sweetest, most helpful, most inspiring sweetheart and wife that ever inspired a man to noble endeavor.
"To her, gratefully, we owe in largest measure our happy family life and whatever success we may have achieved."
