On the eve of his being called as a General Authority in October 1972, James E. Faust assembled his family in a council and told them, "I cannot magnify this new calling unless first I magnify my calling as husband, father, and patriarch to our family. I will never be released from this calling."

Photo by Brian Nicholson/Deseret Morning News

Sister Ruth Faust is presented a U.S. flag that was draped over the casket of her husband in honor of his service in the Army Air Force in World War II. He was discharged with the rank of first lieutenant after serving in the Mideast and Africa.

That was the recollection of Marcus G. Faust, President Faust's son, at his father's funeral. He said the family takes comfort in the eternal principle expressed in the statement of his father at that family council.

Expressing gratitude for the expressions of love that had come from across the world, he said, "We welcome all of you as members of the Faust family; you are our brothers and sisters."

Bishop Faust related: "Mother always came first in Dad's life. As kids we learned early that the divide-and-conquer strategy never worked with our parents! From the way he spoke with her, to the way he tended to her needs, we always knew our mother was Dad's one true love."

In special home evenings, President Faust would tell the family of his trips abroad, Bishop Faust said.

"While president of the International Mission, he told us of witnessing the first convert baptism in West Africa and later how a tribal chief contacted the Church saying that his entire tribe had read the Book of Mormon, knew it to be the Word of God, and asked when they all could be baptized."

He said his father delighted in telling of the growth of the Church in Brazil to the eight family members who have served missions there. "It was sometimes hard for the rest of us to understand when the conversation suddenly shifted into Portuguese." He said President Faust eagerly anticipated the upcoming dedication of a temple in Curitiba, where 68 years ago he knocked on the door of the family who became the city's first Church members.

President Faust loved the Holy Land, his son attested, adding that he took the family on a memorable vacation to see the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies after that facility opened. "As we we rounded the corner and the center first came into view on Mount Scopus, Dad became quiet with reverence, his eyes welled with tears and the whole bus was filled with the spirit and emotion of the moment."

Bishop Faust remarked, "I hope you can tell that by being part of the Faust family, Church, gospel, missions and family are all one and the same; the interwoven fabric of our lives."

He concluded with his father's testimony, given at October 1976 general conference after a trying event in Rosario, Argentina, that changed his life and drew him closer to the Savior. "I have gone to my knees with a humble spirit to the only place I could for help," President Faust said on that occasion. "I often went in agony of spirit, earnestly pleading with God to sustain me in the work I have come to appreciate more than life itself. I have, on occasion, felt the terrible aloneness of the wounds of the heart, of the sweet agony, the buffetings of Satan, and the encircling warm comfort of the Spirit of the Master."