Known for many positive attributes, President Thomas S. Monson is beloved especially for his commitment to friends. And nearly every one of the 165 people gathered in a banquet hall of a Salt Lake City hotel Sept. 15 qualified as a friend on a first-name-basis of Tom Monson. Most of them were schoolmates from Salt Lake City's West High School who had gathered for a reunion.

Photo by Gerry Avant

President Thomas S. Monson and his wife, Frances, renew aquaintance at reunion for Salt Lake City's West High School's classes of 1942, 1943 and 1944.

President Monson, a member of the class of 1944, attended the reunion with his wife, Frances Johnson Monson, a graduate of a rival school, East High.

"It's a delight to be with dear friends whom I've known for so many years," said President Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency. "We all went to high school together. All who were here today were graduates of either 1942, '43 or '44, the classes that graduated into World War II. Some, unfortunately, didn't make it back from that war, but they're remembered with affection and they're still West High alumni."

President Monson offered the opening prayer and blessing on the food at the noon-time gathering. After their meal, the group joined in singing "As Time Goes By." They sang West High School's "Victory Song" and "West High, Our Alma Mater." They raised their voices in West High yells. Pianist Lorraine Ashton Wilkinson played a medley of "songs with special memories."

After the reunion's program concluded, many friends from President Monson's school days crowded around to shake his hand, give him a friendly slap on the shoulder or a warm embrace. They spoke of mutual friends not present, those who have either passed away or were unable to attend for health or other reasons. They brought each other up to date on what was going on in their lives.

"It was a day of remembrance and a day of greeting those we haven't seen for a long time," President Monson told the Church News as he was leaving the banquet hall. He and Sister Monson were among the last to leave.

"I like the phrase, 'New friends are silver but the old are gold.' Our West High associates are gold of 24-karat variety. It was good to be with them."

Bonnie Hunsaker Shoemaker said, "He loves the school and he always sticks up for it because he was one of us. He really puts himself out to come to our reunions, even though he has such a busy schedule. He has a sweet wife who is always there by his side."

Orville Petersen, who served as the program's master of ceremonies, described President Monson as one who "has been exceptionally faithful to remember old friends. As great a man as he is, he is just a down-to-earth good friend to all these people. The Church is lucky to have him, and this group is lucky to have him as a friend."

Of the importance his classmates place on reunions, which they plan to hold every two years, Brother Petersen said, "At our age, the only things that really matter are your family, your friends and your religious convictions. Everything else is just kind of incidental."

Another friend from West High, Charles Quilter, lived in the 6th-7th Ward over which President Monson was called to preside as bishop when he was just 22. "I was 40 when I married my wife, LaRue, in 1967," Brother Quilter said. "By that time, Tom had become an apostle. He performed our marriage ceremony in the Salt Lake Temple."

Brother Quilter added, "He is most loyal to his friends."

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