He cherishes learning
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President Henry B. Eyring once asked his father a simple question: "Why," he said, "do you ask gas station attendants questions?"
His father's response was profound: "I never met a man I couldn't learn something from," he told his son.
Years later, President Eyring would describe his childhood home as a laboratory where he learned to cherish science and religion and to respect others.
Set apart Feb. 3 as first counselor to President Thomas S. Monson, President Eyring credits his accomplishments as a scholar, educator and religious leader to his parents.
Born in Princeton, N.J., May 31, 1933, to Henry and Mildred Bennion Eyring, he was raised in a home filled with deep discussion. His father was an accomplished and internationally known scientist. His mother was head of the women's Physical Education Department at the University of Utah and was pursuing a doctorate at the time she met his father.
"We'd talk about spiritual things, we'd talk world affairs, we'd talk about history," President Eyring stated in a Church press release. "So the dinner table was the most interesting place you've ever been in your life. Here are these brilliant people talking, but not trying to be brilliant."
Above all, his parents valued education.
After earning a bachelor's degree in physics, serving two years in the U.S. Air Force, and entering the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, President Eyring met the woman who would share that love of learning. He married Kathleen Johnson, a daughter of Sid and LaPrele Johnson, in the Logan Utah Temple July 27, 1962; they have six children.
They moved to Palo Alto, Calif., where President Eyring worked for 10 years as a Stanford professor. Then one night Sister Eyring woke up her husband and asked, "Hal, are you sure you're doing the right thing with your life?"
Within a week, during which time the couple reflected on their goals, President Eyring was invited to be the president of Church-owned Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho. President Eyring was head of Ricks College — now BYU-Idaho — for five years. From Church employment, President Eyring moved into full-time Church service when he was called to the Presiding Bishopric in 1985 and then the First Quorum of the Seventy in 1992.
Sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve April 1, 1995, President Eyring has spent the past decade traveling the world, strengthening members and preaching powerful sermons. He also served as Commissioner of Church Education.
On Oct. 6, 2007, President Eyring was sustained as President Gordon B. Hinckley's second counselor.
Moments after the conference session in which he was sustained in his new calling, President Eyring was asked at a press conference if he had a message for the world:
"We are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Son of the living God, who is generous in every way," he said.
