- BOUNTIFUL, Utah, Oct. 15, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — Kathleen Johnson Eyring — the wife of President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — died on Sunday, surrounded by family.
Kathleen was born in San Francisco on May 11, 1941, to J. Cyril and LaPrele Lindsay Johnson. After high school, she studied at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1961, while attending summer school in Boston, she attended a devotional where she was noticed by a young Harvard student, Henry Bennion Eyring.
Eyring later said he was immediately impressed by her goodness and recalls thinking, “If I could only be with her, I could be every good thing I ever wanted to be,” according to a statement issued by the LDS Church. The couple was married on July 19, 1962, in the Logan Utah Temple.
“The young couple’s married life started in Palo Alto, where Henry was on the faculty at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. During their early years of marriage, Kathleen’s faith and understanding of spiritual matters grew as she regularly worshipped and sought peace in the Oakland California Temple. Kathleen and Henry spent nine years in Palo Alto, and their family expanded with sons Henry, Stuart and Matthew.
“In 1970, as her husband was serving as a bishop and enjoying tenure at Stanford, Kathleen encouraged him to prayerfully consider the direction of his career. While initially ruffled at the suggestion, he heeded her counsel and received the impression to carefully consider new job opportunities with an open mind. Less than a week later, Henry was offered the position to be president of Ricks College, now BYU–Idaho, in Rexburg, Idaho, which he accepted.”
The family grew closer together during the time in rural Idaho, the statement says, and Kathleen and Henry enjoyed skiing, golfing and playing tennis — even winning the Ricks College doubles tennis tournament together in 1975.
The Eyrings moved to Utah in 1977 when Henry was named deputy commissioner of Church Education for the Church. The family grew to eight with the addition of another son, John, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary.
“Kathleen’s primary efforts continued to be supporting and offering counsel to her husband and focusing on motherhood, a role her family says she was completely devoted to and viewed as her most important responsibility,” the Church statement says.
Son Henry J. Eyring praised his mother.
“Mother is extraordinarily talented and ambitious,” he said. “But her overriding concern has always been to serve our Heavenly Father and His children.”
Kathleen served in many formal Church responsibilities, teaching lessons at church, serving as a visiting teacher and producing a newsletter for her congregation for many years, the Church statement says, adding that she is also remembered for powerfully ministering to others in quiet, less formal ways.
“Her most important service was quiet compassion for those who had experienced difficulty and sadness in their lives,” Son Matthew J. Eyring said. “She would always seek out ‘the one’ without fanfare and help that person feel her love and the love of the Savior.”
Kathleen was a writer and offered editorial counsel to Henry throughout his career and Church service, later taking formal minutes for the monthly meetings with other wives of General Authorities. Kathleen also recorded family memories, wrote scripts for family events and helped co-publish a monthly family newsletter. She wrote a young adult novel and won a statewide prize for young adult literature in 1979.
Henry B. Eyring was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1995, and Kathleen provided support and companionship during his long recovery from cancer surgery in 2005 and when he was called to the First Presidency in 2007.
“During this time, Kathleen began suffering from memory lapses, which her father had experienced as he grew older,” the LDS Church statement says. “As her memory continued to fade, President Eyring cared for Kathleen, often bringing her to his office to read and rest on a reclining chair while he was in meetings. While the disease was a challenge for the family, they recall Kathleen’s loving spirit grew sweeter, and a greater connection with the divine became apparent as she grew older and the memory loss progressed.”
President Eyring has said, “Kathleen has always been a person that made me want to be the very best that I can be.”
Funeral arrangements are pending.
