President Benson Visits Cardston during Canada Centenary

President Ezra Taft Benson and his wife, Flora, visited Cardston, Alberta, Saturday, August 1, for the Heritage Days celebration, as the community celebrated its centennial. President Benson was grand marshall of the Heritage Days parade, in which he and Sister Benson rode in a horse-drawn coach.

On Sunday, President Benson spoke to a congregation of approximately seven thousand people at an early morning outdoor interfaith service held on the south lawn of the Alberta Temple in Cardston. The Alberta Temple was the first LDS temple to be built outside the United States.

Other Church officials participating in the parade and local activities were Elder Ted E. Brewerton and Elder Victor L. Brown, both of the First Quorum of the Seventy; Sister Barbara Winder, Relief Society General President; Sister Ardeth G. Kapp, Young Women General President; Sister Elaine Jack, Second Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency; and Brother Robert H. Walker, regional representative.

“Your celebrations are especially deserving,” said President Benson at the Sunday interfaith service. “Your community may not be counted among the major cities of the world … but it has had influence far beyond what would normally be expected for a community of this size.”

Referring to Canadian pioneering Church leader Charles Ora Card and his accompanying band of just over forty settlers a hundred years ago, President Benson said, “Today we honor those who started the first century of growth. They were a conservative, religiously oriented stock; God-fearing men and women with a strong commitment to the Church.”

He also paid honor to the local residents who he said should prepare to take Cardston into the next century. “You have a rich heritage,” he said, “a heritage you can continue to pass on to your children and their children.”

Correspondent: Geri Walton, Aetna Ward, Cardston Alberta Stake.

[photo] President Ezra Taft Benson waves to crowds as grand marshall of the Heritage Days parade in Cardston, Alberta. (Photo by Geri Walton.)