“President Benson Celebrates 94th Birthday,” Ensign, Oct. 1993, 74
President Benson Celebrates 94th Birthday
President Ezra Taft Benson celebrated his 94th birthday on 4 August 1993. Because of his advanced age and frail condition, he remained in his Salt Lake City apartment, but he received visits from family members, his counselors in the First Presidency, and members of the Quorum of the Twelve.
President Benson has been Church president since 10 November 1985. Prior to that, he served as president of the Quorum of the Twelve.
Born 4 August 1899 in Whitney, Idaho, Ezra Taft Benson was the oldest of George T. and Sarah Dunkley Benson’s eleven children. He served a mission in Great Britain from 1921 to 1923. In 1926 he married Flora Smith Amussen. Sister Benson died 14 August 1992, just a few weeks before their 66th wedding anniversary.
The Bensons have six children—two sons and four daughters. The family now includes thirty-four grandchildren and fifty-five great-grandchildren.