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Marjorie
Pay Hinckley Turns 90 Years Old
SALT LAKE CITY
— Marjorie Pay Hinckley, wife of President Gordon B. Hinckley
of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will celebrate
her 90th birthday on 23 November 2001. Sister Hinckley was born
in Nephi, Utah in 1911, a descendant of early pioneers who settled
the Wasatch Front.
Sister Hinckley
said she doesn’t feel 90 and her advice for living such a long
and healthy life is to the point, “I think if you’re happy
you live longer than if you’re unhappy.” President Hinckley
agreed, “That’s they way she feels, that’s the way
she’s lived and I think it has had its effect.”
Sister Hinckley
will celebrate her birthday surrounded by her children and grandchildren
at a family party on Friday. A reception for General Authorities
from the Church is planned for Saturday.
When asked if
he had a special birthday wish that he would like to send his wife,
President Hinckley said, “I would just wish that we might live
together for as long as the Lord wills and that when the time comes
for us to move on, that we might go together or very close together,
without one lingering a long time after the other. We’ve lived
together for a long time, I hope we’ll continue to move on
together.”
President Boyd
K. Packer, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
said "... the greatest judgment President Hinckley has ever
shown in his entire life is the judgment he showed in marrying Marjorie
Pay."
Sister Hinckley
has been recognized a number of times, receiving a doctorate of
humane letters from Utah Valley State College in April of this year,
an honorary doctoral degree in Christian Service from BYU in 2000,
and the distinguished Service to Humanity Award in 1998.
Marjorie
Pay Hinckley: Life Sketch
• Marjorie
Pay Hinckley was born on 23 November 1911 in Nephi, Utah.
• Sister Hinckley is the descendant of early pioneers. Her
grandmother, Mary Goble, came to Utah from England when she was
13 years old, losing her mother and two siblings along the way.
• Although family finances during the Depression precluded
her graduating from college, Sister Hinckley is a voracious reader
and enjoys learning.
• Growing up together in the same neighborhood, President and
Sister Hinckley knew each other from their youth. Their first date
was to a Gold and Green Ball when she was eighteen. Upon returning
from a 2_-year mission to England, President Hinckley began courting
Sister Hinckley again. Delaying the marriage because of the Depression,
the Hinckleys were married in April 1937.
• President and Sister Hinckley are the parents of five children:
Kathleen H. Barnes, Richard Gordon, Virginia H. Pierce, Clark Bryant,
and Jane H. Dudley. They have 25 grandchildren and 29 great-grandchildren.
• After the birth of her first child, Sister Hinckley gave
up a career outside the home, opting to stay home and raise her
children.
• Sister Hinckley never lived away from her parents' home until
she married, and excepting a few months spent in Denver, she has
never lived outside Utah's Wasatch Front. However, traveling with
her husband, she has now visited every continent and conversed with
such dignitaries as the queen of Thailand and prime minister of
England.
• Sister Hinckley has been recognized a number of times, receiving
a doctorate of humane letters from Utah Valley State College in
April of this year, an honorary doctoral degree in Christian Service
from BYU in 2000, and the distinguished Service to Humanity Award
in 1998.
• The book, Glimpses into the Life and Heart of Marjorie
Pay Hinckley, was edited by her daughter, Virginian H. Pearce
and published in 1999 by Deseret Book Company.
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© 2001 Meridian
Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
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