Inis Egan Hunter, Wife of President Howard W. Hunter, Passes Away
Kiku Beaufort 10/15/2007 12:00 AM MDT
The wife of 14th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Howard W. Hunter, passed away Sunday of natural causes in her home in Laguna Hills, California. She was 93 years old.
Inis was born Aug. 19, 1914 in Thatcher, Utah to parents Horace Walter Egan and Anna Bernhardina Jacobsson Tengberg. Sister Hunter was first married to Robert Stanton. Robert and Inis had three children and divorced in 1966.
President Hunters first marriage was to Clara May Jeffs, who passed away in 1983. Together they also had three children.
In 1990, President and Sister Hunter decided to be married. The announcement of their marriage came as a surprise to many of his close associates.
It is recorded in the Church Educational System manual on Presidents of the Church, Near the end of the Twelves meeting on Thursday, April [12], 1990, after all agenda items had been covered, President Hunter asked, Does anyone have anything that is not on the agenda? Well, then, if no one else has anything to say, I thought Id just let you know that Im going to be married this afternoon. He continued, Inis Stanton is an old acquaintance from California. Ive been visiting with her for some time, and Ive decided to be married.
The couple was sealed later that afternoon by President Gordon B. Hinckley in the Salt Lake Temple.
While they were married for only a few years before Howard died in 1995, President Hunter shared a tender and special love for his wife. This was shown in a story recorded by President Boyd K. Packer in an Ensign article. He wrote, Three days before President Hunters passing, Elder Russell M. Nelson and I visited with the President. He was seated in the sunroom which overlooks the temple and the gardens. We knelt before him, each holding one of his hands. As we talked with him, he kept looking over his shoulder into the living room and then called to his wife, Inis. Ever present and ever attentive, she responded immediately and asked what he needed. He said, You are too far away; I want you close to me. I said, President, she was only thirty feet away. He said, I know, thats too far.
Sister Hunter was a tender mother, talented singer, and world traveler. She is survived by three children. Funeral services will be held on Monday, October 22, at noon at the Ensign Stake Center, 135 A Street in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Thanks for the update, Historian. Isn't it wonderful to know the eternal nature of the family, and that now she can be with Pres. Hunter again?
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
I was being snippy, just because he's an example of an eternal family that wasn't perfect - his second wife having children that ... well, who will they be sealed to? I was thinking of the usual "eternal family" concept from their point of view... Is her first husband a faithful member? I have no idea... It's one of those times I need to better learn to keep all these questions unanswered and not fret about it. Tuck them away for later.... much later...
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
it's a perplexing thing, but then I've never understood exactly the eternal parent-child sealing thing... at least not in terms of details, though the Spirit of the matter feels right... I don't know if that particular mystery has been revealed yet.
I tend to focus on the New and Everlasting Covenant of Marriage when it comes to the eternities, as that most directly impacts me now... :)
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
