April 1951
From the General Conference archives:
The One Hundred Twenty-first Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was held in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Utah, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, April 6, 7,8, and 9, 1951.
President George Albert Smith, President of the Church, having passed away Wednesday, April 4, President Smith’s funeral services were held in the Tabernacle Saturday, April 7, at 2:00 p.m., which services are included as a part of this Conference report.
General sessions of the Conference were held at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Friday and Sunday and at 10:00 a.m. Monday. The General Priesthood meeting convened in the Tabernacle Saturday evening, April 7 at 7:00 p.m., with overflow assemblies in the Assembly Hall and Barratt Hall.
The session Monday morning at 10:00 was a solemn assembly, at which the First Presidency of the Church was reorganized, with David Oman McKay as President, Stephen L Richards as First Counselor, and Joshua Reuben Clark, Jr. as Second Counselor.
[ . . . ]
The opening session of the Conference convened Friday morning, April 6, at 10 o’clock, with President David O. McKay, President of the Council of the Twelve, presiding and conducting the services.
President David O. McKay
This is the opening session of the One Hundred Twenty-first Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are convened in the tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. As you all know, through general announcement already given, last Wednesday, April 4, at 7:27 p.m., there came to a close, on his eighty-first birthday, the earthly career of our beloved leader, President George Albert Smith. [ . . . ] President Smith’s passing leaves the Quorum of the First Presidency disorganized, and the presiding authority of the Church now rests with the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
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John Mansfield
September 29, 2025
I checked and found that a funeral for the deceased President of the Church has always been conducted prior to reorganizing the First Presidency. Since the death of Harold B. Lee in 1973, reorganization of the First Presidency has always been conducted on a Sunday, six times through the death of Thomas Monson. Prior to 1973 reorganization never happened on a Sunday, at least since the death of Wilford Woodruff.
Number of days until reorganization of the First Presidency following the death of the President of the Church: Monson, 12; Hinckley, 7; Hunter, 9; Benson, 6; Kimball, 5; Lee, 4; Smith, 5; McKay, 5; Smith, 5; Grant, 7; Smith, 4; Snow, 7; Woodruff, 11.
Woodruff died in San Francisco, and Hunter died on a Friday after the pattern of reorganizing on Sundays began. The 12-day period following the death of Thomas Monson is the only other longer than a week and shorter than a year. Russell Nelson did not worry about established patterns, but it is unusual to his pattern as President of the Church that he waited more days than his predecessors. Monson’s funeral was Friday, January 12, ten days after his death. Did the family need or want the extra time, and Nelson was waiting for them?
G
September 30, 2025
Interesting
Zen
September 30, 2025
I did notice that KSL already referred to Oakes as President.
Ugly Mahana
September 30, 2025
Of course Pres. Oaks is Pres. of the Quorum of the Twelve.
Zen
September 30, 2025
Oof… That makes sense.
Eric
October 1, 2025
I think in the case of the transition from President Monson to President Nelson, the timing between President Monson’s death (Tuesday night, January 2) and his funeral (Friday, January 12) was the main reason for the delay. If the funeral had happened the previous Friday (January 5), there would have been effectively only two days to prepare for that, which wouldn’t have allowed as many people to arrange their schedules to attend.
So, the thinking probably went, if the funeral couldn’t be pulled off on such short notice, why not wait another week?
My mother-in-law died last year on a Monday, and we didn’t hold her funeral until Friday of the following week for similar reasons–allowing family enough time to travel from out of state, putting notices out, etc. (We would have preferred Saturday, but the meetinghouse was already booked)
John Mansfield
October 1, 2025
Eric, I think that week-and-a-half between death and burial for Pres. Monson and for your mother-in-law, has become a feature of our times. In 1985, Pres. Kimball also died on a Tuesday, and he was buried four days later. Above I put the days between death of a president and reorganization of the First Presidency. Here are the number of days from death to burial: Monson, 10; Hinckley, 6; Hunter, 5; Benson, 5; Kimball, 4; Lee, 3; Smith, 4; McKay, 4; Smith, 3; Grant, 4; Smith 3; Snow, 3; Woodruff, 6.
I think it has something to do with having more far-flung family now, and they can fly to a funeral, but can do so more easily in 10 days instead of 3 days from receiving word. Fifty years ago, mourners a thousand miles away just couldn’t come for the most part, so there was nothing to be gained by waiting an extra week.