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SALT LAKE CITY -- Friday night is perfect for a party, and thousands of folks filled the Conference Center to celebrate Latter-day Saint church President Thomas S. Monson's 85th birthday in an event organizers dubbed, "Golden Days: A Celebration of Life".
As President and Sister Monson arrived in the Conference Center and moved down the ramp, he turned to the audience, waved and said, "wow!" Then the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square filled the hall with music.
Hosts Steve Young and Jane Clayson Johnson talked of President Monson's accomplishments as the guests watched a presentation about his life and ministry. Metropolitan Opera star and internationally renowned tenor, Stanford Olsen, sang the night's theme, "Golden Days". Guests artists performed some of his favorite songs.
Those in the audience were there to celebrate a man they love.
Salt Lake City resident Will Steiner said, "Celebrating his birthday is great. He's had a long life and he's done a lot of great things, especially with Boy Scouting."
The Boy Scouts were a big part of the celebration. In they marched, hundreds of them carrying the Stars and Stripes.
West Valley City resident Valentina Kukwa said, "He's where he is now. It's just an inspiration to me to keep going, no matter what I'm facing. Someday I can be an inspiration to somebody else."
Monson says he enjoys birthdays, and in 2009, he dedicated the Oquirrh Mountain Temple on his special day.
Elder William R. Walker, executive director of the church's temple department, spoke earlier this week about what happened at the temple dedication.
The celebration will be rebroadcast at the following times:
- BYUtv and BYU-tv International (Spanish and Portugese)
- Aug. 18, 7 p.m. MDT
- Aug. 18, 8 a.m. MDT
- Aug. 19, 4:30 a.m. MDT
- KBYU-TV (channel 11 in Utah)
- Aug. 19, 7 a.m.
"Some people had read about it in the newspaper that it was President Monson's birthday," he said. "I met him as he arrived, and as I was taking him into the temple, a group of people started to sing Happy Birthday."
It was a spontaneous moment outside the temple, which President Monson clearly enjoyed. He was marking his 82nd birthday and joining Latter-day Saints in the southwestern part of the Salt Lake Valley as they joined him inside the temple.
After those services, he expressed the twofold joy he had experienced on that day.
"Well, it's a wonderful way to spend a birthday, to be among such wonderful people assembled in the temple for a dedication ceremony," Monson said at the time.
If you tried to get tickets and couldn't, you will have the opportunity to see the entire program on BYU TV Saturday night at 7 and Sunday morning at 10. Many Latter-day Saint meeting houses will have screenings Saturday evening as well.
