Good Lesson on Determination

When Heber J. Grant was only nine days old, his father, Jedediah M. Grant (a member of the First Presidency), died, leaving the frail infant and widowed mother in what after a short time was almost poverty. Many felt the delicate baby would not survive—and he would not have survived, had he not received the best of care from his mother.

When Jedediah’s widows finally could not meet expenses, the lovely home and property on Main Street in Salt Lake City was sold and the money divided among the Grant heirs. Heber’s mother received five hundred dollars. With this money she purchased a little house and helped support herself and Heber by sewing for others.

Heber learned from his mother that the Lord would bless them if they had faith, worked hard, and kept the commandments. As a boy he knew times of scarcity. “There were blustery nights with no fire and a meager diet that allowed only several pounds of butter and sugar for an entire year. One Christmas [Rachel Grant] wept because she lacked a dime to buy a stick of candy for [Heber’s] holiday” (Ronald W. Walker, “Heber J. Grant,” in The Presidents of the Church, ed. Leonard J. Arrington [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1986], p. 218).

Once during a heavy rain, at least a half dozen buckets were on the floor to catch the water that came through the leaky roof of the poor little home. Bishop Edwin D. Woolley (President Spencer W. Kimball’s grandfather) came over and offered to take money from the fast offerings and put a new roof on the house. Widow Grant refused, saying she would get along until her son grew into manhood and built her a new house.

Amid these adversities they always worked to please our Heavenly Father by the way they conducted their lives and lived the gospel.

The faith of this mother and son, during these trying times, embedded determination into their character. Heber’s mother took in boarders to help provide the necessities for her and her son. Heber learned to work hard and never used the circumstances at hand as an excuse to complain. Later Heber did succeed in building his mother a nice comfortable home, and he invited Bishop Woolley to dedicate it when it was finished. This experience enabled a great sense of gratitude and accomplishment to soar within the young Heber J. Grant.