President Monson & Primary President

"Tommy was ten years old when he began earning the Trail Builder badges....The Trail Builders were not an easy bunch to handle. Tommy's energy level and curiosity were difficult to channel. One day he saw Sister Georgell, the Primary president, sitting in the chapel crying. He approached her and asked innocently, 'May I help, Sister Georgell?'

"She explained that she could not control the Trail Builders in Primary opening exercises. What he didn't realize was that he, Tommy Monson, was at the center of the disruptive boys. He magnanimously committed to help Sister Georgell, and the rowdiness in Primary came to an abrupt end.

"When Melissa Georgell was in her nineties, she lived in a nursing facility in the northwest part of Salt Lake. During his Christmas rounds one year, President Monson stopped to visit his beloved Primary president. He found her in the lunchroom staring at her food, shifting it from one corner of the plate to another. as he spoke to her, he saw her eyes look blankly at him and about the room. 'I gently took her fork from her and began to feed her, talking all the time I did so about her service to boys and girls as a Primary worker and the job which was mine to have served later as her bishop.' Not even a quick glimmer of recognition crossed her face. Two other residents spoke up: 'She doesn't know anyone, not even her own family,' one reported, 'She hasn't said a word for a long, long time.' said the other.

"Lunch ended, and Tom, much taller than that little Primary lad, stood to leave. 'I held her frail hand in mine, gazed into her wrinkled but beautiful countenance, and said, God bless you, Melissa, and Merry Christmas. Immediately she spoke, 'I know you. You're Tommy Monson, my Primary boy. How I love you.' "