Joseph Fielding Smith

Who was Joseph Fielding Smith?

Joseph Fielding Smith was presiding patriarch and a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1942 until 1946.

Smith was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, the son of LDS Church apostle Hyrum M. Smith and Ida Elizabeth Bowman. He went to school at the University of Utah, where he majored in Theater. In 1929, he married Ruth Pingree. Together they had seven children, Ruth, Ida, R.P. "Joe", Denis, Lynne, Hyrum, and Pauline.

At the age of 43, Smith was ordained a high priest and Patriarch to the Church on October 8, 1942, by church president Heber J. Grant. He served but four years before it was reported by the church that he had requested to be released from his position. His request was granted by church president George Albert Smith on October 6, 1946, with the church announcing that Smith was released for reasons of "ill health." After Smith's death it was discovered that the patriarch had been involved in a homosexual affair with a 21-year-old U.S. Navy sailor, who was also a Latter-day Saint.

After being released, Smith took his family to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he continued to raise his family.