Cover image: Jeffrey R. Holland, using his mission president, Marion D. Hanks, as an example while teaching new mission presidents, 2021. Courtesy Church News.

In late 1961, Marion Duff Hanks was forty years old and had been serving as a General Authority of the Church for eight years, when President David O. McKay asked if he would move to England as the new mission president.

Duff replied, “Fine. We’re ready to go.” Maxine Hanks, who was thirty-seven, immediately began preparation to uproot their family of seven and move to London.

Duff inherited a difficult situation in England, involving an over-zealous approach to missionary work.  He worked hard to rectify the situation, teaching the missionaries that their focus should be on conversion and retention, not just on baptism. Believing that one of the keys to real conversion was the Book of Mormon, he prepared his missionaries to teach and testify of it.

A recurring theme expressed by his missionaries in later years, was the way Duff had changed the course of the mission, helped them regain their integrity, and yet, still strengthened their testimonies of the church and its leadership.

Duff and Maxine were blessed to have a  wonderful cadre of missionaries under their care. Some became well-known in the world, but each was well known to Duff and Maxine.

Elder Quentin L. Cook

One of Duff’s young missionaries told of a day on his mission when President Hanks asked him to accompany him on a drive in the car. After about forty minutes of driving, Elder Cook asked where they were going.

President Hanks replied, “Elder Cook, you told me you wanted to go to law school, so I am taking you to Runnymede, where the Magna Carta was signed. You can’t be a good lawyer unless you understand the Magna Carta.”

Duff then explained how the Magna Carta played a part in the beginning of the rule of law we enjoy today. Elder Cook later concluded, “That was only one experience I had with President Hanks. He truly cared about each of his missionaries.”

Duff sensed Elder Cook’s qualities right away. One day in 1975 Duff wrote in his journal, “I had a visit from Quentin Cook today. It was quite a satisfaction to see this fine young man in his role as an outstanding lawyer. He is a bishop, and on his way to fulfilling what I felt very sure of when he was an outstanding missionary in England. He has been a man all his life, and that makes a very big difference.”

Quentin L. Cook became a lawyer and was later called as a Latter-day Saint apostle.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Jeffery R. Holland, the current acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was another of Duff’s missionaries in England. They soon discovered a mutual affinity and affection for each other.

Duff wrote that Elder Holland “blossomed into discipleship, centered in Jesus Christ,” and responded diligently to his mission president’s call to teach from the Book of Mormon. Years later he noted that Elder Holland’s love for that book and his ability to teach from it had grown continuously stronger through the years.

For the rest of Duff’s life and beyond, Elder Holland stayed very close to the Hanks and their children, treating them as if they were an important part of his family, and he a part of theirs. Even after Duff died, he continued to love and care for Maxine. He performed the marriages of many of their grandchildren, provided priesthood blessings, and showed genuine interest in them.

At Duff’s funeral Elder Holland said: “Just seven weeks ago, I addressed 120 new mission presidents and their wives at the Missionary Training Center. Trying to relieve some of their anxiety about winning the hearts of their missionaries, I put up a theater-sized photo of Marion D. Hanks and said, ‘I love this man with all my heart. He taught me the gospel of Jesus Christ and thus changed my life forever. We named one of our sons after him. After 50 years he is still my President—the title I always use when addressing him. My undying gratitude for his influence in my life can never be fully expressed, but neither will it ever be diminished.’”

A Prescient Recommendation

Shortly after he became president of Brigham Young University in 1980, President Holland wrote to Duff, saying,

“Things are going reasonably well here. I face my first commencement this weekend. We are trying to feature Dallin [Oaks], and the president of the church is going to be in attendance, so I will probably put my foot in a potted plant.

You will not remember writing it, but while going through some old papers, I ran across a letter you had written for me to the BYU scholarship people in the early 1960s, shortly after my mission. After some generous and considerably exaggerated comments about my few virtues, you wrote,

“It would be wise to help this young man attend Brigham Young University, inasmuch as he will probably be president of the school one day.”

I read that line and exploded into tears. It has been a tender time for me anyway feeling my inadequacies and knowing my limitations. Yet to think that for all these years you have believed in me and helped me and cared for me is more than I know how to say in return.”

No Less Serviceable

Duff loved watching his missionaries grow in strength and maturity – as they became leaders in their church assignments, their civic involvement, and their growing families. (Imagine Duff’s happiness at seeing two of his missionaries become apostles?) But they are just a few of the many people Duff loved and tried to mentor over his life. Elder Holland and Elder Cook would be the most well-known, but there were hundreds of others Duff mentored, loved, and shepherded. If Duff were writing this article, right about now he would direct our attention to Alma 48:17 and 19. Verse 17 describes young and valiant Captain Moroni, who was strong and well-known. But then, verse 19 reminds us, “Now behold, Helaman and his brethren were no less serviceable unto the people than was Moroni.” In other words, even though Helaman was not as noticeable or famous as Moroni, he was just as important and as useful as Moroni.

Despite his immense pride in those who became well-known, Duff would want the reader to also know about each of his less-famous missionaries. Many became relief society presidents, stake presidents, temple presidents, Sunday school teachers, or faithful home and visiting teachers.   A few of his missionaries chose to leave active involvement in the church, but that didn’t diminish them in Duff’s eyes or his efforts. They too were “his missionaries” for life.

What added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the lord

As he got older, Duff got more and more satisfaction out of seeing his missionaries, students, and protégés progress in testimony and in leadership. After one weekend on the East Coast, he wrote, “Both regional representatives, and three of the stake presidents involved were my former students. I left the place with some genuine feeling of personal encouragement.”  The same was true of those he was blessed to serve with on Church committees, Rotary, Scouting, or his high priests’ group. He loved them all.

Further Reading

Summarized from To Be a Friend of Christ: The Life of Marion D. Hanks, by Richard D. Hanks, (Salt Lake City, Signature Books, October 2024).

Author

An author and retired senior business executive, Richard D. Hanks, recently completed a comprehensive biography of his father, Marion D. Hanks, which was the inspiration for this article.

To Be a Friend of Christ: The Life of Marion D. Hanks, (Salt Lake City, Signature Books, October 2024).