President Hinckley’s mom leaves lasting imprint on her children

by Scott Bean BEA02009@BYUI.EDU Scroll Staff

Born in 1880, Ada was influenced by her mother’s prayers and her father’s love of learning. At one point, Ada traveled with her sisters Sarah and Ella to Chicago to learn the Gregg Shorthand Method. Upon her return to Salt Lake City, she began a teaching career at LDS Business College. Ada was teaching typing, shorthand and English at age 19.

With her marriage to Bryant S. Hinckley she took on a massive responsibility. Bryant’s first wife, Christine, had died suddenly leaving eight children. Ada became mother to all of the Hinckley family, which eventually totalled 13 kids.

President Hinckley was born June 23, 1910, in Salt Lake City and was the first of Ada’s five children.

Bryant and Ada were both professional educators and had fine training for their day. In addition, Ada was a musician and Bryant was a skilled writer of history.

Ada’s love for education continued on with her family. The Hinckley family had a large library with over 1,000 books, which instilled a love for reading and learning, President Hinckley said in his biography Forward with Faith.

President Hinckley, since her death on Nov. 9, 1930, speaks of his mother’s actions in Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley:

“Nearly 60 years have gone since my mother passed away. At the time, I was a university student. I have forgotten much of what I was studying then, but the memories of those last months of my mother’s life remain ever green, as do the memories of earlier years. I hope she knew that I loved her. I did not say so very often. Like most boys, it was not easy for me to speak those words,” he said.

“She died in the early harvest season of her life. Her youngest child was 10, old enough that mother had come into a freedom she had not known for many years. She was on a journey in Europe when she felt the pain that frightened her. Six months later she was gone,” he said.

“I recall the gray November day of her funeral. We put on a front of bravery and fought back the tears. But inside, the wounds were deep and painful. That experience, at a sensitive season of my life, has, I hope, given me a deeper understanding of all who lose a mother,” he said.

“On an occasion or two, when the clouds were particularly dark, I felt in a very real but indescribable way the protecting, guiding, encouraging influence of my mother. She seemed very close. I tried then, as I have tried since, to so conduct my life and perform my duty as to bring honor to her name. I am the first to concede that I may not always have done so, and the thought of living beneath my mother’s expectations has been painful, and has afforded a discipline that otherwise might have been lacking,” President Hinckley said.