Watch: Funeral for Sister Kathleen Eyring

Tad Walch
·2 min read
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Sister Kathleen Eyring and her husband, President Henry B. Eyring, on the second day of the dedication of the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple, August 22, 2009, in South Jordan, Utah.
Sister Kathleen Eyring and her husband, President Henry B. Eyring, on the second day of the dedication of the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple, August 22, 2009, in South Jordan, Utah. | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
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The funeral for Sister Kathleen Johnson Eyring, wife of President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is at 11 a.m. today.

Sister Eyring died on Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023. She was 82. The funeral can be viewed above or via this link.

A public viewing was held on Friday in Bountiful.

Related

Sister Eyring suffered from memory loss during the last 15 years of her life. President Eyring has used watercolors to paint many of their memories together.

A watercolor painting by President Henry B. Eyring shows his wife, Sister Kathleen Eyring, with the couple’s two daughters.
A watercolor painting by President Henry B. Eyring shows his wife, Sister Kathleen Eyring, with the couple’s two daughters. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

Born Kathleen Johnson in San Francisco on May 11, 1941, to J. Cyril and LaPrele Lindsay Johnson, and known to friends as Kathy, she married President Eyring on July 27, 1962, in the Logan Utah Temple.

She excelled in sports and academics, serving as captain of her high school tennis team, student body president and valedictorian. She studied at the University of California, Berkeley, and later wrote an unpublished young adult novel.

She and President Eyring were active. They enjoyed skiing, golfing and playing tennis. They won the Ricks College doubles tennis tournament together in 1975 in Rexburg, Idaho, while President Eyring was president of the college now known as Brigham Young University-Idaho.

Sister Eyring has six children, including Henry J. Eyring, former president of BYU-Idaho.

The Eyrings moved to Utah in 1977 when President Eyring became the deputy commissioner of Church Education. He later became the commissioner, first counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, a General Authority Seventy, member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and a counselor in the First Presidency.

Remembering Kathleen Johnson Eyring

A Church News video tribute to Sister Eyring features an excerpt from President Eyring’s October 2018 general conference address, titled “Try, Try, Try,” along with music from The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.

A biography about President Eyring, drawn from his journals and titled “I Will Lead You Along,” ended with a chapter that poignantly illustrated Sister Eyring’s memory loss, requiring him “to re-win her hand daily and sometimes hourly.”