Health Challenges
In 1948, Kimball suffered a heart attack. Several years later he battled recurring throat cancer. This led to one and a half vocal cords being removed in 1957; as a result, he was thereafter barely able to speak above a hoarse whisper. After his heart condition resurfaced, in 1972 a successful open-heart surgery replaced an obstructed artery and failing valve. Because presidential succession in the church is traditionally based on seniority in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he was not expected to become church president. However, the younger Harold B. Lee, who ranked above him in seniority in the Quorum, died suddenly in December 1973. Kimball then became the 12th president of the church.
Read more about this topic: Spencer W. Kimball
Famous quotes containing the words health and/or challenges:
“Men’s hearts are cold. They are indifferent. Not all the coal that is dug warms the world. It remains indifferent to the lives of those who risk their life and health down in the blackness of the earth; who crawl through dark, choking crevices with only a bit of lamp on their caps to light their silent way; whose backs are bent with toil, whose very bones ache, whose happiness is sleep, and whose peace is death.”
—Mother Jones (1830–1930)
“The approval of the public is to be avoided like the plague. It is absolutely essential to keep the public from entering if one wishes to avoid confusion. I must add that the public must be kept panting in expectation at the gate by a system of challenges and provocations.”
—André Breton (1896–1966)