Spencer W. Kimball - Early Life

Early Life

Kimball was born in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory to Andrew Kimball and Olive Woolley, sister of Mormon pioneer and eventual Mormon fundamentalist John W. Woolley. When Spencer was three, his father was called as president of the St. Joseph Stake and his family relocated to the town of Thatcher in southeastern Arizona.

During his childhood, Kimball suffered from typhoid fever and facial paralysis (likely Bell's palsy) and once nearly drowned. Four of his sisters died in childhood, and his mother died when he was eleven. Though short in stature – he stood only 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) as an adult – Kimball was an avid basketball player, and was the star and leading scorer on most of his school and recreational teams. During summer holidays, he often worked at a dairy in Globe, Arizona milking cows, cleaning stalls, and washing bottles for $50 to $60 per month, plus room and board.

Kimball graduated from high school in May 1914, and one week later was called to serve as a missionary in the Swiss-German Mission. However, less than two months later his mission call was halted by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and the subsequent outbreak of World War I. Kimball was reassigned to the Central States Mission and spent most of his mission in the towns and rural settlements of Missouri, finishing in 1916.