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Contact Management

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October 1, 2023

Dear Joseph F. Smith Family Members,

What a joy it is to gather as a family each November and celebrate the birthday of our beloved
grandfather, Joseph F. Smith! It is exciting to know that his posterity continues to grow and do
so exponentially! And with that growth comes the on-going challenge of keeping the family
contact information database up to date. Mary Donoho, who served as the Master Data Steward on the JFS Family Board, dedicated countless hours over many decades gathering and updating address and contact information for “Papa’s” ever-growing family. Many stalwart data stewards, who represented the families of Joseph F. Smith’s five wives, worked together keeping the JFS Family Database as current as possible. Then, in September of 2021, our dear Mary Donoho was called Home.

With Mary’s unexpected passing, the JFS Family Board has concluded that the JFS database upkeep has reached a pivot point where we need to change the model for managing family contacts. We will be using technology to improve the database upkeep, protect the privacy of family members and keep their information safe. To that end, the JFS Family Board has unanimously adopted the following approach regarding how the family contact information will be gathered, updated, and maintained for the foreseeable future:

1) All Data Stewards will be “released” from their duties with a huge THANK YOU for all their efforts to gather family contact information!

2) Each nuclear family will be responsible to keep their own family’s contact information updated. As children move out of their parent’s home and have their own physical address, they are responsible to update their own contact information.

3) To enter or update your contact information, please visit https://josephfsmith.org/subscribe and fill out the form. By doing so, each family member can make sure their physical address and/or email address is up to date.

4) Family members who keep their contact information current will receive their invitation to the annual family reunion by mail or email and be apprised of JFS Family news.

5) The deadline for entering or updating one’s contact information is October 1 of any given year.

We appreciate the opportunity to serve the posterity of Joseph F. Smith and hope this change will be supported by the family members as we continue to gather each year and celebrate “Papa’s” birthday.

Sincerely,

The 2023 Joseph F. Smith Family Board

Letter from the Board

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Dear Joseph F. Smith Family,

I’m delighted to announce, that after a 2-year hiatus, the reunion this year will again be in person!  We have missed seeing each other and invite each of you to attend.   On a personal note, my husband and I started bringing our kids to the JFS Reunion years ago, because we wanted them to know their remarkable family heritage.  What a blessing to descend from prophets like Joseph F. and his amazing parents, Hyrum and Mary Fielding Smith.  We wanted that heritage to be part of their personal identity to help fortify them in an increasingly secular world.  Come join us!

Our presenter this year is artist and official Smith Family portraitist, Julie Rogers.  Julie is especially well known for her many paintings of early Latter-Day Saint pioneers, but she has also painted members of the Joseph Smith Sr. family many times, and her recent work includes paintings of Hyrum and Mary Fielding, as well as Joseph F., some of which she will share at the reunion.  Julie will focus her presentation on her love for the Smith family and how she feels inspired to paint them.

The Last Embrace by Julie Rogers

The reunion will be:

When: Monday, November 14th at 7 pm
Where: Monument Park Stake Center
            1320 South Wasatch Drive
            Salt Lake City, Utah

The Reunion will also be live streamed on Facebook and will be available for later viewing at https://www.facebook.com/jfsfamily

Please notify your family data steward to update addresses, add missing family members, and let us know how you would like us to contact you for future reunions.  Names of data stewards are located on the back of your program—some families need new data stewards and volunteers are welcome!

Also, please consider making a family donation so our reunion can continue to be an annual event.  To make the reunion happen we research family names and addresses and send out over 2000 invitations each year.  The donations cover postage, refreshments, website domain renewal, sharing family history research, etc.  Suggested donation this year is $10-35 per household.  You can make your donation at the reunion registration table or send it to the family treasurer’s address below.  Thank you for your contributions!

            Joseph F. Smith Family Association
            Paul Smith – Treasurer
            2273 West Smith Legacy Cove
            Taylorsville, Utah 84129

We love you and hope that you will be active participants in carrying on the Smith Family legacy by living the gospel, visiting the family website, strengthening your family, helping to keep our family connected, reporting to data stewards, and perhaps volunteering to serve on a committee, which is a great experience.  It is such a privilege to be part of a modern-day prophet’s family.

Shauna Sandberg
2022 JFS Reunion Committee Chairman
shaunasandberg@yahoo.com

Joseph F. Smith Family Reunion – 2021 Program

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Dear Joseph F. Smith Cousin

Welcome to the 2021 Joseph F. Smith Family Reunion. We are sad that we cannot meet again in person this year. We are hopeful that with the ability to get youngsters vaccinated this coming year we will again be able to meet in person in 2022. We love and miss seeing all of your sweet faces. We have prepared a program for you to remember our grandfather, Joseph F. Smith and his example of love, honesty and service.

I am Alice Watson ( Alice) and I am the chairman of the reunion this year. We would like to recognize the other members of the board. They are Shauna Sandberg (Sarah,) Sarah Adams (Julina,) Dr. Craig Smith (Edna,) Suzanne Lindsay (Mary,) Jared Glade (Website and Database Coordinator,) Chris Rasmussen (Secretary) and Dr. Paul Smith (Treasurer.)

We wish to send Condolences to all who have lost family members this last year. We lost our primary Data Steward, Mary Donoho. Our program this year is interesting as it features a video presentation of Joseph F. Smith’s vision, which he had during his last illness. The time then was similar to today as there was a great flu pandemic and many young men had been killed during World War I.

Please recognize those in your family who have or will be baptized this year and also those who have turned twelve. We are sorry that we can’t present them to the family as a whole but be assured that we will be calling them up for recognition when we are able to meet again in person.

For our primary age children, you can download the coloring book, Joseph F. Smith Booklet.pdf

Following is the outline of the suggested program. Please feel free to adapt it to the needs of your family.

Opening Hymn: 19 We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet

Opening Prayer: Choose Someone from your family to say the prayer

Video Presentation: I Saw the Hosts of the Dead
Watch additional commentary footage at josephfsmithfilm.byu.edu.

Family Discussion: Discuss with your family ways that they can remember their ancestors. Suggested activities may include filling out a Pedigree Sheet, Visiting or doing service for other family members, Writing a letter to an ancestor to introduce yourself and why you would like to imitate that person’s good qualities or older individuals could do genealogy and temple work.

Closing Hymn: 301 I Am a Child of God

Closing Prayer: choose a member of your family to say the prayer

Refreshments: Make sure to include this. It wouldn’t be a reunion without some goodies.

We hope that you will be active participants in carrying on the legacy of the Smith family and look forward to meeting again in person.

Family Reunion Monday – November 8, 2021

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Dear Joseph F. Smith Cousins,

            This year because of the continuation of Covid and the Delta Variant which is infecting those who are unable to be vaccinated, the JFS board decided that we would again hold a Virtual Reunion.

            Instead of meeting at the Monument Park Stake building as we have done in previous years, we will again meet virtually over the internet.  We miss the opportunity of meeting in person and hope that by next year, vaccinations will be such that the danger of spreading the virus will be significantly reduced.

            Please join us for our Virtual Reunion on Monday, November 8, 2021. We will have a presentation called, “I Saw the Hosts of the Dead” and downloadable children’s activities. We have prepared a special Family Home Evening to celebrate the birthday of our ancestor, Joseph F. Smith. It will be available at https://josephfsmith.org any time after November 7, 2021.

            Please notify your family data steward of any and all updated addresses. We are sad to announce the passing of Mary Donoho. She has gone on to meet with Papa and other friends and family. For your data steward list, see https://josephfsmith.org/genealogy/

            We ask that you please make a donation so we can continue to have reunions, research family names and addresses. We send out over 2,000 invitations yearly. Your donation covers the cost of postage, website, domain renewal and family history research, etc. This year the suggested donation is $10 – 25 per household. This is less than we have asked for in the past because of the cheaper cost of hosting an on-line reunion. You can make your donation through the website at https://josephfsmith.org/donation or mail it to the family treasurer’s address:

                        Joseph F. Smith Family Association
                        Paul Smith – Treasurer
                        2273 West Smith Legacy Cove
                        Taylorsville, Utah 84129

            We hope that you will be active participants in carrying on the legacy of the Smith family by strengthening family ties, visiting the website, participating in the reunion and living the gospel.

            Thank you,

            Alice Watson

            2021 Reunion Committee Chairman

Looking for a Name

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Back in the late 1960’s I was the home teacher of one of the sons of Joseph F. Smith. He loved his father very much.

He lived in the Salt Lake City avenues at about 5th Avenue and “N” street. I have forgotten his name. Would [anyone] happen to know the name of this man? I would be most appreciative of any help you can give me.

Joe Spendlove