Category Archives: Reunion

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

Joseph F. Smith Family Reunion – 2020 Program

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Welcome to the 2020 Joseph F. Smith Family Reunion program. As the rules for meeting together in Salt Lake City have shifted over the past months, we, the trustees of the Joseph F. Smith Association, decided our best approach would be to provide an outline and presentation for you to use in your own Family Home Evening, to remember our dear prophet, Joseph F. Smith.

We love you, and hope that what we’ve prepared for you here helps you remember our grandfather Joseph F. Smith, and with his example, encourages you in your goals to do what’s right.

I am Paul Smith, and I am the chairman of our reunion this year. We would like to recognize the Trustees of the Joseph F. Smith association, who are: Paul Smith (Mary), Alice Watson (Alice), Shauna Sandberg (Sarah), Sarah Adams (Julina), and Craig Smith (Edna). We also recognize: Mary Donoho, our principal genealogy data steward and address coordinator; Jared Glade, our website and online database coordinator; Chris Rasmussen, our secretary, and Paul Smith, our treasurer. Keeping track of the family is a tough job, and we thank our data stewards: Mary Donoho (Julina), Chris Rasmussen (Sarah), Marilyn Wood (Alice), Jared Glade (Edna), and Becky Lowe – recently replaced by David Scott (Mary). As you have changes in your family, please let your family data steward or Mary Donoho know.

Please recognize those in your family who have been or will be baptized this year or who have turned 12. We plan to have them join us on the stand when we meet in person next year. We also encourage you to appreciate Joseph F. Smith’s living grandchildren, and those you have passed on.

For our primary-age children, we have a coloring book you can download here: Joseph F. Smith Booklet.pdf

Due to the format of our reunion this year, President Ballard has also recorded his message. We are grateful to have both he and President Oaks as part of our family.

Here is the outline we encourage you to follow, including links to music you can play and sing along with, hosted on the website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Feel free to adapt it to the special needs of your family.

Opening Hymn: 19 We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet. After clicking on this link, you’ll see a ‘Play’ button that will let you play the music. When you’re done with the song, come back to this page.

Opening Prayer: Someone from your family

Paul Smith

Paul Smith – Joseph F. Smith

As a family, discuss how being related to the Lord’s prophet Joseph F. Smith, encourages each of you to do and be better. How do his example, and that of his wives, help you be kind to everyone, and to focus on the Gospel, your own family, and all of God’s children?

President M. Russell Ballard

President M. Russell Ballard – Joseph F. Smith

Closing Hymn: 21 Come, Listen to a Prophet’s Voice. After clicking on this link, you’ll see a ‘Play’ button that will let you play the music. When you’re done with the song, come back to this page.

Closing Prayer: Someone from your family

Refreshments of your choice 😉

Family Reunion Monday, Nov. 9, 2020

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Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this year we’ll be holding our reunion right here, on this website. Come back to this site on the evening of Monday, November 9.

Because we can’t meet in person, we, the trustees of the Joseph F. Smith Family Association, decided that our best approach would be to provide a program outline and video presentations. We hope you will use these in your own Family Home Evening held on Monday, November 9, to remember our dear prophet and grandfather, Joseph F. Smith. We will include links to recorded hymns and music, so you can sing and pray together as a family. We will also include coloring materials you can download for younger children to help them remember him.

I am Paul Smith, and as it’s my turn to chair this event, I’ve prepared the outline and a video presentation. President Ballard has also recorded his thoughts and encouragement for our family.

We’ve been asked a few times – what time will we hold the reunion? We normally hold the reunion at 7 PM, but that may be too late for some families. Since we have pre-recorded the videos, we’ll put them and the program here early enough that you can get together any time on Monday evening or thereafter.