I was deeply moved when Dallin H. Oaks, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, recently recounted this personal story about his widowed mother:
“My father died when I was seven years old, so my younger brother and sister and I were raised by a widowed mother. In the most difficult of situations, she pressed on. She was alone and broken, but with the Lord’s help, her powerful teaching of the doctrine of the restored Church guided us. How she prayed for heavenly assistance in raising her children, and she was blessed! We were raised in a happy home in which our deceased father was always a reality. She taught us that we had a father and she had a husband and we would always be a family because of their temple marriage. Our father was just away temporarily because the Lord had called him to a different work.” (in Conference Report, Oct. 2025, 107).
Why did this story of a mother’s love move me so deeply? Because it is also the story of my mother’s love.
A Mother’s Promise to The Lord
My father, Grover Nelson, died when I was five years old. My younger sister, Janice, and I were raised by our widowed mother, Laura Nelson. My father fought in France during World War II and survived several life-threatening experiences, only to come home and succumb to cancer ten years later. He died in a hospital in Toronto, with my grieving mother at his side.
Widowed at the age of 28, my mother faced the daunting reality of having to become father, mother, and breadwinner to her two little children. She had no training or professional qualifications, so she prayed desperately for guidance. She promised the Lord that if He would help her, she would devote her life to her children.
Guided By Revelation
On the train ride home from Toronto, she had an experience that was to determine her future. She went into the washroom and noticed a hair clip on the floor. As she picked it up, a shockwave ran through her, and she knew Heavenly Father was answering her prayers: she would be successful if she put forth the effort to become a hairdresser.
She enrolled in the Alberta Beauty School in Lethbridge, Alberta, and completed the course. She then opened her own shop, the Laura Ann Beauty Salon, in Raymond, Alberta. She ran the shop for over twenty years. When she finally sold the business, she divided her time between doing hair at the Ridgeview Lodge in Raymond and in her home for the next twenty-one years before she finally retired.
Building a Home of Faith
During these years, she bought a small home and raised my sister and me in an atmosphere of love and safety. She worked ten-hour days in the shop but still found time to cook meals, do laundry, clean house, organize birthday parties, attend our school and church events, take family vacations, teach us responsibility, and instill in us a love for the gospel.
She funded our first year of university, financed most of my mission, hosted our wedding receptions, and helped us in many ways when we started our own families.
Remembering That Our Family is Forever
My mother always kept the memory of our father alive. She spoke of him often and made sure that both sets of grandparents were invited to Sunday dinners regularly. As in President Oaks’ case, our father was just away temporarily because the Lord had called him to a different work.
Motherhood: A Divine Calling
In a general conference address, President Russell M. Nelson said, “Many years ago the First Presidency issued a statement that has had a profound and lasting influence upon me. ‘Motherhood,’ they wrote, ‘is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels.’” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1999, 38).
My angel mother was my hero, as was President Oaks’ mother to him. Both demonstrated Christlike love, service, sacrifice, and courage. They drew upon the powers of heaven to find a way to provide for their children and ensure they felt loved and secure.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said, “No love in mortality comes closer to approximating the pure love of Jesus Christ than the selfless love a devoted mother has for her child.” (in Conference Report, October 2015, 47.)
Motherhood is more than giving birth. It includes the responsibility to nurture and teach children. It extends far beyond childhood and evolves as children mature. My moody teenage years were more challenging for my mother than were my early childhood years. But through it all, she was patient with me, and I felt her unconditional love. No price was too high for her to pay to keep her earlier promise to the Lord. I used to ask her, “What can I ever do to repay you for your love and devotion?” Her answer was always the same, no matter my age: “Just be a good boy.” A mother’s selfless wish!
Gordon B. Hinckley, past President of the Church, said, “The greatest job that any mother will ever do will be in nurturing, teaching, lifting, encouraging, and rearing her children in righteousness and truth. None other can adequately take her place.” (in Conference Report, October 1996, 69).
An Eternal and Enduring Legacy
My mother was a skilled hairdresser and successful businesswoman, but her main focus was nurturing and raising her children in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have so much love and respect for her.
I have the same love and respect for my eternal companion, Marsha, the mother of our four children and grandmother to our eleven grandchildren. She has continually provided unconditional love in nurturing and rearing our family in the gospel. Together, we are striving to emulate the examples of our devoted mothers and grandmothers. We honor their memory and are eternally grateful for their legacy of love, on Mother’s Day and always.