REXBURG, Idaho — Many years ago, when Max and Denice Rammell read the promise from LDS Church President Joseph F. Smith that “great blessings” would result from the holding of family home evening, they decided they were going to take it to heart.
“Our children loved it,” the Rexburg, Idaho, couple, he nearly 92 and she 86, wrote in response to a Church News article.
“We would teach a simple gospel lesson out of the scriptures, telling them that they should listen carefully, that we were going to have a little quiz about the lesson next time, and maybe someone would win a prize.”
The quiz would be simple questions: Who was thrown into the lions’ den? Who was the oldest man on earth, or the strongest?
“I would then begin counting to 10, and the one who came up with the answer first was the winner,” Max Rammell said. "The children would laugh, and never seemed to tire of the game. Sometimes, the neighbor kids wanted to join.”
The storytelling was adapted to more mature minds and the questions became more difficult as the children grew, “but they never seemed to tire, and they would join in with the reading and then the fun or refreshments.”
Today, with a posterity of 33 grandchildren and 85 great-grandchildren, they have been guests for family home evening in the homes of some of their grandchildren, who continue the tradition started by their grandparents so many years ago.
The Ramrells and their extended family are among millions of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints whose lives have been touched by family home evening over the past century.
It was 100 years ago — on April 27, 1915 — that church President Joseph F. Smith and his counselors in the First Presidency sent this message to local Mormon leaders:
“We advise and urge the inauguration of a ‘Home Evening’ throughout the church, at which time fathers and mothers may gather their boys and girls about them in the home and teach them the word of the Lord. …
“This ‘Home Evening’ should be devoted to prayer, singing hymns, songs, instrumental music, scripture-reading, family topics and specific instruction on the principles of the gospel, and on the ethical problems of life, as well as the duties and obligations of children to parents, the home, the church, society and the nation. For the smaller children appropriate recitations, songs, stories and games may be introduced. Light refreshments of such a nature as may be largely prepared in the home may be served.
“If the Saints obey this counsel, we promise that great blessings will result. Love at home and obedience to parents will increase. Faith will be developed in the hearts of the youth of Israel, and they will gain power to combat the evil influence and temptations which beset them" (James R. Clark, comp., Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 6 vols., 1965-75, 4:339).
The practice was implemented, and for 50 years, Latter-day Saints observed it with greater or lesser degrees of fervency.
Then, in 1965 — 50 years ago — the practice was given renewed emphasis under the leadership of church President David O. McKay, who uttered the now-famous admonition: “No other success can compensate for failure in the home.”
Beginning in January of that year, a "Family Home Evening Manual" was published for placement in every home in the church, prepared with the express intent that family home evening would be held weekly.
A new manual would be produced each year for the next two decades. Thereafter, instead of a yearly manual, the church published a “Family Home Evening Resource Book,” with lessons and resources that could be used and adapted from year to year.
That book is still in print, but in this Internet age, it is also available on the church’s website.
In 1966, the year after the emphasis was renewed, church leaders urged parents to strictly observe one night a week for family home evening and not allow anything else to conflict with it. By 1970, that was standardized throughout the church as Monday night. All meetinghouses and temples were to be closed that night, and no other church functions were to be planned to conflict with it, a practice that persists today.
“We had family home evening in our home many years after President Smith introduced it and many years before President McKay gave it renewed impetus,” remembered Carmen Houmand of Sandy. “Although not on a weekly basis, our mother gathered us together at various times and taught us an interesting lesson. Sometimes my sister and I would perform a beginning piano piece. She always served a special treat at the end. This is one of the fond remembrances of my childhood.”
Fond enough, that, as a mother with young children, she readily embraced the renewed emphasis when it came along in 1965 and, with husband Jay, implemented it in their own home.
“I remember one family home evening in particular where my mom gathered us one afternoon when I was about 19,” said her daughter, Catherine Houmand Gardner, of Oak City, Utah. “Dad worked nights and so was often not there. It was she and we three children. She had us delve into the scriptures and taught us how to cross-reference. I know she won’t remember it, but I remember feeling the Spirit and enjoying it and thinking it was fun. I learned and felt.”
Later, as a young mother herself, Gardner and her husband, Dean, would use family home evening as an instrument to convey consolation and understanding after the accidental death of their baby daughter.
“Our son, who just two years older, was having a terrible time understanding where his baby sister and playmate had gone and when she would be back,” Catherine Gardner recalled.
“We pulled out a glove, as instructed in the family home evening manual, and taught him about the spirit and the body and how they separate at death but the spirit lives on. Each time we put our hand in the glove, representing our earthly life, and then pulled it out representing death and the spirit leaving his body, his eyes shined with understanding. Even at the tender age of 3, he seemed to grasp it. After that, he never asked again where she was. He continued to miss her, but going forward, he talked about her living with Heavenly Father and no longer asked where she was.”
After the renewed impetus given in 1965, family home evening was adapted for use by individuals in circumstances other than living at home in a typical family setting. College students living away from home could meet together for weekly home evenings as administered in student wards or branches. Other single adults in the church often gathered in groups to observe weekly family home evening, a practice that continues today.
Susan Bukas belongs to a small branch of the church in Olney, Illinois, where she teaches a Sunday School class for people investigating the church and for new members.
“We have family home evening every Monday night at the apartment of our senior missionaries and invite all investigators and new converts,” she wrote in an email to the LDS Church News.
“Because of this FHE group, friendships have been made amongst ourselves, and they then more readily follow the example of others to fellowship on Sunday. I highly encourage having FHE groups for singles, new converts, etc. It has made a difference in our tiny branch. We have retained our converts because they belong to a group.”
Today, 100 years after it was introduced to church members under the leadership of President Joseph F. Smith, and 50 years after the boost given to it by President David O. McKay, family home evening is as vital and integral to the lives and beliefs of church members as ever.
Email: rscott@deseretnews.com