Ramona Wilcox Cannon: An Abundant Fruit of Mormonism

Danielle Stockton

The third woman to earn a Master’s Degree from the University of Utah, recipient of an educational certificate as a translator from the University of Berlin, fluent and taught in 5 different languages, toured much of Europe, Egypt, and later visited Palestine, a teacher and journalist, a loving and devoted wife who raised seven children – including the family living in South America, recipient of Mother of the Year Award, published some 4,000 articles after the age of 60, and, as a great believer in lifetime education, was pursuing a PhD at University of Utah, when she was called to return to her Heavenly Father at age 91.

The run on paragraph above is meant to list simply a sampling of Ramona’s vigorous pursuit of serving others and following the Lord’s callings. Yes, she lived 91 years; but Ramona, in a sense, produced fruits of Mormonism for over a dozen lives. Even with all of these accomplishments and honors, Ramona valued her faith, her marriage to her always beloved husband, Joseph Jenne Cannon, and the rearing of her 7 children, namely stepchildren Wayne, Jane, and Grant; and those born of her union with Joseph, namely Elizabeth, Adrian, Bryant, and Mark.

Ramona Wilcox was born in 1887 to Charles Frederick and Elizabeth Stevenson Wilcox. Ramona’s life was steeped in the roots of early Mormonism. Her great grandfather was a first cousin of Brigham Young and her mother was the daughter of Elder Edward Stevenson, a member of the Presidents of the Seventy, who re-baptized Book of Mormon witness Martin Harris. Her superior intellect was apparent from an early age. Ariel Silver mentions in her work, that follows this article, entitled “Ask Mary Marker: A Guide to the Seasons of Life”, based on the life story of columnist Ramona Wilcox Cannon, that her father supported Ramona’s use of her intellect in obtaining a college degree. He said, “Life can be cruel to women, and it is my firm conviction that a woman is doing herself a favor when she prepares to be self supporting and independent of men if the need arises”. This was when only about 6% of Americans were graduating from high school. Sadly enough, while Ramona’s education became part of the essence of her persona, she did, indeed, later have that need tragically arise, living the last 33 years of her life as a widow.

Ramona’s discipline in pursuing a goal was another trait clearly visible in her youth. At the tender age of nine, she first heard of the Passion Play on Jesus’ crucifixion held every ten years in Oberammergau, Germany. Ariel Silver elaborates in “Ask Mary Marker: A Guide to the Seasons of Life” that this event piqued her interest so deeply that she immediately began saving her dimes which were matched by her father. In 1910, Ramona did indeed see the performance while visiting her brother, Fred, a missionary, in Germany. This focus and ability to stay the course served her well during her long and fruitful life. Ramona stayed for the duration of her brother’s mission at the end of which he was her escort as they traveled in Europe and even went to Egypt to visit the Sphinx and antiquities there. Upon returning to Germany, along with several friends, Ramona attended the Royal University of Berlin for a year, earning a certificate of study. She became adept in five different languages: English, German, Latin, French, and Spanish. (Her husband, Joseph, was adept in 7 languages.) Given her profound faith, these years can be viewed as the sowing of the seeds that later became Ramona’s personal, life-long fruits of Mormonism.

Following her time in Europe, Ramona returned to Utah and taught while she pursued a master’s degree in English at the University of Utah. By this time, Ramona was considered practically a spinster for the day, and as Ariel Silver recounts in page five of her manuscript entitled “Ask Mary Marker: A Guide to the Seasons of Life”, Ramona’s cousin, Stephen L. Richards, teased her by saying, “Ramona, you know MA doesn’t spell ma”. But Dr. Mark Cannon points out on page 5 of his work entitled “To the Descendants of Ramona W. and Joseph J. Cannon” that the marital stage of her life was, unbeknownst to her, extremely rapidly approaching. In particular, three months later she was married with three children and another on the way. Now, Ramona was definitely a go-getter, but this warrants both elaboration and explanation!

Some months prior, after being one of the first women to receive her master’s degree, Ramona had met Joseph Jenne Cannon, son of George Q. Cannon, counselor to four Church presidents. Sadly, shortly thereafter he lost his wife, Florence Groesbeck Cannon. He became an extremely eligible widower with three children. When asked to organize the annual 24th of July parade commemorating “the arrival of pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847”, Joseph recalled an intelligent and interesting woman, of course Ramona Wilcox, and contacted her to support his efforts. In his manuscript entitled “Joseph Jenne Cannon, 1877-1945”, Dr. Mark W. Cannon highlights a time in which Ramona and Joseph spoke to discuss preliminary ideas for the festivities. As Ramona put it, they conversed with “ideas popping like firecrackers."

This interchange became almost symbolic of their entire marriage as they openly discussed all things both intellectual and domestic, but never fought. As recorded in “Selections of Letters from Ramona W. and Joseph J. Cannon”, at a quiet spot, after a brief courtship, Joseph proposed. When Ramona, who loved him, had not yet acquiesced, he said “Our thoughts, our hearts, our bodies are parts of the same whole, each crying in the wilderness to be completed. We have known each other and have longed for each other.” Ramona felt the same, and they were united for eternity in 1914.

Their love and marriage was in and of itself one of the inspirational fruits of Mormonism. For both of them, their faith was paramount and brought them great peace through both good and challenging times. They were also evenly matched in their sense of integrity and humility, which was a backdrop for their lives. In addition, both placed a high value on understanding other cultures whether from reading, lectures, recitals, or observation of customs.

Time and distance did not fray these precious ties as they were so deeply faith based. In fact, Dr. Mark W. Cannon elaborates upon such events in “Joseph Jenne Cannon, 1877-1945”. For instance, shortly after their marriage, Joseph needed to go to Columbia in South America as he was appointed Vice President and General Manager for the American Columbian Corporation, financed by Jesse Knight, a prominent and successful mining entrepreneur. Joseph went to Columbia intermittently, normally for long periods.

During the three years Ramona and Joseph generally lived in different continents, their relationship was conducted predominately through letters…letters that took weeks or longer to arrive and often crossed each other. Oh, but what wonderful letters! Yes, they carried the daily happenings, but they also contained such a sweetness and passion. They often open with such phrases as lover, Eternal love, and Dear Heart. Certain letters included in “Selections of Letters from Ramona W. and Joseph J. Cannon” are especially remarkable. One from Ramona addresses Joseph as the “Beloved King of all that I have and am”, and one of Joseph’s closes with “Kisses and hugs to the Mother Dove and Kisses and hugs to the 5 little pigeons”. These epistles of faith and love carried them through, not only these extended absences from one another but also through Joseph’s bout with malaria and Ramona’s with diphtheria!

After several years, they decided that the family should all live in Columbia despite the health risks. Ramona, with five children, ranging from Wayne at 17 years to Adrian at 18 months, lived in Columbia from January 1919 for almost two years. They settled in the historic ocean town of Mompos, from which the Spaniards once governed the region. Ramona made the most of their lives there savoring the different culture and seeing that the five children did also. They thrived on the friendly, open indigenous people. An earthquake was survived; and Christmas and schooling were improvised, as were pets, which included two beloved monkeys from whom the children could not bear to be separated! So,. they were brought to Utah to be household pets.

Rosita and Flor de Te pulled off daily pranks to make sure they were never ignored. However, one day when the family was away, they managed to enter the basement where all of Ramona’s bottled fruit from her summer labors was stored. They loved the breaking sound as they threw the bottles to the cement floor. This resulted in their banishment to a zoo in Liberty Park where the children continued to visit them and call their names which brought the monkeys running. Sometime after returning to Utah from Columbia, Ramona was asked to write a series of articles, published in 1926 and 1927, about the family’s life there for The Children’s Friend. One of the most moving was the baptism of their son Grant. Ramona captures this sentiment in her work entitled “To My Dear Children and Grandchildren” when she felt the Spirit with the thought that this was probably “the first baptism into the Church of Christ that has happened on the South American Continent within probably fifteen hundred years”.

Political factors surrounding World War I caused the family to return to Utah. Economic times were hard. However, Ramona, while maintaining a household and rearing the seven children, performed substitute teaching in English literature or one of the other languages she knew. While serving as the editor of the Deseret News for three and one half years since 1931 where he wrote all the editorials and managed the newspaper, Joseph was called to a mission in Great Britain. Ramona was elated for Joseph to be called to do God’s work but did not look forward to another long separation and had no idea how the family would manage without his income during the Great Depression when jobs were virtually nonexistent. As Ariel Silver illustrates in “Ask Mary Marker: A Guide to the Seasons of Life”, Ramona’s faith once again carried her. She remembered that the New Testament referred to Peter’s mother-in-law. So, Peter had a wife, who with the help of the Lord presumably survived while he was away as an Apostle/missionary. So, Ramona laid this burden down praying one morning, “Well, dear Lord, I’ll leave it up to you. Whatever it is to be, I’ll do the best I can.” The call to Joseph from Church President Heber J. Grant had been interrupted by an emergency. So that very next day Joseph came home with the happy news that he was to be British Mission President and there was a modest living stipend so the family was to go with him.

Thus, Ramona was off to another adventure, namely being the wife of a mission president and caring for their three youngest children as well. She and Joseph worked closely with the missionaries under their care. At that time, the church had not developed the infrastructure and training our missionaries benefit from today. Those serving with the Cannons benefitted from the grooming, motivation and organization they, as a couple, provided. In the 1997 Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, pages 280-288, when he was Secretary of the European Mission, he observed that the mission in Great Britain under the Cannons’ tenure was an astonishingly marvelous accomplishment with the young missionaries. Many of them went on to successful and service filled careers. One interesting episode was that her son, Adrian, and Jack Bowd started preaching in Hyde Park despite hecklers and threats of being thrown into the Serpentine. Also, Mark wanted to be the first person baptized in the gorgeous, historic new chapel at Ravenslea. With his parents approval, he waited for months for completion of the conversion of the mansion into a chapel. Naturally, his father performed this especially poignant baptism. Apostle Richard R. Lyman confirmed Mark with what Ramona wrote was a remarkably positive prophetic blessing for Mark’s health and future. She observed that afterward President Lyman said “he had never had the spirit of anything of that kind to a greater degree.” During these years in Great Britain, Ramona wrote for The Millennial Star, using her talents to uplift and inspire British LDS women.

Another chapter of Ramona’s life began in 1945 with the death of her beloved Joseph. Her faith upheld her, and she gracefully carried on her life. In fact, she later urged, in her writings, that all widows must move on and continue to serve. Dr. Mark W. Cannon highlights in “To the Descendants of Ramona W. and Joseph J. Cannon” how Ramona’s path now turned even more toward her writings, which provided income but also influenced many people for the good. In particular, for 28 years she wrote the “Women’s Sphere” column for the Relief Society Magazine, providing a worldwide viewpoint for LDS women while continuing her education and even teaching at the University of Utah. Then, at the age of 60, Ramona was approached by Wendell Ashton, the then Editor-in-Chief of the Deseret News, to begin an advice column. Ramona took this challenge and anonymously, as Mary Marker, wrote the “Confidentially Yours” column. Realizing that performing this function entailed a great responsibility on her part, Ramona humbly prayed constantly for discernment. Moreover, in “To the Descendants of Ramona W. and Joseph J. Cannon”, Dr. Mark W. Cannon also states that Ramona also continuously took classes at the University of Utah to obtain the best research and analysis on solutions to various human problems. For example, she took a courtship and marriage course and chuckled from time to time wondering if other students wondered why a woman of her age was taking this class! As a result, Ramona’s Mary Marker role positively affected countless women and men for over 25 years.

Also during these years, Ramona received numerous awards among which was the Utah’s Press Woman of Achievement Award. She was also part of the delegation sent to the 1975 Woman Writers of the World Conference in Palestine. However, Ramona said that the greatest acknowledgement she ever received was the Honor Mother of the Year in 1978. Ariel Silver in her work “Ramona Wilcox Cannon as Woman and Writer” emphasizes the importance this type of recognition was to Ramona. Ramona, for all her other talents, believed that the love and care of her children was her greatest accomplishment and felt that “her greatest and most rewarding intellectual challenge was raising seven children”. Ramona was one of those rare people whom virtually everyone who knew her liked her.

Ramona Wilcox Cannon would likely have described the fruits of Mormonism as a deep and personal relationship with our savior Jesus Christ and bringing of this blessing into every part of her life. This Ramona did through her marriage to her soul mate Joseph Jenne Cannon, the joyful devotion to her step-children and the children of her union with the beloved Joseph, even though they were “as active as mice in a basket”; through her educational pursuits, her writing, and in fact virtually everyone she came into contact with during her long and eventful life. As Ariel Silver saliently points out in “Ask Mary Marker: A Guide to the Seasons of Life”, Ramona’s 91 years of life spanned enormous growth in the LDS church as well as a myriad of events and trends worldwide. Ramona’s unshakeable faith and superior intellect paved her way to consistently surmount obstacles, savor widening horizons and serve others. Her life remarkably still reflects the opportunities and challenges LDS women encounter today. Ultimately, Ramona’s example still holds pertinence and inspiration today, which may be the greatest of her fruits of Mormonism.

This article is designed to introduce you not only to Ramona Cannon, but also to Ariel Clark Silver, whose rich life combining family and intellectual achievement is itself an example of the Fruits of Mormonism. Her booklet “Ask Mary Marker: A Guide to the Seasons of Life” is presented below.