Flora Benson

Who was Flora Benson?

Flora Amussen Benson was the wife of Ezra Taft Benson, the 13th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Flora Amussen was the daughter of Carl Christian Amussen and his wife Barbara McIsaac Smith. Flora was born in Logan, Utah. Her father died when she was only 15 months old, however he was able to leave a good legacy and so she was raised in relative comfort.

Amussen attended Utah State Agricultural College, now Utah State University, where she met Ezra Taft Benson. At Utah State she was a tennis player, winning the colleges women's singles title. She served as a missionary for the LDS Church in Hawaii. As part of her mission, she taught in the LDS Church-run elementary school in Laie, Hawaii. Her mother was later called on a mission to Hawaii and they served as companions in Honolulu.

After her return from her mission, Flora dated Ezra Taft Benson again and they were engaged within two months of her return from her mission. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple by Orson F. Whitney who had been Ezra's mission president.

While her husband was Secretary of Agriculture, Flora on one occasion declined an invitation to the White House to attend a choir performance by one of her daughters.