Latest Apostolic Age Averages

With the busy day I have had today (between having the 9 am church block following a short night and having temple recommend interviews on both the ward and stake levels and hearing of the groundbreaking set for the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple), this is my first chance to share the latest information regarding the average ages of our 15 apostles.

Before doing so, I should like to note that this will be a shorter update compared to those I have lately done on this subject. After all, not all that much has changed in terms of how close President Monson and President Nelson are to reaching significant age and tenure milestones. Nor has very much changed in terms of how close our 14 apostles under 90 are to reaching that milestone. And there also has not been any change in terms of who among our apostles are closest in age to the averages shared here. But it is well worth noting the small changes that have taken place in this regard.

As of today, the average age of the First Presidency members is 83.07, while the average age of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles stands at 74.62. With how old each apostle is (each of them have increased in age by about 0.02 years since last week), the average age of the 15 apostles overall is 76.31 years.

Again, I honestly can't say how those averages might compare with the week-to-week averages of these three groups over the history of the Church. But the limited research I have been able to do eon this subject leads me to believe that it is safe to say that some are much older than that average, and some are much younger.

It is absolutely amazing for me to track these averages week to week. Even if I never see much of an increase in the numbers involved, what it does absolutely indicate to me is that the promise of the Lord continues to be a reality. As the scripture says, they have been sanctified by the spirit unto the renewal of their bodies. As previously observed, President Nelson is well on track to become the oldest living apostle. I think he'll make it no problem. And with how well President Monson did in delivering that funeral tribute to Elder Rudd (still no word on how long he spoke, but by all accounts available, it was for an extended period of time), it may be a very good indicator that he is improving.

Someone asked me in response to an earlier post on the subject of apostolic age averages whether the Church was preparing anything special to mark President Monson's 90th birthday, which is this year. Because I wanted to be better informed about the question, I did my research. While there has been no announcement of any such event as yet, every time a Church president has previously reached a milestone birthday, particularly 90 or older, he is honored round about the day of his actual birthday. I am more than a little surprised that we haven't heard of any such event being planned for President Monson. But there is still time. President Hinckley's 90th birthday celebration was not announced by the Church News until about a month before the event. That might happen in this case. If it does, I would expect to hear about it perhaps 6 weeks before the event, as the month before falls right in the middle of the July recess for the General Authorities. Stay tuned for more on that as I hear of it.

In the meantime, I hope these posts are helpful to you all and that no one is bothered or offended by them. I thank those of you who have expressed an interest in these reports. I appreciate you all more than I can say. Any comments are welcome and appreciated. Thank you.