Hope in Our Hearts
Elder Russell M. Nelson was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in April 1984. Prior to his call, he was a world- renowned cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon, medical researcher, and educator. He received his B.A. and M.D. degrees from the University of Utah and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, and has served as president of the Society for Vascular Surgery and chairman of the Council on Cardiovascular Surgery for the American Heart Association. He and his wife, the late Dantzel Nelson, are the parents of ten children. Dantzel Nelson passed away in February 2005. Elder Nelson married Wendy L. Watson, a professor of marriage and family therapy in BYU s School of Family Life, in 2006.