Herald and news., March 03, 1963, Page 25, Image 25

Family Weekly I March 3, 1963
When George was five, a revolution broke out
in Mexico and most of the American-Mormon
families returned to the United States. George's
younger brother, Charles, who was born in this
country shortly after the Mexican exodus, once
got a rise out of him by yelling: "I'm the only
Romney who can be President 'cause I'm the
only one born in this country."
"That's not so," George cried out. "I can be
President, too." He thought a moment, then
added: "If a kitten was born in a garage, would
that make it an automobile? Mom and Dad are
Americans, so I'm a natural-born citizen, too."
Thus he won his first important debate.
George's father eventually settled in Salt Lake
City, where he established himself as a successful
builder. His sons worked with him after school
and during the summers as carpenters and lath
ers. George became so expert at filling his mouth
with nails and spitting them out point-first that
he could place 3,000 laths a day (the average
lather puts up 1,600).
The Romneys were a devout family, and George
was thoroughly instructed in his religion. From
the age of four, he knelt with the family in daily
morning and evening prayers. Sundays were de
voted to church work and study. As a small child,
he gave two-and-a-half-minute talks in front of
the adult congregation as part of his Sunday
school training in public speaking.
An Interrupted Courtship
In his senior year at high school, George met
one of the few people who ever left him speech
less. She was Lenore LaFount, a beautiful 16-year-old
brunette who strummed the ukulele and
wanted to be an actress.
George followed her when she went out with
other boys, bought her a piece of cake every noon
in the school cafeteria, and once literally pulled
her off a school dance floor when he decided she
had danced long enough with another boy. "It
was the most exciting thing we had ever seen,"
her sister exclaimed later.
His courtship of Lenore was beginning to take
precedence over most of his other activities when
the church invited him to become a missionary.
For a 19-year-old Mormon, this was a great hon
or. But there were problems. Missionaries must
cease dating. So the offer meant he would be sep
arated from Lenore for two years.
George sat with Lenore in a borrowed car one
evening outside the LaFount home. "I've an obli
gation to let people know about the power they
have to change their lives through God," he told
her. Lenore understood ; her father also had been
a missionary.
But there was another problem money. Mis
sionaries and their families must pay their own
expenses, and the Romneys were already sup
porting one son's mission in South Africa. So
George found two eight-hour jobs lathing and
shingling buildings. By the end of the summer of
1926, he had given the church 10 percent of his
earnings . for "tithing," had set aside $630
toward mission expenses, and had enough left to
buy a birthday present for Lenore.
He started his missionary work in Glasgow,
Scotland. Eight hours a day, he and a companion
gave street sermons and walked door-to-door
handing out pamphlets. Evenings were spent re
visiting families that showed an interest.
Romney learned how to face the jeers of
hecklers and outshout them. "How many wives
did Brigham Young have?" a heckler once yelled.
"Just enough that he didn't have to bother
with any other man's wife," he answered without
batting an eye.
Returning to America in 1928, George resumed
courting Lenore. Her family had moved to Wash
ington, D.C., so he enrolled at George Washing
ton University there to study business and eco
nomics. To pay his tuition, he got a job as a clerk
in the office of Massachusetts' Democratic Senator
David Walsh. He worked his way up in the Sena-'
tor's office until he became his tariff specialist
In 1930 Romney took a job as lobbyist with the
Aluminum Co. of America. When Lenore thought
she wanted a career acting in movies, George
convinced Alcoa he would be more valuable in
their West Coast office and followed her to Holly
wood. In 1931 he and Lenore were married
(George calls this his "greatest selling job"), and
he began to concentrate on building his career.
pa M M
W M
m k
h l M
1
George Romney and Mormon President David
McKay attend a church dedication near Detroit.
By 1939, he had moved to the Automobile Man
ufacturers Association as manager of its Detroit
office. In 1948 he joined American Motors (then
known as Nash-Kelvinator ) as assistant to the
president, and on the death of his dobs, he was
elected president.
Detroit had never seen an auto executive quite
like Romney. A hard-selling salesman with a fer
vid missionary glint in his eye, George traveled
70,000 miles a year preaching the gospel of his
company's small car. But he remained the antith
esis of the high-powered salesman, for he lived
quietly, never drank, and avoided profanity. He
rose every morning at 5 to play golf, because,
as he said, "the body is the temple of the spirit"
and should be exercised properly.
Romney also transplanted the devout family
life of his Salt Lake boyhood to high-pressured
Detroit. The Romneys have two daughters and
two sons, and the eldest son, Scott, already has
followed in his father's footsteps by serving as a
Mormon missionary in Great Britain.
Two Mormon principles that Romney has up
held zealously are a belief in individual responsi
bility and a dedication to public service. In 1956
he became chairman of the Detroit Citizens Ad
visory Committee on School Needs. During the
two years he was on the committee, it submitted
182 proposals. Most of these reforms have now
been incorporated into the Detroit school system.
In 1959 Romney moved on to state problems.
As leader of a nonpartisan Citizens for Michigan
movement, he organized a convention to rewrite
the state's outmoded constitution.
After that, the call to politics was inevitable.
It came when the constitutional convention bogged
down in partisan politics, and Romney decided
- the only way to get things done was to run for
office. When he won the governorship, Romney
resigned as president of the Mormon Church's
Detroit district. It was not an easy step for him.
but as he put it: "Even though my religion is
my most precious possession, we consider this
mandate by the people a very important calling."
Such dedication has pushed Romney to the top
in the business world, and it could do the same
in the world of politics. No wonder there is talk
of George W. Romney as Presidential timber.
Family Wrrkly. Morrli 1. 1963 J
A gathering of the Romney family includes, left to right. daughter Lynn Keenan, her husband, and their
child; the Romneys and son Mitt; daughter Jane Robinson and husband; and the eldest Romney son, Scott.
ii Mir ii .iiiMStMMWyriM'firl .' -'