JoAnn Hibbert Hamilton: Biography

JoAnn Hibbert Hamilton is a graduate of BYU. She was married to Sherman H. Hibbert, an attorney who practiced in Idaho and later in Salt Lake City. She served with him when he became Mission President in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She was 30 and he was 35 at the time. She is the mother of 8 children including one set of twin girls. President Hibbert died in l978 leaving her with 8 children ages 2-16. Three and a half years later she married Fred Hamilton, a widower with 13 children. Since then they have added others to their family. Together they have sent 17 missionaries into the field.

Sister Hamilton has had two articles published in The Ensign, ("Family Preparedness: It's More Than a Year's Supply," Ensign, June 1980, page 41 and "Project Grump", Ensign, Mar. 1994, page 71) two in the Church News and currently writes a column for the Davis County Clipper called "A Minute For Parents" and a column for the home page of United Families International called "Protecting Our Children." She taught early morning seminary as a volunteer for five and a half years. She was a delegate and host at the World Congress of Families II in Switzerland and in April, 2000, she represented Utah at a national Pro-Family Conference in the Cincinnati area put on by the largest group of non-profit organizations that fight pornography that has ever put on a conference. She is currently President of Citizens for Families - Coalition for Community Standards, was a former American Mothers President for the state of Utah, is on the Board of Directors of H.O.M.E., sat on the state PTA Safety Commission, on the Coalition of Utah Families, and on the Utah Family Values Commission. She served for two years on the Mountain High Community Council.

She has given talks in areas across the United States, Canada, Portugal and Brazil and was an Especially for Youth and Know Your Religion speaker. She also speaks at BYU Education Week. She has a number of audio tapes out, three books, Personal Revelation, How to Recognize Promptings of the Spirit, People Speaking out for Decency - How to Establish a Community Standardand To Strengthen the Family, LDS version and non-LDS version and a video, Strengthening and Protecting Your Family in Today's World. Her web site is http://www.StrengthenTheFamily.net/.

She received one of the Governor's Points of Light Awards in 2003, the Coalition for Utah Families Volunteer Award for the State of Utah in 2001, and the Exchange Club Book of Golden Deeds Award for service to youth in l997. CD Who will speak for the children.

Purpose

"I get super concerned about the pornography issue. So many youth and parents are just not aware of the extensiveness of the problem, the devastation it causes and the ease with which addiction comes. So many people are already "caught" and they don't realize it. We have such a crying need for more public awareness."

"I want to make a difference."
"I want to educate parents about the fact that because of our environment, the pornography problem does affect them. I want to teach them what they need to do to protect their homes and what they need to do to protect their communities. I want to let them know that there is help if they already have a problem, and I want them to know that all of this is "doable."
"I want to help families focus on teaching values in the walls of their homes."
"I want to help youth and parents build wonderful family relationships as they also work together to become more Christ-like."
"I want to help youth and adults find the joy in living that God intended for us."
"I want families to be able to pray together to solve problems and recognize when they receive answers."
"I want to teach about the support that God and the scriptures will give us as we struggle through things."
"I want to help youth and parents talk about issues like morality and pornography and really communicate."

More about JoAnn online

Cited in article at BYU Broadcasting.org
Envision Entertainment Biography on Joann
JoAnn's speech at the War on Pornography Meeting - Alan Keyes, Alan Osmond (President, TheFamily.com), Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, Rep. Chris Cannnon (R-UT), Ray Sikkema (President, Citizen's Voice), JoAnn Hibbert Hamilton (President, Citizens for Families), Scott Dow (Director, War on Pornography)