Utah’s Bloghive pays tribute to President Gordon B. Hinckley
Frank Staheli, Simple Utah Mormon Politics:
We–my family and I–are only slightly saddened at Gordon B. Hinckley’s passing. We’ll miss his ever optimistic example, for sure. But the things that he taught us most remind us that sadness is only transitory, and that because life is eternal, all our sadnesses will ultimately transition into joy. So, we’re happy for Gordon Hinckley, and we celebrate that he has written the final chapter of a life excellently lived.
“Are we going to go play basketball as a family in the morning?” my daughter asked, as we usually do play ball together on Monday mornings. I said “Sure, do you want to?” She said, very quietly wiping back tear, “Yes, because that would make me happy.”
President Hinckley would want it that way.
Pres. Hinckley became a general authority in 1958. In the years preceding that, he worked as the executive secretary of the church’s missionary department. Back in those days, before the advent of modern computers, each document had to typed on a typewriter. Like all large businesses in those days, the church employed phalanxes of stenographers and typing clerks. A young lady (that would later become my mother) worked in the church’s typing pool, as they called it.
One day this young lady ended up going to break late because she had been working on a document that had a tight deadline. Not being with her normal group of friends, she found herself sitting alone in the cafeteria at the Church Administration Building. During that break, a man whom she knew to be a rather high up employee came through the doors of the cafeteria and started walking toward the food service area. Suddenly he changed course and walked directly up to this young lady and introduced himself.
“Hi, I don’t know if you know me,” he said, “but I’m Gordon Hinckley. What’s your name?” The young lady responded appropriately. He then said, “I was walking across the cafeteria when I felt impressed to ask you if you’ve ever considered serving a mission for the church.” She responded that she had thought about it, but that “you have to be an old maid to go on a mission.”
At that time, the minimum age for young men to serve was 21, and the minimum age for young women was 23. “Well,” said Bro. Hinckley, “I work with the missionary department. They are considering lowering the minimum age by two years. How old are you?” She said that she would be turning 21 in a few weeks. “Then, if you’re serious about serving a mission,” he said, “why don’t you go talk to your bishop about it. Tell him that I said it would be alright for you to put in your application. I have some pull with the missionary department, so I think you’ll get a call.”
The young lady did as she had been admonished, and she ended up serving in Germany in the early 1950s. They had no language training prior to beginning service back in those days. She says that the first word she heard when she got off the ship in Germany was “achtung!” She thought some guy was clearing his throat. But she was blessed to catch onto the German language by and by.
Toward the end of her mission, this young lady missionary happened to help teach the gospel to a young German fellow that was looking for answers. He was soon converted, but back in those days they had a months-long process to go through before a new convert could be baptized. So he joined the church after the young lady had returned to the US. Some months later, he emigrated and followed her to the US, where they courted. When he had been a member of the church for a year, they went to Salt Lake City and were married in the Temple.
My parents soon found themselves serving in a host of callings in their small branch in Colorado. I was blessed to be the third of five sons (sorry, no daughters) born to my parents. I have watched my Mom serve valiantly in many ward and stake callings. So has my Dad. He was stunned when he was called to be a stake patriarch 25 years ago. I had the blessing of growing up in a loving, middle-income, church-going American family.
While Pres. Hinckley wasn’t the only variable in my coming to be, it’s difficult to imagine how my parents might have come together had he not listened to the Spirit during a break at work those many years ago. So I can say that I owe my existence and many of this life’s blessings to Pres. Hinckley. While I have many memories of Pres. Hinckley, this is the thing for which I will always remember him most.
Gordon B. Hinckley, I will miss you.
Several years ago I sat on the front pew at a youth fireside in San Diego, right in the middle, and you looked me in the eyes several times as you spoke. It was then that I received a personal witness of your prophetic calling. You seemed to glow as you counseled us youth, imparting of your great wisdom.
Your sense of humor has been an inspiration to me. Despite numerous reasons to be sad, pessimistic, and troubled, your smile and wisecracks lit up the lives of millions. Your exemplary life stands as a testimony of what a witness of Christ truly is.
God be with you ’til we meet again.
I had the opportunity to sing in the choir at the dedication of the Bountiful Temple soon after I returned home from my mission. President Hinckley was presiding over the session of the dedication I was attending. It was very close quarters in the celestial room where the service was being held and I ended up standing right behind President Hinckley who was the first councilor in the first presidency at the time. As we filed into the room to sing each musical number he watched us squeeze into the space behind the row he was sitting on. He always smiled at the choir as we came into the room.
As it came time to do the Hosanna Shout and then sing the Hosanna Anthem at the closing of the service I joined everyone else in the temple in waving my handkerchief while speaking the words of the shout. As the shout commenced I accidently hit President Hinckley in the head with my handkerchief. He wasn’t visibly distracted at all (I didn’t whip him very hard) and after the shout he turned around and smiled at me. It was kind of cool. As we sang the “Hosanna Anthem” he turned around and watched us for a few moments. It was cool to see someone who has likely had to listen to that song so many hundreds of times (there were 16 sessions of the Bountiful Temple dedication) clearly enjoy the spirit and the music at that dedication ceremony. I’ll always remember his blue/grey eyes and the smile he had when he looked at me.
Its kind of dumb I know…the one second’s worth of attention I received from President Hinckley came because I whipped him in the head with a handkerchief but I’ll always remember that and it will always be meaningful to me. I didn’t really know President Hinckley but I believe he was a great man and the world is poorer for his absence.
We’ve both been trying to think of how to describe President Hinckley, and we settled on gracious. When you met him, he made you feel as though he was the one looking forward to meeting you. He had a good sense of humor. He teased some of the General Authorities, once about one of them wearing brown shoes. Other people wrote his speeches, but he always required some humor in them, no matter the subject. He was a leader who could, and did, engender the respect of non-members and others whose views differed from his. We just hope they tell some jokes at his services; he would have appreciated that.
I don’t have a lot to say about the passing of President Hinckley. I thought he was a kind and charismatic man; a forward thinker and man unafraid of change. Unlike nearly every religious leader in the US, Hinckley really wasn’t a Leviticus-inspired, pulpit pounder, he was subtle and funny and genuine. I’ll miss this great man.
To me, President Hinkley was very much like John Paul II. Now I am not Catholic, but one can also respect all the good things both men did, not just to expand the membership of their respective faiths, but also to improve the public perception of their faiths. That Pope and this President did a great service to their respective religions followers to ease the concerns that many had. For Catholics, many saw them as stuck in the past. So JPII appologized for Gallieo and any role the Church had in the Halocaust. Similarly, Pres. Hinkley addressed polygamy head on with the media, emphasizing how that tenant had long ago fell out of doctrine and those who continued to practice it weren’t Mormons and were in small tiny sects.
More importantly, both men had a kindly and warm presence that was a very positive face of their world religions. They made themselves hard to hate.
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