Tuesday, January 29, 2008

President Hinckley

Around 10:30 Sunday night the phone rang. It was Jenny Wood with the news of President Hinckley's passing. Because I know of the joyful reunion he is having with his wife and family -I don't feel sad - But I will miss him. I will miss his humor at conference. It is wonderful to think back of memorable and life-changing addresses he has given. I feel like I knew him very well - though I never met him.

One of my favorite memories - is a BYU women's conference where Sister Hinckley and her daughter spoke. They told incredible but ordinary stories about their family and the experience of being related to the prophet. We were laughing so hard - we had tears rolling down our faces. The time came for them to end and the audience cheered for more. After that - I read the book "Glimpses" about Sister Hinckley - it really told a lot about President Hinckley and the kind of husband and father he was. They are an incredible couple and I am overjoyed - just thinking about them being together again.

My 97 year old grandmother is feeling lonely today. She used to say she was in good company with president Hinckley - being the same age. I said to her yesterday - "Grandma, you are still in good company." She replied, "No, there is no one left. Everyone is gone." It must be hard to be 97 and know that all the people you know your age have passed on.

Grandma tells the story of going to see Gordon B. Hinckley at his office. At the time he was in charge of the mission department of the church. Grandma had a missionary son (my Dad) who was about to come home from his mission in the Netherlands. The church had just announced that the missionaries in Europe would now travel home by plane instead of by ship. My worried Grandmother had heard scary stories of planes going down over the ocean - so she went to Gordon B. Hinckley's office to express her concerns. President Hinckley assured her that if the Lord had decided that the missionaries would be safe traveling by plane then they would be safe.
I picture him saying it with a smile and a chuckle.

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