President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910 - 2008)

Well this is two entries in a row like this for us, but I just couldn't let this go without somehow marking the event.

Jeff woke me last night (I'd fallen asleep early) to let me know that Dad had called with the news that our beloved President Hinckley had passed away. The news must have tumbled around in my dreams because I awakened more than once through the night thinking about him.

As I fed and dressed Kaitlyn this morning I shared the news with her and was sad that she wouldn't get to know this great man during her life on this earth. Though we will miss him terribly, we are gladdened to think of the reunion he certainly had with his sweetheart and other loved ones!!

President Hinckley was the 15th president in the 177-year history of the Church and had served as its president since 12 March 1995. For me, some of the highlights of these years include the following (text from the LDS Newsroom):

He was a popular interview subject with journalists, appearing on 60 Minutes with Mike Wallace and on CNN’s Larry King Live, as well as being quoted and featured in hundreds of newspapers and magazines over the years.

In calling for 100 temples to be in operation before the end of the year 2000, the Church president committed the Church to a massive temple-building program. In 1999 — 169 years after the Church was organized by its founder, Joseph Smith — the Church had 56 operating temples. Three years later that number had doubled, largely because of a smaller, highly practical temple architectural plan that delivered these sacred buildings to Church members in far-flung parts of the world.

President Hinckley was the most traveled president in the Church’s history. His duties took him around the world many times to meet with Latter-day Saints in more than 60 countries. He was the first Church president to travel to Spain, where in 1996 he broke ground for a temple in Madrid; and to the African nations of Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Cape Verde, where he met with thousands of Latter-day Saints in 1998. In 2005, he traveled nearly 25,000 miles on a seven-nation, nine-day tour to Russia, South Korea, China, Taiwan, India, Kenya, and Nigeria.

At a general conference of Church members in April 2001, President Hinckley initiated the Perpetual Education Fund — an ambitious program to help young members of the Church (mainly returning missionaries from developing countries) receive higher education and work-related training that they would otherwise likely never receive.

President Hinckley announced the construction of a new Conference Center in 1996 and dedicated it four years later. Seating 21,000 people, it is believed to be the largest religious and theater auditorium in the world and has become the hub for the Church’s general conference messages to the world, broadcast in 91 languages.

My thoughts today found there way to a moment that had somehow lodged itself in the far recesses of my mind and I reflected on an evening in early 1999 when I had the opportunity to be on the Tabernacle stage with President Hinckley. He had come to visit with the members of the Mormon Youth Symphony (of which I was a part) and let them know that this organization would dissolve and a new organization would form at the end of the season. While I don't remember the exact words he used, I know he talked about change. And that it was necessary. And that it was good. Though I was saddened to hear this news, I knew then and I know now that the words he spoke were the will of the Lord. Most of all, I had an opportunity that many within the membership of the church will not have in their lifetime - I was in the same room as the living prophet!! (I say this not to brag, but in recognition of, and with gratitude for, the unique opportunity which was mine.)

President Hinckley, we love you and will miss you. We will always remember how you waved to the crowd with your cane, your sense of humor, the love that emanated from you when you spoke, and the love you had for your dear wife. May we live up to the legacy that you have left for us!!