President Gordon B. Hinckley Passes Away!

PRESIDENT AND PROPHET GORDON B. HINCKLEY passed away this evening at 7pm MST. Duff's mom called us immediately after she heard the news. We called all the kids and the bishop told the youth at the fireside where Christine was. I knew this day would come, but when it does, somehow you are never quite prepared. I feel secure and at peace though because of my testimony that the Savior leads the church and a new prophet will be in place shortly and for the time in-between the Quorum of the 12 Apostles are in charge.

I can't help but think of the sweet reunion for him with his beloved wife, Marjorie, who died just about 4 years ago now. He was so devastated when she passed away and showed us how to go on in the face of loneliness and trial.

This is the only prophet that Christine has known so far. When she was born, the prophet was Howard W. Hunter, but he died while she was a baby. So this has shaken her up a little bit. I talked to her about how I felt when David O. McKay passed away. I was exactly her age, 13.

I remember feeling kind of scared, numb, nervous. It was also in January, and it was cold and dreary. I didn't want to go to school. I was standing over the furnace grate in the floor in our living room and remember feeling sick to my stomach. It was a time when I learned about church government and succession in the first presidency. My faith was being stretched and growing. I recall the comfort I felt from my parents reassurance that the Lord was in charge and He would call another prophet to lead us. I remember what an important time it was when we listened on the radio to the next general conference and sustained Joseph Fielding Smith as the new prophet and president of the church! That was the only way we got conference during those days in California. Several years later, we would go to the Stake Center and listen to it and another several years after that we could watch it at the SCenter. FINALLY, the local TV stations began broadcasting it. Up to two years ago when the BYU channel became availabe to us here, we were always at the mercy of a cable company to pick up conference and then send thank yous to them so they would pick it up again.

I've been thinking this evening about the prophets I've known in my lifetime so far: David O. McKay, Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, Spencer W. Kimball, Ezra Taft Benson, Howard W. Hunter, Gordon B. Hinckley. I have a testimony of each one and the work they contributed to build the Kingdom of God here on the earth.

I have loved President Hinckley. His love was always so evident. I always kind of felt like he reached out to us as a loving grandfather would. I will miss him.