We Thank Thee, O God, for This Prophet
President Hinckley's Funeral
Text by Maurine Proctor
Photography by Scot Facer Proctor

February 2, 2008

President Boyd K. Packer

President Boyd K. Packer painted the picture of the newly-returned missionary, Gordon B. Hinckley, who took on the job of serving as secretary to the new Church Mission Literature Commission, and found himself on his own to find his way, a pioneer even at that young stage.

“He was on his own to rustle around to find an empty office somewhere. A friend, whose father owned an office supply store, gave him an old, warped table. He put a block of wood under one short leg. He brought his own typewriter from home.

“He went to the supply room for a ream of paper and was asked, “Do you have any idea how many sheets of paper are in a ream?

“He replied, ‘Yes, 500 sheets.'

“'What in the world are you going to do with 500 sheets of paper?'

“He answered, ‘I am going to write on them one sheet at a time.'

“He never stopped writing. For years I have had a weekly meeting with President Hinckley. Often I found him at his desk writing out his talks in longhand.”

President Packer noted, “Succession to the Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a remarkable process …No one who has known the order of things speculates on who will be the next President of the Church. It has always been this pattern. There is no aspiring for the position or place, no avoiding the Lord's will.

“Gordon B. Hinckley did not seek the many calls and assignments that came to him, but he did not shy away either ….

“With the Church growing very rapidly worldwide, we often go to distant places to organize or reorganize a unit of the Church. We are sometimes asked, ‘Where on earth will you find the new leaders?' We do not have to find them. They are already there, just as Gordon B. Hinckley was there. The Lord provides them. They are serving faithfully and paying for the privilege in tithes and offerings.”

President Henry B. Eyring

“In the last few days, I have remembered his voice,” said President Henry B. Eyring. “I heard that voice so many times when a difficult problem facing the Church was brought to him. He would listen carefully, perhaps asking a question or two, to be sure that he understood the magnitude of the difficulty facing us and that those who brought the problem to him knew he understood. Time after time, he would quietly say something like this, with a pleasant smile, “Oh, things will work out.”

He was an optimist whose accomplishments are many, “but,” said President Eyring, “his accomplishments have one thing in common. Always they were to bless individuals with opportunity. And always he thought of those with the least opportunity, the ordinary person struggling to cope with the difficulties of everyday life and the challenge of living the gospel of Jesus Christ. More than once he tapped his finger on my chest when I made a suggestion and said, “Hal, have you remembered the person who is struggling?”

President Eyring continued, “That unfailing confidence in the power of God shaped what he was able to see in the progress of the Lord's Church. No one was more aware of problems than he. And yet time and again he would say of the Church that we have never done better, and he would give you facts to prove it. Then he would say, with conviction in his voice, “And the best is yet to come.”

“On last Wednesday as President Monson and I greeted him, he smiled, and extended his hand to each of us. He asked me, “Hal, how are you?” I gave a simple answer, ‘Fine.” I only wish I had answered, “Better than ever. And, I know the best is yet to come, because I was blessed to live when I could hear your voice and learn from your example.”

President Thomas S. Monson

President Monson quoted an unnamed poet, who wrote, “Here and there, and now and then, God makes a giant among men.”

“President Hinckley was such a giant — a giant of knowledge, of faith, of love, of testimony, of compassion, of vision. I cannot adequately express how much I miss him. It's difficult to recall a time when he and I did not know each other. We were friends long before either one of us was called to a General Authority of the Church, and we have served side by side for over forty-four years in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and in the First Presidency.

President Monson said that he and President Eyring were privileged to be with him and his family on Saturday and again on Sunday. “As long as I live, I shall cherish the memory of my last visit to his home in the brief hours before his passing…

“As I returned to my home, I recalled the sweet and poignant statement President Hinckley had made in his talk at the General Relief Society Broadcast in September of 2003, when his sweet Marjorie was still by is side. Speaking of her, he said, ‘For 66 years we have walked together, hand in hand, with love and encouragement, with appreciation and respect. It cannot be very long before one of us will step through the veil. I hope the other will follow soon. I just would not know how to get along without her, even on the other side, and I would hope that she would not know how to get along without me.

“Within six months, his beloved Marjorie had ‘stepped through the veil.' He missed her every day, every moment. What a glorious reunion they have now had.”

It was a poignant moment to look upon the beautifully-hand-carved black walnut pulpit, made from the tree that President Hinckley had planted, and his casket beside it. The thought that he would never speak from that pulpit again was nearly overpowering.

The apostles stood to leave and slowly walked out of the great conference center that was built under President Hinckley's direction.

Cortege to Cemetery

The final farewells were made to the prophet and the cortege drove up South Temple to N Street and then on to the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Along the route, many were gathered to wave canes in memory of the President Hinckley's characteristic gesture. Others waved white handkerchiefs.

President Hinckley had reached across boundaries to embrace all people, so it seemed somehow fitting that as the procession of cars bearing his casket made its way to the cemetery, the bells of the Catholic Church of St. Madeline rang out.