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Sen. Orrin Hatch’s Tribute to Pres. Hinckley

January 29, 2008 | Uncategorized

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, made the following speech today on the floor of the U.S. Senate regarding the life of Gordon B. Hinckley, the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who died Sunday at the age of 97.

Mr. President, today I add my voice to those of 13 million other members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in bidding farewell to our beloved prophet, President Gordon Bitner Hinckley. His death late yesterday in his home in Salt Lake City has reminded us that all good things must come to an end. It is a sad day for all Utahns. We have lost our friend, our leader, and our fellow servant. President Hinckley lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people, leaving behind him a fame and a name which will be known for generations to come.

In our effort to follow in President Hinckley’s footsteps, Latter-day Saints found they had to lengthen their stride to keep up with him. Even into the sunset of his life, President Hinckley was indefatigable. He set a vigorous pace, traveling the world and sharing his message of service, love, and compassion with millions of all faiths. Everywhere our prophet traveled, he succored the weak, lifted the hands which hung down, and strengthened the feeble knees. When I think of the blessing President Hinckley was to those around him, I am reminded of the words from the great Mormon hymn, “Every day some burden lifted, every day some heart to cheer, every day some hope the brighter, blessed honored pioneer.”

President Hinckley was born to humble surroundings on June 23, 1910, in Salt Lake City, Utah. He attended public schools, and graduated with a bachelor’s of arts from the University of Utah. His first job was as a newspaper carrier for Utah’s Deseret News. This modest exposure to the news media was perhaps a prelude of things to come. President Hinckley became the most media savvy leader our church has ever known, sharing his warmth and spirit with countless reporters, cultivating great friendships with notables like Larry King and Mike Wallace. Wallace once described President Hinckley as “a man I admire and I love really, because he’s just an extraordinary guy.”

As many Latter-day Saints do, Gordon B. Hinckley performed a service mission as a representative for the church while he was young. President Hinckley served in Great Britain in the 1930s, sharing the gospel’s message of peace and hope during a time of great political and economic turmoil. Discouraged by the lack of receptivity he found among the Britons, he confided his dismay to his father, who instructed the young Gordon to “forget himself and go to work.”

Young Gordon did, both in Great Britain and in the 70 years of service that followed.

His love of God fueled his love of country. President Hinckley carried the torch of patriotism, and the spirit of America burned in his heart. He came from a long line of patriots. One of his forebears, Stephen Hopkins, came to America on the Mayflower. Another, Thomas Hinckley, served as governor of the Plymouth Colony from 1680 to 1692.

He once said, “I love America for [its] great constitutional strength, for the dedication of its people to the peace and the prosperity of the entire earth. I love America for the tremendous genius of its scientists, its laboratories, its universities, its researchers, and the tens of thousands of facilities devoted to the improvement of human health and comfort, to the extension of life, to better communication and transportation. Its great throbbing and thriving industries have blessed the entire world. The standard of living of its people has been the envy of the entire earth. Its farmlands have yielded an abundance undreamed of by most people of the earth. The entrepreneurial environment in which has grown its industry has been the envy of and model for many other nations.”

President Hinckley’s patriotism inspired him to great acts of civic service, in addition to his church duties. He was a chairman or board member of many businesses and educational entities. He received honorary doctorates from five colleges and universities, the Distinguished Service Award from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Silver Buffalo Award from the Boy Scouts of America, and special recognition for his contributions to tolerance from the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

President Hinckley’s ministry earned him national prominence. In 2004, President George W. Bush awarded our prophet with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civil award. President Hinckley was one of the spiritual leaders Mr. Bush invited to the White House following the September 11th attacks. It was a great honor, both for him and our faith, that the President invited him to that gathering. A few months later, on the eve of the Winter Olympics in 2002, the Commander in Chief said, “President Hinckley represents a great religion, he is a strong part of the American scene.”

But President Hinckley never let his love of the United States obscure his vision for the rest of the world. Prior to becoming the LDS president in 1995, Hinckley supervised the church’s organization in Asia, Europe, and South America. During his tenure, the number of members living inside North America was surpassed by those living outside of it. He traveled across the globe, setting an energetic pace that would have exhausted men half his age. The nations of the earth heard his voice and he brought them a knowledge of the truth by the wonderful testimony which he bore.

As president, he administered to both the ecclesiastical and temporal needs of the Church, whose 13 million members are spread over some 160 nations and territories. President Hinckley lifted his voice on every continent, in cities large and small, from north to south and east to west across this broad world—from Cape Town to Stockholm, from Moscow to Tokyo to Montreal, in every great capital of the world.

President Hinckley oversaw the Mormon church’s vast, worldwide humanitarian efforts. When disasters struck, he directed the church’s dispatch its resources and its members to help, whether it be to the hurricane-struck Gulf Coast or tsunami-ravaged East Asia. In fellowship and brotherhood, President Hinckley directed the LDS Church to work hand in glove with Catholic Charities. He once said, “All about us there are many who are in need of help and who are deserving of rescue. Our mission in life, as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, must be a mission of saving. There are the homeless, the hungry, the destitute.”

One vision President Hinckley had for the LDS Church was a perpetual education fund, whereby members in wealthier nations could donate to the education of those in developing nations, thereby empowering them to help themselves and strengthening the infrastructure in struggling parts of the world, particularly Latin America.

When he became president of the Church in 1995, the church had only 47 temples, our special meeting houses such as the magnificent one in nearby Kensington, Maryland. Thanks to President Hinckley’s vision of expansion, today there are 124 in operation, and 12 more are under construction.

One of his first messages upon becoming our prophet in 1995 was a proclamation to the world, declaring the divine nature of the family unit and providing direction on how to nurture strong family relationships. There is no greater duty or privilege among the Latter-day Saints than to serve our families. President Hinckley admirably demonstrated that service as a grandfather, father, and husband to his eternal companion, Marjorie, who walked side by side with him for two-thirds of a century.

Now he and Marjorie are walking together in the fields of paradise, enjoying a richly deserved peace in the Lord. I’m sure at this time he would remind us that death is the great equalizer. No matter what a man or woman may accomplish in this life, this final inevitability is waiting for them. Shortly before his own passing, perhaps recognizing the end was nigh, President Hinckley told church members, “A man must get his satisfaction from his work each day, must recognize that his family may remember him, that he may count with the Lord, but beyond that, small will be his monument among the coming generations.”

Our heads are bowed now, as we bid him farewell. Gordon Bitner Hinckley joins the ranks of departed prophets, on whose shoulders he stood and in whose mighty company he can now proudly mingle. God be with you, our friend, till we meet again.