President Gordon B. Hinckley, the presiding officer and prophet of the LDS church, passed away yesterday at the age of 97 and will probably be succeeded by his first counselor (and now senior member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles), Thomas S. Monson. President Hinckley will certainly be remembered for the great number of temples constructed during his presidency -- including the Albuquerque Temple, which he personally dedicated in 2000 -- but also for the remarkable energy and vigor with which he pursued his duties as president, notwithstanding his advanced age. I will carry three personal memories of President Hinckley: (1) the Albuquerque Temple dedication (my family and I were seated in the south ordinance room for the fourth and last session; we were separated from President Hinckley [he being in the celestial room] by the the temple veil and a wall, and thus we had to watch him on closed-circuit TV like almost everyone else, but I'm sure it's something my kids will never forget); (2) his visit to Albuquerque in 2004 with Sister Hinckley for a regional conference, which was held in the Albuquerque Convention Center (both of them spoke, and then, not two months later, she passed away suddenly); and (3) seeing him from the "ozone" (mezzanine) in the Conference Center during a session of general conference in April 2006.It's sad to say, but I'm glad President Monson will be assuming the church presidency -- as opposed to the next-senior apostle, Elder Boyd K. Packer, who has a reputation (well-deserved, in my observations) for coldness, austerity, and...well...egocentricity. I've always enjoyed President Monson's bon mots, which are most commonly communicated in his talks in general priesthood meetings. I met him at my uncle Mervyn Bennion's funeral a couple of years ago; Mervyn was/is married to my mother's sister LaRee, who preceded him in death. (President Monson's attendance at the funeral was probably due to Mervyn's also being both a grandson of J. Reuben Clark Jr. [an apostle from the mid-20th Century] and the namesake son of a heroic LDS naval officer who perished in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.) I'm not given to fussing over celebrities and for that reason alone would never have approached President Monson, but he went out of his way to come greet my mother and me after the funeral, shaking my hand and giving Mom a hug. I contrast that with the only time I've been in close physical proximity to Elder Packer, which was on my wedding day in 1984 in the Salt Lake temple. He was there that morning to perform someone else's sealing, and I was momentarily near him in the recorder's office: he didn't look up, didn't smile at anyone, and was manifestly too full of himself to greet anyone.
