Good Night, Sweet Prince

This week will go down in history as the absolute busiest week ever in the Conference Center Ticket Office. We printed 5 sessions of General Conference tickets and mailed them to 1485 stakes in the United States and Canada; prepared funeral seating passes for the Conference Center Auditorium, Theater, Tabernacle, Assembly Hall, Joseph Smith Memorial Building Chapel and Legacy Theater; copied and counted 3,000 parking passes for the funeral; created cortège passes for the cemetery; cleaned our office from top to bottom; lived for two days without our ailing ticket manager; and trained a new assistant ticket manager...oh, and the week isn't over yet.

As we all know, President Gordon B. Hinckley passed away on Sunday night and immediately our events staff jumped into action. I was placed back in the Ticket Office for the week because I'm the only one right now who knows how to make the funeral tickets and I've worked long and hard to get them done. It has been a wonderful experience to have such an important hand in this process and it's my small way of paying homage and respect to our beloved Prophet and also my beloved uncle.

This is a little example of what I've been working on the last few days back in the ticket office.


The public viewing began today. President Hinckley is lying in state in an open casket in the Hall of the Prophets of the Conference Center. It is a beautiful setting with busts of all the past prophets surrounding the room, overlooking the Temple. The atmosphere of the entire, huge Conference Center has been very subdued; today it is a most holy and sacred building. Members of the Church are coming to say goodbye to the Prophet in their Sunday best, bringing their little children and making this an opportunity to teach their little ones about the Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Plan of Salvation.

This afternoon I called Jennie and convinced her to come down with her kids. Though they are young, I think this was a very unique and special experience for Colette and Jamison. I hope they remember it for the rest of their lives. Jamison was so enthralled in the occasion he noticed the little things, like President Hinckley's ring and glasses. Colette is beginning to understand what a Prophet is and what it means to die. I'm glad they came to see him and that I tagged along with them. It was a special experience for me too.

I've often heard President Hinckley close funerals with these words and now I use them to close this entry..."Good night, sweet prince." How we will miss you; how grateful we are to have known you, to be led by you; how much we love you and we will always remember you. Thank you for your lasting legacy.