Tribute to Departed Leaders

Again I express my great pleasure in being present at another general conference. I hope that the prayer which has been offered may be answered, that we may have a time of rejoicing, that we may be encouraged and blessed and strengthened in the faith of the Gospel of our Savior, and that the inspiration of the Lord may be given to those who shall address us. ¶

PAYS TRIBUTE TO DEPARTED LEADERS ¶

I shall make a few remarks this morning with reference to Brother Anthony W. Ivins and Brother Charles H. Hart, and also pay a tribute of respect to Brother Franklin S. Richards. ¶

One of the greatest, most devoted and splendid members of the General Authorities of the Church has been taken from us at the ripe age of eighty-two. From his childhood until his death he has been a very studious man, gathering information on many subjects, and he was successful in all the walks of life in which he engaged. He was successful in more things than any other man I ever knew, and all his life fulfilled the requirements made in the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 88, verses 124, 125, 126 : ¶

Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; ¶

cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated; ¶

And above all things, clothe yourselves with the bonds of charity, as with a mantle, which is the bond of perfectness and peace; ¶

Pray always, that ye may not faint until I come; behold, and lo, I will come quickly, and receive you unto myself. ¶

Each and every requirement therein made Brother Ivins fulfilled, except the one "retire to thy bed early." I believe that he would have lived longer had he fulfilled that requirement, but he generally studied until midnight. Seldom did a day pass that he did not consult the dictionary. He fulfilled to the very letter the commandment — "Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." ¶

BORN OF GOODLY PARENTS ¶

Like Nephi of old, he was born of goodly parents. I know of no man of all my acquaintance who was a greater reader than his father. He read "The Native Races of the Pacific Coast," by Bancroft, as most of us would read a continued story in the newspaper. It was simply wonderful the fund of information that Israel Ivins had. He was an outstanding man, one of the greatest students I ever knew. He was president of the branch of the Church in New Jersey, which Erastus Snow and the Prophet Joseph Smith visited as young missionaries, and when he decided to come to Utah with his brother, Anthony Ivins, almost the entire branch came with him. There has never been a branch there since. ¶

I was told by Joseph Benedict, of the famous firm of Benedict Brothers, that Israel Ivins was the best read man on the subject of medicine that he had ever met; that he had studied and read more than a graduate physician. He was a man of great character and of great love. He was known as "Dr. Ivins" in southern Utah. In that hard country, where there was very little money, he gave his services mostly without money and without price. ¶

SERENE WOMEN ¶

Of all the women I have ever known in my life — though it might be said I am not a fair judge — the two most serene and splendid women were my own mother and her sister, the mother of Anthony W. Ivins. His mother was a student also, and so from childhood he had the advice and counsel of two very wonderful, studious parents. He honored them; he respected them; he listened to their advice in childhood and in young manhood; and to those parents is due a great deal of credit for the success of his life. If all children would listen to good parents, as this man did, there would be few mistakes made in the battle of life. ¶

I, too, had the great blessing to be born of goodly parents. I remember reading a tribute to people who possess the characteristic of serenity, and I remember that when reading that tribute I wrote on the margin ¶

of the book, "The two most serene women I have ever known are my own mother and her sister, Anna Ivins." ¶

LETTER OF SYMPATHY ¶

When my mother died the general manager for the United Kingdom of the great New York Life Insurance Company wrote me a letter of sympathy, and in it he referred to my mother as "dear Aunt Rachel." She kept boarders for a living, and the boarders called her "Aunt Rachel." Tony Ivins' sister waited on the table without pay and called mother "Aunt Rachel," so the boarders adopted that title. This man was agnostic believing only in the God of nature. He said: "If the God of nature ever did stamp peace, nobility and serenity upon any human countenance, he did upon the face of dear Aunt Rachel." And that same stamp was on the face of dear Aunt Anna. ¶

HIS FATHER ¶

I know nothing of course of the advice and counsel of a father because mine died when I was a baby, but I have learned, of his reputation from others. People assure me that Jedediah M. Grant was one of the noblemen of this Church. I remember at one time asking Captain William H. Hooper to sign some bonds for me, when I was a youngster of twenty just starting in business. ¶

He said : "I never do such a thing; never do such a thing." I had no more than returned to my office when a young messenger came from the bank and told me the captain wanted to see me. I said : "I don't want to see him." "Well, he sent me to bring you to the bank." ¶

I went back, and he said: "Boy, boy, give me those bonds." I did so, and he signed them. Then he said : "When you went out I turned to Mr. Hills and said, 'Lew, who is that boy? He has been bowing to me on the street for years. I don't know who he is. I never sign a bond for somebody I don't know. Who is he?' He said 'Why that is Jeddy Grant's boy, Heber J. Grant'. 'Jeddy Grant's boy? Bring him back. I would sign that bond if I knew I had to pay it.' " ¶

A MARVELOUS HERITAGE ¶

I am mentioning these things in the hope that parents will realize that the example of integrity, of devotion, of loyalty to the Gospel, and the disposition not to find fault, but to labor diligently and unceasingly for the advancement of truth, is a marvelous heritage to leave to their children. Anthony W. Ivins and myself have that heritage. ¶

a millionaire's tribute ¶

I know of no more charitable man than Anthony W. Ivins. He had charity even for the erring and for the wicked. He reformed many ¶

a vicious man by his love and charity. I remember meeting on the streets of Salt Lake City a man named David Wood, of the Wood-Hagenbarth Livestock Company, the morning after Anthony W. Ivins was made an apostle. He said : ¶

Hold on, Grant, don't walk so fast. I want to tell you something. I am mighty glad you are running your "Mormon" Church just to suit me. If you had come to my office yesterday and said, "Dave Wood, you know the 'Mormon' people, and their leading men from Canada to Mexico. You have been a friend of ours for 25 long years. You have never indulged in any lying against the 'Mormons.' You have never joined any anti-'Mormon' party. You have always spoken well of the 'Mormon' people at home and abroad, in the United States, and even in Europe, and I have been sent down to your office to tell you that we appreciate that and that we are going to permit you to name the man whom you consider to be the very finest and best man in all the Church to fill the vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles." Why, do you know, I would not have batted an eye or taken a breath. I would just have hollered "Ivins." I amf glad you are running your Church to suit me. Good-bye. ¶

It is no small thing to receive compliments of this kind. There is nothing that so completely rebukes the falsehoods against our people as the fact that in the judgment of a millionaire who had lived with us for 25 years we had chosen the best man in all the Church to be one of the apostles. ¶

PERSONALLY ACQUAINTED WITH GENERAL AUTHORITIES ¶

It fell to my lot as a child only five years of age to become acquainted with Brigham Young, and I came to know him as a God-fearing, honest, upright man, and that the one supreme thought of his heart and his soul was the advancement of his people. It fell to my lot as a member of the General Authorities of this Church to be associated with John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, and Joseph F. Smith. I know as I know that I live that all the slanders that have ever been published against these men are falsehoods. They were honest, upright, God-fearing men, living in communion with God our Father. ¶

The very life of Anthony W. Ivins is a testimony of the work in which you and I are engaged. Men of his caliber, of his honesty, of his charity, of his love for his fellow men, men in communion with God, would not stay in this Church unless they had an abiding faith in the divinity of this work. ¶

AN EXAMPLE OF HONESTY ¶

I prize very highly a letter I received from a non-member of the Church, the general manager of one of the greatest insurance companies, congratulating me on having been made an apostle. He said : "I have known you from childhood. I know you are fundamentally honest from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet. I never had a very good opinion of the leaders of the Church. I had read so much against the Church." Of course there have been about 2,000 books pub- ¶

lished against us. But there is an old saying that a lie can travel clear around the world while truth is getting out of bed and putting on its boots, but sooner or later the boots arrive, overtake the lie, and step on it. This man said : "Heber, though I have had a poor opinion of the leaders of the Church, now that you are one of them I apologize to the other 14. I know that they would not dare invite you into their councils unless they were honest. You would give the whole thing away if there were anything crooked." ¶

REJOICES IN TRIBUTES TO PRESIDENT IVINS ¶

I rejoice in the wonderful testimony to all the world in the life of Anthony W. Ivins. My heart is full of gratitude and thanksgiving for the wonderful tributes paid to him by the people in the Church and out of the Church. I think it is little less than wonderful to note the splendid tributes that have been paid to him in newspapers that are owned by those not of our faith. I rejoice in the tribute paid by the bishop and other officials of the Catholic church, and the tolling of the Cathedral bells as the funeral cortege passed that great structure. I have never known such an outpouring of expressions of love and appreciation from all classes of people for anybody that has passed away, as have come regarding Brother Ivins. ¶

EXPRESSES THANKS ¶

I rejoiced in the very wonderful editorial written by Noble Warrum years ago published in the Salt Lake Tribune when President Smith passed away. It was one of the most splendid tributes ever paid. I said to Mr. McKay, then manager and dictator of the editorial policy of the Tribune : "I accept that as a complete apology for all the cartoons and the vicious things that were published in your paper, years ago, against Joseph F. Smith." I appreciate and thank Noble Warrum for the splendid editorial written about Anthony W. Ivins. I am grateful beyond expression for all of these tributes that have been paid to him. I am thankful that the president of the United States saw fit to send a telegram of congratulation on his birthday. ¶

I could go on talking for hours regarding Anthony Ivins, but I think perhaps I have said enough. I wish to say however, that in every particular he fulfilled the advice of the mother to her son: ¶

TO MY SON ¶

Do you know that your soul is of my soul such a part That you seem to be fiber and core of my heart? None other can pain me as you, dear, can do; None other can please me, or praise me as you. ¶

Remember the world will be quick with its blame, If shadow or stain ever darken your name. "Like mother, like son," is a saying so true The world will judge largely of mother by you. ¶

Be this, then, your task, if task it should be, To force the proud world to do homage to me. Be sure it will say, when its verdict you've won, "She reaped as she sowed. Lo, this is her son." ¶

I paid a brief tribute to Brother Hart yesterday, and I wished to offer that tribute here. I intended to bring the report of that five-minute sermon with me, because I want it recorded in the Conference Pamphlet, but I forgot it. One of the truest, noblest, most splendid men that I have been associated with, as one of the General Authorities of the Church, was Charles H. Hart. You will hear my tribute later, so I will say nothing further about him now. ¶

One of the things to which I wish to call attention with appreciation is the wonderful respect shown in the attendance of young people of the Church at the funeral of Brother Ivins. If there was one man more than another of the General Authorities whom the young people admired and who they felt was their true friend, who had a sympathy for them and was always charitable toward the mistakes that they made, that man was Brother Ivins. This was appreciated, as shown by the splendid turnout of young people in his honor at his funeral. ¶

TRIBUTE TO BROTHER RICHARDS ¶

It fell to my lot to be associated for many years, during the presidency of John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff and Lorenzo Snow, with Brother Franklin D. Richards. A more gentle, kind, considerate, thoughtful man than Franklin D. Richards, I never knew. I remember one day getting quite angry at something, and talking pretty loud to Brother Richards, and he paid no attention to what I said. I went away and came back and apologized to him. He laughed and said : "I knew you didn't mean it. It did not affect me at all." ¶

Franklin S. Richards, like Brother Ivins, was the son of a most splendid father, a man of integrity and devotion to the work of God. I have known Franklin S. Richards very intimately, from the time I was a boy of twenty-two, having become a partner with his brother, Lorenzo L. Richards, in the insurance business in Ogden, under the firm name of Grant and Richards. I also became his partner under the firm name of Richards and Grant, owning a vinegar factory in Ogden. He subsequently engaged in the wholesale dry-goods business, and I bought his interests in those two firms. I never met a brighter, more remarkable man, in my judgment, than Lorenzo L. Richards. Many is the night I have slept in Franklin D. Richards' home, and I became intimately acquainted, of course, with the father and the sons and the daughter. ¶

Franklin S. Richards was all that a father could ask of a son. No truer man, no more faithful man, no more humble man and no more intelligent man have I ever known. He was a splendid lawyer. During all of the dark days of trouble when we were disfranchised he was the ¶

"wheel-horse," figuratively speaking, in trying to change the condition of affairs in Washington, and he labored unceasingly to the day of his death. He had the unlimited confidence, I am sure, of each and every one of the members of the High Priests' quorum of Ensign stake over which he had the honor to preside at the time of his death. I loved him truly. It was a source of regret to me that I had to be absent from the city at the time of his funeral. ¶

GRATEFUL TO PRESS ¶

I do not feel impressed to say any more this morning, further than to extend to the members of the press — The Deseret News, the Telegram and the Tribune — my heartfelt thanks for the most splendid and wonderful notices and articles that were written regarding Brother Ivins; and when I express this thought I know that I am also expressing the thought of gratitude that is in the heart of dear Sister Ivins and her children. May God bless and comfort them. May he lead us all to follow the example of our beloved fellow member of the Church, Brother Anthony W. Ivins, is my humble prayer, and I ask it in the name of Jesus, our Redeemer. Amen. ¶

The congregation arose and sang the hymn, "We thank thee, O God, for a prophet." ¶