Gordon B. Hinckley

I got a call from the office a little past 8 pm tonight. President Hinckley had died. I'd been helping put his obituary together so it wasn't a surprise, but nobody thought it would happen so soon. We were thinking we had a week or so, but that turned out to be a day or so.

I remember the first time I met President Hinckley. I was a young boy. Spencer W. Kimball was the president of the Church at the time so I must have been 11 years old. My family had gone to a regional conference where Hinckley, then a counselor in the First Presidency, was speaking. As my family left after the conference, I somehow got separated from my parents. I realized this and turned around to see where they were. Walking right behind me was President Hinckley. He smiled, patted me on the shoulder and told me I was a good boy. I didn't know what to do. Right after that, I saw my mom. She had seen the whole thing and started to cry. She was very happy.

Tonight as I drove to the office I called my mom and told her he had passed away. She started to cry again.