Elder Perry/Brother Dunn

 

While I will miss Elder Perry's counsel at General Conference, I'm thankful that he did not linger and suffer and have a long drug out bout with pain.  40 days.  that was it from the time he found out he had cancer and then it was just a few days when it suddenly spread, as his son said... Like wildfire.

I have so much love and respect for these men that walk away from their own personal plans for their families lives and, just straightway, leave it all behind and begin service until death.  Leaving career and countries/states and even homes and just give 100% of themselves to talk about Jesus Christ.

I have listened to so many talks that I can recognize their speaking voices.  Each as distinct as they are.  I would love to have that feeling with hearing a voice and knowing it is the Savior.  I wonder what his speaking voice sounds like? The Holy Ghost does let me recognize the truth of the Savior's words and also the words of the Apostles.

When I heard of his passing, I thought back to his sustaining in April 1974.  By December of that year his wife had died.  The April 1975 conference was when he talked about her and her passing.  What an amazing woman she was and how strong and committed she was...to know she was dying and yet wanting him to fulfill his own destiny of being an Apostle.  That April Conference his talk was in honor of her and he told of their journey as a tribute to her.   here

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Speaking of Conferences.  Remember we were watching the April 2015 talks and we were previously watching the April 1971 talks?  So we finished the 39 talks from April 2015 and went back to April 1971 and picked up where we left off.  We enjoyed every single talk and loved hearing the happenings back then and also the changes that were being instituted...like a library in each building and a librarian and encouraging Bishops to figure out what room to use...and about Teacher Development classes...all sorts of things that were exciting and innovating then and are totally obsolete in today's modern world. We were also reminded that this was the time when the Church was trying to figure out the leadership management of a worldwide Church so they had created Assistants to the Council of the Twelve.  14 men were called.  Eventually that was done away with. The 1971 General Conference held sessions on Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday also.  Morning and afternoon sessions for the three days plus Priesthood on Saturday.  

On that last Tuesday afternoon session a man named President Paul H. Dunn spoke.  He was in the First Council of the Seventy.  brother Dunn was super popular with so many.  Especially the youth.  He was a wanted speaker at all sorts of things.  He wrote oodles of books and had cassette tapes that people shared.  He was a great story teller and people would refer to them and reminisce about how great such and such a story was.  Young people just loved him so much. I personally was not particularly interested in his detailed long stories but one of our sons was and also my best friend, Pat just loved him.  Lots of the youth were inspired by him.  It was no surprise that he spoke to the youth that Tuesday afternoon at Conference.

Terry and I listened with interest and then talked about the aftermath several years down the line.  He had become a General Authority in 1964.  So this talk was given 7 years later.  18 years from that 1971 Conference, in 1989, he was granted Emeritus status with all sorts of sanctions.  He was pulled from all speaking assignments and engagements.  A shock wave went through the Church as it was found he embellished all those stories that everyone loved and quoted and were inspired by.  It shook some to the core.

It sort of reminds me of Brian Williams the NBC newscaster, when he embellished stories for years, claims he doesn't know why and evidently believes some of his own tales.  

It was very sad to me.  I felt for his family and friends and the scores of Church members that just loved him to pieces and read and listened to everything he laid his hands on.  I was glad the Church acted on it when it came to light.  

(2 years later ......

In 1991, Dunn asked the church's First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for permission to issue an open letter to all Latter-day Saints. The church agreed, and on October 26 the following letter was published in the Church News, a supplement section of the Deseret News, a newspaper owned by the LDS Church:

"October 23, 1991
"I have been accused of various activities unbecoming a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"I confess that I have not always been accurate in my public talks and writings. Furthermore, I have indulged in other activities inconsistent with the high and sacred office which I have held.
"For all of these I feel a deep sense of remorse, and ask forgiveness of any whom I may have offended.
"My brethren of the General Authorities, over a long period of time, have conducted in-depth investigations of the charges made against me. They have weighed the evidence. They have censured me and placed a heavy penalty upon me.
"I accept their censure and the imposed penalty, and pledge to conduct my life in such a way as to merit their confidence and full fellowship.
"In making these acknowledgements, I plead for the understanding of my brethren and sisters throughout the Church and give assurance of my determination so to live as to bring added respect to the cause I deeply love, and honor to the Lord who is my Redeemer.
"Sincerely, Paul H. Dunn"^[1]

 now why on earth I felt I had to share that?....I do not know!... but now you know what we were thinking and talked about a few days ago.  If you go to Wikipedia you can get the list of all the untruths...such as an Army buddy dying in his arms...and his baseball career that really wasn't.  I just felt so sorry for him and for the Church also.

The purpose of this.  Nothing really.  just sharing a part of the Church life we have lived. By the way we finished up the April 1971 Conference (42 talks!)  and will now start CR October 1971.  Love seeing their faces on the screen and hearing their voices.