I think we'll go up to the cemetery today.
I've never posted this before - but here is Ambure's Life History. I wrote it many years ago, not long after she died, and I added on to it at some point after Landon was born. I scanned in some pics from her "book", and added them. You will need to click on some of the pics to enlarge. It was a special time of remembrance for me today. The memories fade, and I'm so glad I wrote down what I did then. I know that when I see her again, AND I WILL, I know that everything will come flooding back, and it will be a glorious reunion.
November 1978 - 8 months old This is my favorite picture of her. We were visiting my Grandma Tonks. It perfectly captures her dark dark eyes, and her curly mop of curls :) |
Ambure Rich’s Life History
By Gwen D. Rich, her mother
I was due with Ambure on February
23, 1978, but she was two weeks late.
She was footling breech, which means feet first, and had to be delivered
by caesarean section. I went into labor
1 1/2 days before I was scheduled to be C-sectioned. Back in 1978, the dad's weren't allowed to
come in the operating room when the baby was born by C-section. I was really scared. At 11:43 a.m. on the morning of March 8,
1978, we had a beautiful baby girl. Ambure didn't have a mark on her little body
or face. She was very beautiful, with
her dark black eyes and brown hair.
Ambure's doctor was Dr. Jerry Gardner.
He and Dr. Merrill Godfrey delivered her. She weighed 9 pounds 2 ounces, and was 20 1/2
inches long. She was sure a big baby,
probably because she was two weeks overdue!
We sure loved little Ambure because
she was our first baby, and she was very special. We decided to name her Ambure because we
thought it was pretty. Lowell and
Christine Murdock had a baby girl about a year earlier, and this is where we
had heard it. We wanted to spell it
AMBURE instead of AMBER, because we wanted it to be different. Looking back
now, I’m sure she would have gotten tired of always correcting people when they
pronounced it wrong. It seems people
always say it with the BURE part, sounding like the word PURE. I tried to breast feed Ambure, but was too
nervous, and after six miserable days, we switched to formula. After that, things got MUCH better. Ambure was a very good baby right from the
start. She was sleeping completely
through the night when she was only a week old (the same day/night we put her
on the bottle). She was smiling and
following movement with her eyes by 2 weeks old.
On Friday, March 31st, when Ambure
was 3 weeks and 2 days old she had a doctor’s appointment. She weighed 9 pounds 14 ounces, and was 21
inches long. It was at this appointment
that the doctor discovered she had a dislocated left hip. We felt so bad about this, because we didn't
want her to have to go through any hard times or pain. They sent us to another doctor (Dr. Franklin
Stuart), and he arranged for her to get a cast put on the following Tuesday.
(April 4, 1978) They would be putting
her under anesthesia in the operating room at McKay Dee Hospital and would be “setting” her hip
into the socket, and then casting her in a body cast to keep it in place.
We wanted to get her blessed before
this happened, so two day later on Sunday, April 2, 1978, Ambure was given a
name and a blessing in the Morgan 2nd ward by her grandfather,
Wilden Lee Dickson. She was given a
special blessing that she would grow up healthy without any hip problems, and
that her parents would someday take her to the temple and be sealed together as
a family for all eternity. Those who
participated in the blessing were her dad, Roger Rich, her other grandfather,
DeLore (Ben) Rich, a great grandfather, Reed Dickson, and Wallace Green.
On April 4th, when she was almost 1 month old, she got her first cast
on. It was a full body cast that fit her
just like a starched pair of pants with the crotch cut out. She really adapted to it quite well, and was
still as good natured as ever. She had
this first cast on for four weeks, and then it was changed for a bigger one
because she was growing. Ambure was
laughing out loud at 6 weeks, and recognizing her mom and dad. It was about this time she discovered her
hands. She got her 2nd cast
on May 2nd, using the same procedure as before. She wore this cast for 6 weeks.
In early June of 1978 we went for a
vacation with Grandpa and Grandma Rich and Joni and Kelly, and Linda and Bruce
Frost and their family. We went to Lava
Hot Springs. Ambure couldn't get in the water because of her cast, but she sure
was a good baby, and sleeping with her mom and dad in the trailer didn't bother
her one little bit.
Right after we got home from Lava,
Ambure's 2nd cast was removed on June 12th. It was so good to see her little legs
again! Within 4 days she was rolling over
!! What a SMART baby !! Dr. Stuart, her
hip doctor, was concerned because her hip was still dislocated and hadn’t
stayed in place like it should have. He
wanted to operate on her, but we decided to take Ambure to Dr. Sherman Coleman,
an orthopedic specialist in Salt Lake
City . Dr.
Coleman fixed Erika Dickson's (Ambure's aunt) hip when she was a baby (15 years
before). Dr. Coleman prescribed a Pavlic
harness for little Ambure's hip. She got
this on June 19th. At first
she hated it, but she soon got used to it and was a happy baby once more. This
Pavlic harness held
Ambure's legs in a frog like position, and as she would kick against the
harness, it would naturally push her hip back into the socket where it was
supposed to be. Ambure wore this harness
for 6 ½ months, but at every check-up her hip was still not back in the socket
far enough.
Ambure was very smart baby. She learned very quickly. Even with her
harness, she was sitting at 5 ½ months, and crawling at 6 months. She was always quick to smile and slow to
cry. Ambure was a good eater, and would
eat most anything we gave her.
She was waving bye-bye at 7 months, and loved to patty cake, bounce to music (Happy Days), and play peek-a-boo. Ambure got all 4 of her front teeth (top and bottom) when she was 7 months old. She sure had a cute smile. Ambure loved to visit her Great Grandpa and Grandma Dickson, and loved their dog Sally. Grandpa and Grandma watched her for a couple of hours in the mornings while I attended school to finish up my senior year. At 9 months, Ambure was 32 inches long, and weighed 21 pounds. She had the darkest eyes, and you could hardly see the pupils in them. Ambure’s hair was dark brown, and was a curly cap all over her little head. We had a wonderful Christmas that year, and it was so fun to have a little one to buy toys for.
Three days after Christmas, on December 28, 1978, Ambure’s Great Grandma Thelma White died of a heart attack. Two days after that, on December 30th – our sweet little angel Ambure was killed in a car accident.
She was waving bye-bye at 7 months, and loved to patty cake, bounce to music (Happy Days), and play peek-a-boo. Ambure got all 4 of her front teeth (top and bottom) when she was 7 months old. She sure had a cute smile. Ambure loved to visit her Great Grandpa and Grandma Dickson, and loved their dog Sally. Grandpa and Grandma watched her for a couple of hours in the mornings while I attended school to finish up my senior year. At 9 months, Ambure was 32 inches long, and weighed 21 pounds. She had the darkest eyes, and you could hardly see the pupils in them. Ambure’s hair was dark brown, and was a curly cap all over her little head. We had a wonderful Christmas that year, and it was so fun to have a little one to buy toys for.
Three days after Christmas, on December 28, 1978, Ambure’s Great Grandma Thelma White died of a heart attack. Two days after that, on December 30th – our sweet little angel Ambure was killed in a car accident.
I was working for my
Uncle Ray Whitaker at his meat shop wrapping meat that day. Roger must have been working too, and Ambure
was at my mom and dad's being baby-sat.
After I got off work I picked her up and we went up to LuAnn and
Ben's. Kelly and I drove LuAnn's car
down to Morgan to the car wash to wash it.
It was really really cold. Ambure
had been laid down for a nap at LuAnn's.
When I got back there, I got Ambure up, got things loaded up in our 1972
Ford truck, and headed down to Morgan. I
was supposed to meet Roger at a service station in Morgan, before going home to
Milton . Ambure
was sitting in an old black vinyl and metal car seat, (unsafe by today's
standards) but she was not buckled into the car seat, and the car seat was not
buckled to the seat of the truck. She
had on a little white polyester jumper, that my Grandma Dickson had made for
her, and a little lavender onesie, and her blue and white furry coat she had
just gotten for Christmas. She was kind
of fussing and crying, and I put the pacifier in her mouth and told her I loved
her. I'm glad I can say that that was
the last thing I ever said to her.
As we were coming around the hill
(on Kilbourn's hill) heading towards Morgan, I got too far over in my lane
(because a car was coming the other direction, I moved over more than I should
have). My front right truck tire hit a
big rock which had rolled off the mountain, it was a little larger than a
bowling ball I think, and it blew the tire.
It basically twisted the tire, which twisted the steering wheel and I
drove right up the hill (to my right).
The truck flipped over onto it's top, skidded along the road, and
finally stopped in a shallow gully between the road and the mountain. As we were sliding along the road, I can
still remember the terrible sound of the asphalt against the roof of the truck,
and just praying that we wouldn't go over the other side (left) which was a
drop off.
After the truck stopped, I was kind
of shaken up. I was trying to get my
bearings, and was looking for Ambure.
All I could see of her was her little legs. I tried pulling them to get her out, but she
wouldn't budge. I couldn't see anything
but her legs, and I couldn't move her. A
man had come running back from the corner (he had been parked there looking at
something), and screamed for him to get my baby out. Just then,
Paul and Vanna Carter and their family stopped (they had been coming
from Morgan). They had their daughter run down over the side of the mountain to
a house to call the ambulance, and Paul ran around to the other side of the
truck to help the man get Ambure out. I
didn't want to look on the other side of the truck because I didn't know what
horrible sight I might see. Leon and
Donna Carter pulled up by this time, and it was so cold that I got in their car
and sat with Donna. I was upset, and was just sure that Ambure was dead. I remember saying that she would be buried
with her Great Grandma White. I was
rambling really bad.
Somehow, someone had gotten word to
Ben and LuAnn, and they had driven down from their house. LuAnn was sitting with me in the car,
and Ben had gone around to the other
side of the truck to see about getting Ambure out. When he came back over to the car he was bawling
like a baby. He was so upset he couldn't
talk, and all he could do was cry and shake his head back and forth. I remember LuAnn was really upset to see Ben
bawling. I have never seen him that
upset since.
After the ambulance got there, they
still couldn't get her out. The fire
engine had to come, and they had to use the “jaws of life”. By this time I was in the ambulance, and also
someone had gotten Roger from Morgan and he was there with me in the front of
the
ambulance. Roger
Wangsgard was driving and JoAnne and Glen Allgood were the ambulance
attendants. When the fire department
finally got Ambure out of the truck
after about 30 minutes, they carried her to the ambulance, holding her
underneath her arms, and there wasn't any blood or anything. Me and Roger stayed in the front of the
ambulance, and it headed to Morgan. We
did not go to the hospital though, but over to Dr. Martineau's office. I guess they knew that Ambure was dead for
sure, and that going to the hospital was not going to help.
Ben and
LuAnn had to go back home to get Kelly, and someone had told my mom and dad
too, and somehow there was a mix-up and they all ended up heading to Ogden to
McKay-Dee Hospital because that is where they thought we would be. At the doctor's office, they took Ambure back
into a room, and me and Roger sat in the waiting room. My Grandpa and Grandma
Dickson and Aunt Maisie were there too.
I remember the doctor came out and told us that the baby was dead. I asked him “What did she die of ?”, and he
said, “You were in a car accident.” As if I didn't know! I had meant WHAT had she died of, did she
suffer, etc. Roger was crying, and
everything was a blur. My Grandpa Dickson was crying and kept asking why an old
man like him couldn’t have died, and not my sweet baby. I remember the doctor wanted to check me
over, but I was too upset, and only wanted to see my baby. We went back into the room where Ambure was. She was laying on the table. She had a goose-egg on her forehead, and on
her stomach was a bruise also. She had
some petekial hemorrhage marks on her neck too.
They asked me if I wanted to hold her, and so I did – but not long
enough. We were so young and DUMB ! Knowing what I know now, I would have told
the doctor and nurse and ambulance attendants, and mortician to leave the room,
and just let us sit there and hold our baby.
But before I was really ready, Kraig Walker was taking her and wrapping
her in a sheet, and putting her in the back of the mortuary station wagon.
Aunt Maisie,
and Grandpa and Grandma Dickson took Rog and I over to mom and dad’s to wait
for them to get back from Ogden . It was so sad. When my parents got back, my dad came over to
us and told us over and over that this was NOT the end, and we could have
Ambure again someday. That made us feel
a little better. We stayed at mom and
dad’s that night, and I remember we thought we wouldn’t get much sleep, but
amazingly we did. That night for the
first time in our married life, Roger wanted to kneel and say a prayer
together. He asked Heavenly Father to
take care of our little girl. The next
morning when I first woke up, in that first instant I didn’t remember what had
happened, but then it all comes back, and all you can think is, “ I wish I
could just make time turn back, so that it had never happened”.
Malan Johnson (friend), Bruce Frost, Layne Rich, Randy Hartman Roger, Gwen and LuAnn in rear |
It was so bitter cold that year. |
Grandma White had died on Thursday, Ambure on Saturday, and Grandma White’s viewing was on Sunday night, her funeral on Monday, and Ambure’s viewing on Monday night, and funeral on Tuesday. It was an unreal week. The day after Ambure’s funeral I went for a job interview at Browning, and two weeks later I was at work full-time. Just like that, our lives had changed.
At the time we thought we would never be happy again, but as the saying goes, “time heals all things”, and sure enough it does. One year and four months after Ambure died, Amanda was born, and 17 months after that, along came Zac, and in 1988 our caboose – Landon Lee.
On December 12, 1987, nine years after we lost our little one, our family was sealed together for time and all eternity in the
See in the clouds? Ambure and Landon I was pregnant with Landon at the time of our sealing. He was BIC (Born in the Covenant) |
** I want to add this note now. After many years, I've come to this. We don't know why our babies and loved ones die at certain times. We don't know, but God knows, and one day we will know also. I do know this. If they needed to stay on earth longer, they would have been saved, or healed. They didn't, it's a simple as that. One day we will be able to see the whole picture. One day we will all be together again.
Here are some poems that different people wrote and gave to us: Click on images to make larger
Here are my Dad's and Calvin Stephen's talks that were given at Ambure's funeral. I don't think our kids have ever read or heard these talks, or even Ambure's life story. I hope they will read it here.
Ambure Rich’s Funeral Service – January 3, 1979
Talk given by W. Lee Dickson
(Ambure’s grandfather)
Brother’s and sisters, on behalf of
Gwen and Roger, and the Rich and the Dickson family, we express unto you our
gratitude for your presence here. For the
kindnesses that you’ve shown us since this tragic accident took place. You
don’t know how much it strengthens us as a family to know that you care and
that you are there to help us when we need it.
We thank the Morgan 2nd Ward and the Milton 2nd
Ward Relief Societies for their help with the flowers and for the preparation
of a luncheon which will be served to the family following the burial at the South Morgan
Cemetery . This luncheon
will be served in the cultural hall of the old Stake Center ,
and we’d invite all members of the family to attend that luncheon. The family prayer was offered prior to these
services by Wayne White, a great-uncle.
Pall bearers are Layne Rich, Bruce Frost and Randy Hartman; uncles, and
Malan Johnson a close family friend. The
prelude has been furnished by Sister Eileen Johnson, and the invocation by
Norris Dickson, a great-uncle. Following
my remarks we will be favored by a vocal solo by Sister Doreen Rowser,
accompanied by Sister Johnson. She will
sing I Am a Child of God. Following
Sister Rowser, Bishop Calvin Stephens will speak to us, after which Sister Rowser will again sing for
us, “When He Comes Again”. The
benediction will then be pronounced by Marvin G. Mortensen, a great-uncle. After which we will proceed to the South Morgan
Cemetery for the
burial. The grave will be dedicated
there by Bishop Lorin Tonks, a cousin, and a very close friend of the family.
Brother’s and sisters the task I
face now is a difficult one. My Father
in Heaven has born me up yesterday and today beyond anything I could
imagine. I’ve written down everything
that I want to say to you today, because I feared that I wouldn’t be able to
express myself to you. With the help of
my Father in Heaven, perhaps I won’t need to read the things that I have
written down. I appreciate my daughter
and her husband, and the confidence they show in me, in asking me to occupy
this very special position. It’s my
prayer that I can say something to them and to my family, that will comfort
them and give them hope of what this life is really for. If I were asked, what is it that you want
for yourself and your family, and by my family I mean everyone that is
associated with my family, the answer without any hesitation would be eternal
life. Why is it, when we understand and
know that that’s what Ambure has attained, that it is so hard to let her
go, to say good-bye to her.
Now I’m going to do something which
for me is going to be very hard. I’m
going to try and explain to you why it is so hard to let that little soul go.
About 9 ½ months ago, a new spirit came into this world, and I know I’m a
prejudiced grandfather, but I’ve had children of my own and they were
beautiful, but when this little soul came into this world, she was the most
beautiful baby that I have ever seen. She was born by Caesarean section and she
bypassed the rigors and the trauma that go along with a normal childbirth, and
she came into this world absolutely perfect.
Her head was perfectly round, and there was not a mark on her face or her
body. She was just absolutely perfect!
And I’ve never seen anything in my life as beautiful as she was.
All babies eyes are dark, but hers
were seemingly coal black, and even to the day she died, her eyes were so dark
that you could barely see the pupils in them.
Dark hair, dark eyes, these physical attributes made her the pride and
joy of those to whom she came home, her mom and dad, and Veloy and I as
grandparents, and Ben and LuAnn as grandparents. She was blessed with three complete sets of great-grandparents,
kind of an unusual thing. My mother and
dad, and Veloy’s mom and dad, and LuAnn’s mom and dad, and we express to LuAnn
our deepest sympathy because as you know Sister White just recently passed away
and just yesterday was buried, so this has been extra extra and doubly hard for
her. These relatives and friends and children, the uncles and aunts, and everyone concerned, welcomed this little
baby home, where she soon occupied a very special place in our hearts.
Now it became evident, from the
beginning she was special because she was absolutely perfect, that little girl had not been home but 3 or 4
days, when she was sleeping completely through the night. She was a joy to be around. She was only 3 weeks old, when it was
discovered that she had a dislocated hip.
And that turned out to be a special kind of thing because it gave us the
opportunity to give her probably closer attention than a child would have had,
if they didn’t have this problem. She spent from between 2-3 months in a full
body cast, and in a very uncomplaining way endured this hardship only to find
out that no progress had been made in resolving the problem with her hip. Another doctor prescribed a little harness
that the little girl had to wear. And
she wore that little harness that kept her legs tucked kind of up underneath
her throughout the remainder of her life. Our children have always been very
precocious and walked very young, but because of this harness that she had to
wear, this little soul never learned to walk. But she crawled her way into the
hearts of everyone that she had contact with.
There are many things about this
little girl that make it very very hard to say good-bye. Her quick smile, her
dark curly hair, it was a disappointment to us that, she was curly headed on
the back and the sides, and we couldn’t see that as we viewed her in the
casket. But she had a beautiful
head of curly hair. She had what we
called a little false cry, where when she wanted something she cried, but it
really wasn’t a cry, and we recognized it wasn’t, it was just her way of
getting attention. That and her
patty-cake, and the things that she learned to do, like wave good-bye to us,
make it extra extra hard to let this little soul go. I know that were
experiences that this little girl had in Ben and Luann’s home that I’m not
close to but that little girl lit up my home.
It wasn’t a matter of who should tend Ambure, but whose turn
was it to tend Ambure. For a number of
reasons, she spent a good deal of time in our home, and she was as close to us
as one of our own children. She spent a
good deal of time in her great-grandmother and great-grandfather Dickson’s
home. I guess Norris is the youngest of
their children, and they’ve had grandchildren, but because Gwen was trying to
finish her education, this little girl spend 2-3 hours a day, every day of the
week for quite some time in the home of my mom and dad. It was just like having a new child in their
home. I pray that our Father in Heaven will bear them up, because it has been
extremely hard for them to lose this little child. My children spent a great deal of time
playing with her, and those things we’ll miss, the sleigh rides in cardboard
box around the kitchen floor with Mark pulling her, the times that she spent with a drawer full
of grinders and graters, and cookie-cutters, playing with them. The fun of
dropping her on the bed and having her be frightened, but as Mark said it
always came out with a happy ending because she smiled after she stopped
bouncing.
This little girl spent most of the
last day of her life in my home. That
day for the first time she crawled completely from the bottom to the top of our
basement steps. She did many of the
usual things that she did, curiosity about the fish in the aquarium, just so
many things that we will remember, that make it so difficult to say
good-bye. Although she had a cold and a
runny-nose and was very uncomfortable that day, she didn’t cry and she was as
pleasant as ever to be around. An hour
or so after leaving our home, and having a short visit with her Grandpa and
Grandma Rich. Our little Ambure and her
life on this earth came to an abrupt end.
It’s easy to see isn’t it brothers and sisters, why it’s so hard to say
good-bye to a little special spirit like this.
Why did she have to go?
The prophet Joseph Smith once said,
“The Lord takes many away, even in infancy that they may escape the envy of
man, and the sorrows and evil of this present world. They were too pure, too
lovely to live on earth.” It is for this reason, because she was so special,
that our little sweetheart was taken back to live with her Father in Heaven.
Why Father, did she have to go?
Our little Ambure that we love so
Such a short time, in our care
Why Father? It isn’t
fair
Be patient, son of mine
Behind this cloud the sun still shines
Your daughter lives! She’s here with me
And when you come that’s where she’ll be
Too perfect for your world of sin
I called her home and took her in
She waits here, for all of you
Now live that you may come here too
I bear testimony that this is true.
She does live! And the day will come Gwen and Roger, that you as parents, and
that we as grandparents, and great-grandparents and relatives, through the
sealing power of the blessings that come from the temple ordinances, and the
miracle of the resurrection, will have a chance to hold this little one again,
and see her grow to maturity during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ who
made all these things possible. In the
name of Jesus Christ, Amen
During the song, “I Am a Child of God”, Todd Frost
(Ambure’s cousin)
who was 4 years old, started to cry. He was very upset, and couldn’t be consoled.
Talk given by Calvin Stephens at Ambure Rich’s funeral 1/3/79
Brothers and Sisters I approach
very humbly this assignment this day. I
pray that I might by the spirit of our Heavenly Father say and teach those
things only that are true. I also would like to thank you, Roger and Gwen for
your confidence in me in giving me the opportunity to be here with you this day. Bruce R. McKonkie said that before we ever
came upon the earth. We were allowed by
our Heavenly Father as we lived in his presence, to watch a world created, to
see it populated and to see it pass off into existence. Before the decision
came to us as to whether or not we chose to endure such trials and challenges
as mortality. President Kimbal on one
occasion had this to say in regards to that statement. He said we know before we were born that we
were coming to the earth for bodies and experience, and that we would have joys
and sorrows, pain and comforts, ease and hardships, health and sickness,
successes and disappointments, and we knew also that we would die. We accepted
all these eventualities with a glad heart, eager to accept both the favorable
and the unfavorable. We were undoubtedly willing to have a mortal body, even if
it were deformed. We eagerly accepted
the chance to come earthward, even though it might be for a day, a year, or a
century. Perhaps we were not so much
concerned whether we should die of disease, of accident as long as we came we
were willing to come and take life as it came and as we might organize and
control it. And this without murmur,
complaint or unreasonable demands. We
sometimes think we would like to know what was ahead. But sober thought brings us back, to
accepting life a day at a time, and magnifying and glorifying that day. Sister Ida Eldridge, gave us a thought
provoking verse when she said:
I cannot know the
future, nor the path I shall have trod
But by that inward
vision, which points the way to God
I would not
glimpse the beauty, or joy for me in store
Lest patience near
restrain me, from thrusting wide the door
I would not part the curtains, or
cast aside the veil
Else sorrows that await me, might
make my courage fail.
I’d rather live not knowing, just
doing my small might.
I’d rather walk by faith with God,
than try alone to light.
Jesus Christ lives, and the reality
of the resurrection shall come to pass on behalf of all men. In the 1700’s there were two men who lived in
the colonial states of America . One was a blacksmith, and the other one was a
merchant who owned a merchant store, and they were both very good friends, and
they prized each other’s friendship greatly.
One, the merchant lost his mother, and in her passing she willed to him
the most priceless possession which she
had on this earth, a beautiful silver cup.
And he highly prized it, and he always kept it on one of his shelves
where all who came into the store could see it, and often he would speak of
that as the most priceless possession that belonged to his mother and now it
was his. One day through carelessness,
as he was upon a ladder cleaning the shelves, he accidentally bumped that cup
and it fell off, and it landed into a barrel of water, at least he thought it
was water. When he finally climbed down
from the ladder and went to retrieve the cup to his great disappointment he
found it had fallen into a barrel of acid, and it was gone, gone forever
destroyed through carelessness. And as
he mourned his loss his friend came in, and seeing the concern of the merchant,
he asked him the problem and whereupon he told the story that he had lost the
beautiful cup. The blacksmith replied
that he remembered the cup, and had seen it there often, but he wasn’t quite
sure of all the details. He wondered if
the merchant could describe it to him again.
And so he did, and the blacksmith took out a pencil and paper and he
began to sketch that beautiful cup, until he had it exactly as it had
looked. Then with the help of the
merchant, they took the barrel of acid to his shop and he told his friend to go
on about his business, and he would see if somehow he could restore that
beautiful cup. Then through a process
which he had learned, he extracted the silver from the acid, and then by
looking at the picture he made a mold, and he melted that mass of silver down
into liquid, he poured it into that mold, and he let it cool, and he removed
the mold, and he returned it’s owner that beautiful silver cup as priceless as
it had ever been, if not more so, and that which had been lost was now
restored. I testify that it is the same
with the resurrection. That what seems apparent to us to be lost because we do
not have the power or cannot understand, can be easily and quickly restored by
a divine creator. For He has the power, He has the knowledge, and He has the
love, and He will restore that loss to you one day.
I remember in 1965 as I boarded a
train in Salt Lake City .
I remember seeing my mother and my sisters, and they cried because I was
leaving, and because they would miss me.
And I was gone for two years, and that seemed I suppose like a long time
at times. And I remember as they came
to the mission field and got me, that they cried again. Only this time not from sadness at parting,
but out of rejoicing from being together again.
And so it will be in the life to come as you hold your daughter in your
arms, you will cry again, only you will cry for happiness. Joseph Smith said,
“The Lord takes many away, even in infancy that they may escape the envy of
man, and the sorrows and evils of this present world. They were too pure, too
lovely to live on this earth. Therefore if rightly considered instead of
mourning we have reason to rejoice as they are delivered from evil and we shall
have them again. The only difference
between the old and the young dying, is, one lives longer in heaven and eternal
light and glory than the other, and is freed a little sooner from this
miserable world.”
May I explain Gwen and Roger, in
all humility, your relationship to your departed daughter. Melvin J. Ballard
was a man of promise and of destiny. A man who would sit in the quorum of the
twelve apostles, a man of great faith who had been promised by a great patriarch
that he would cross the veil and he would see heavenly people. Melvin J. Ballard had a six year old boy whom
he loved with all of his heart, that had a great deal of trouble with the
little boy, he’d been ill so very often. Brother Ballard testifies how he had
walked the floor with him, and how he had had prayed for him and loved him, and
finally the little boy seemed to get well. Right soon after he turned six and
they had a birthday party for him, he died, and Brother Ballard lost his son. Melvin J. Ballard testified that through
faith and prayer, that one day our Heavenly Father removed the veil and he saw
his son in the world of spirits. And he
said, “I did not see a six year old boy, I saw an adult man, for he was an
adult before he came. I saw that he was
happy, that he mingled with the sons and daughters of God. I also saw that in due time every blessing
that I had, would come to him, that he would have the opportunity to select a
companion from among the daughters of God, and be sealed in the temple, and
then he testified to all mothers and fathers in Israel, “Do not mourn for them, they are all right,
God loves them and is taking care of them.”
I also testify to you this day Gwen and Roger,
that the body of your child, it’s flesh, does not grow in the grave, it cannot
be so, it is contrary to the laws of God, and even though she is now an adult
in the world of spirits, receiving assignments from the priesthood, and being
trained and schooled for that great day when she will pick up that body, her
flesh cannot grow in the grave. And when she returns she will pick up the same
body she laid down As Joseph Smith told a mother in Israel on day, who wept so
very bitterly at the loss of her child, “Do not cry anymore, as God lives, I
promise you that you will raise that child to manhood and to womanhood in the
millennium, and so it shall be with you,
upon the condition of your obedience. You will have the opportunity to
raise that child to perfection and to beauty in the millennium in a day and age
in which there is no sin. It’s only a
matter of time, and if you’ll be patient that great day shall come to you. Her death in part has sealed her destiny, for
Joseph Smith taught, and so did David O. McKay in our own day in age, “That all
little children who die before the age of eight are saved in the celestial kingdom of God .” (pause) That is one of the most
powerful statements that I believe I ever read. James E. Talmadge who was a
member of the twelve, and who died in 1933, said this, “No pain that is
suffered by man or women upon the earth will be without its compensating
effect, if it be met with patience.
May I now in closing, suggest to
you Gwen and Roger, four reasons why you can be happy when it’s such a solemn
occasion. First, you belong to the greatest organization in the world, the
Church of Jesus Christ. Second, because of your membership in that church, you
are entitled to a special gift, the Holy Ghost, who can act as a comforter to
ease the pain that is in your heart. No
other people are entitled to such a great blessing. In Section 59, verse 23 in the Doctrine and
Covenants, Joseph Smith under the inspiration of the Lord said this, “For those
who learn the ways of righteousness shall receive peace in this life and
eternal life in the world to come. Third, because of your membership in the
church you have a knowledge that Jesus Christ, literally came to this earth,
that he died, that he was resurrected, and because the resurrection becomes a
reality, all of God’s sons and daughters shall live again, and you know that.
Fourth, there are living prophets who testify that your daughter lives, and
that she will be yours in the eternal worlds to come, upon the condition of
your obedience.
And finally I share with you my
testimony of the reality of Christ and his great work in our behalf. By quoting to you a scripture which is found
In 1 Corinthians, Chapter 2, Verse 9,
wherein the apostle Paul said, “For as it is written, eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, nor hath it ever entered
into the heart of men, the things which God has prepared for those who love
him.” In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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