Dear Family,
I took this picture today at church with my Droid X of Eldred G. Smith and his wife, Hortense.
Today was his 104th Birthday!!!
I took this picture today at church with my Droid X of Eldred G. Smith and his wife, Hortense.
Today was his 104th Birthday!!!
We went to our class this morning and his birthday was announced. We all sang him happy birthday. To top that off, the group leader wheeled in a cake with 104 burning candles. When they wheeled it in he grumped,"Not supposed to eat in our meeting" but then broke into a big smile. It took four men to blow out the candles. They cut it up and we had a piece of his church birthday cake and it was yummy.
The class lesson was on "Fasting"!
He is the oldest General Authority (now Emeritus) living and the oldest General Authority ever. He was Patriarch to the church until that office was retired by President Kimble.
As you know that was a hereditary office starting with Joseph Smith senior and Br. Smith is a direct descendant of Hyrum Smith through Hyrum's oldest son John.
As the church grew and there were Patriarchs in all the stakes, it was considered that there was not a need for one to the whole church. In the past, the Patriarch to the church would give blessings to those in the mission field who came to Utah. My mother had hers from the Patriarch to the Church in the 1920's. Eldred G. Smith has given over 20,00 blessings in his lifetime. I see him each Sunday and ride up with him in a small elevator they have in our Church building. He says he retired himself and does not give blessings now but does have an office in church Headquarters
After I took this snapshot, he got into his little red Cadillac and drove his wife home from Church.
He is still very sharp and a great example to all of us.
Alles Gute, Dad
6 comments:
Wow, that's awesome. No cake in our meetings. :(
I am sorry we didn't make it to you this time. We had a great time in Utah, it was fun to see family and friends and it reminded us again how much we miss the mountains. Hopefully next visit we make it to your place!
That is a great story!
He really got after James and William one Sunday as they were wrestling (on the ground) in the chapel. He held their shoulders and gave them an earful. I think he was only 100 at the time though but it was enough for them to listen and me to keep a better eye the two
Hi Katje.. sorry we missed you. Hope you can get back here again. How do you like the Xmas Trachtenmode?
I was amazed to read that Eldred Smith is still fit enough to attend church, and still driving at that! If you wouldn't mind passing along your contact info, could you send your e-mail address to me at hampton@krey.org? My grandfather was a classmate of Elder Smith's and I would love to have someone run a couple of questions by him about their high school years at LDS High. I can provide some additional details directly via e-mail if that's a possibility. Thanks, Krey
Thanks for sharing this!
That's amazing - great story.
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