He pointed over to the sacrament table and said, “When David knelt to bless the sacrament, I knew that he knelt there with ‘clean hands and a pure heart.’ I never had to worry about what he had been doing the Saturday night before.” It was like a crowded stake conference with standing room only.īishop Eberhard included a statement in his remarks that made a powerful impression on me. His funeral was held in the stake center. What a shock! I still remember how painful it was to lose a good friend.

Infection set in, and the next thing we heard was that he had died. Soon after high school graduation, David went to the hospital for what everyone thought was a routine operation, but there were some complications. David was a member of the basketball team, and his playing was one of the reasons our team won the state championship. He achieved in Scouting and seminary and was a well-coordinated athlete. He worked hard and received excellent grades. That year our teams won the district championship in every sport, and in basketball our team won the state championship-and that was in the days when the small high schools played against the big ones.ĭavid was a good friend to me and, I think, to everybody in the school. We thought that 1946 was the “golden year” of athletics at Preston High. Even though they had changed the name from the Oneida Stake Academy to Preston High School, we still had some of our classes in the same building. Lee had attended when they were growing up. We were happy with the fact that it was the same school that Presidents Ezra Taft Benson and Harold B. It was just after my friend David Carlson and I had graduated from Preston High School.

In the Book of Mormon, Alma asked the question, “Can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands?” ( Alma 5:19.) I remember when the need to have “clean hands and a pure heart” ( Ps. None of us knows how long we are going to live.

To this day, I am grateful for those feelings that came to me that night. I didn’t want to do anything that would embarrass or disappoint him. That night, I decided I wanted to do everything I could to support my dad as bishop. And that night, a warm feeling of love and respect for the leaders of the Church came over me and has continued to grow to this day. I saw the Twelve Apostles and the other Brethren. Before the meeting started, Dad pointed out which one of the Brethren on the stand was President Heber J. I remember we sat in the balcony there on the north side. As I recognize now, he must have been around thirty-eight years of age. In those years, Dad always seemed to me to be really old. I remember the first time he brought me with him to Salt Lake City to attend a general priesthood meeting. When I was a young man about the age of some of you deacons here, my dad was bishop of the ward in our little farming town of Banida in southeastern Idaho. Tonight I would like to share a few memories that have made a real difference in my life. Someone who was a little more poetic than theological said, “Memory is the one Garden of Eden out of which one need never be cast.” Good memories are real blessings. I’ve appreciated so much the messages that we have heard. Brethren, it’s a marvelous privilege to be with you this evening.

I think that i may be creating memories