President Gordon B. Hinckley R.I.P.

President Hinckley passed away almost a week ago and his funeral today was transmitted by satelite to our Stake Centre in Chorley. Geoff, Myrra and I went. Emma was otherwise in demand at one of Nikila's birthday parties. Skye also came with us.

We arrived early as I assumed that the place would be packed and it would be difficult to find seats together so it was quite a surprise to arrive on the almost deserted car park. We didn't immediately go into the chapel as it was obvious we would have more than enough choice of where to sit. We sat close to the front at the left and had an excellent view of the screen.

They showed the funeral cavalcade travelling to the Salt Lake Tabernacle through the snow covered streets. There was about the same level of snow fall as here so it almost felt like we were in the same place.

The service itself was a beautiful tribute to a great man who was so obviously loved by many. President Monson was obviously moved and it was clear how much he will miss his dear friend. Elder Packer spoke, as did others, of the great love President and Sister Hinckley had for each other and how much he had missed her these last few years. He referred to how she often quite literally had trouble keeping up with him and that reminded me of the day in Avenham Park back in 1987 when we had the Susquecentennial celebrations and he went marching off down to the river with Peter and I to take photographs, with Sister Hinckley trotting along behind calling out to him to slow down as she only had little legs!

As the coffin was leaving the Tabernacle and people stood in respect, including those of us in the Chorley chapel, I noticed people in the crowd waving white handkerchiefs and thought what an appropriate tribute that was as it reminded me of the Temple Dedication Ceremony and President Hinckley will be remembered as the Prophet who did most for temple building and ensuring that people had more opportunity of access to the House of the Lord.

The transmission followed the funeral cavalcade to the graveyard whilst also showing excerpts from President Hinckley's life which included a couple of clips from Avenham Park, I didn't notice myself though, which was probably not a bad thing. I did notice along the route that groups of people were also waving white handkerchiefs.

There was a short graveside dedication and a little talk by President Monson in which he said he thought we'd be interested to know that when President Hinckley had visited his beloved Lancashire he'd been given a box of Lancashire soil and that it had been placed in the grave so that he was not only buried on American soil but also on Lancashire soil. I thought that was lovely.

I had been determined that I wouldn't shed a tear - but it's a good job I took some tissues.