Comments on: Southwestern States Mission: The Death of President Lorenzo Snow

By: Edje Jeter

Edje Jeter — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 11:55:06 +0000

Thanks for the comments, Kevin and Mark.

By: Mark B.

Mark B. — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 17:39:10 +0000

Harold B. Lee died about a month after I arrived in Japan as a missionary. Besides being in shock because of the absolute strangeness of everything about the country–its geography, food, language, customs, etc., etc.–I had the further shock of hearing of the death of the relatively young President Lee from a Japanese branch president who could have been the model for a World War II era anti-Japanese propaganda poster, and who learned about it while watching the TV news. So, my first reaction was disbelief. I’ll have to dig up my letters and see what I wrote about it.

By: kevinf

kevinf — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 17:06:45 +0000

I know it is not the same relationship and circumstances, but I can't help but compare this to Joseph F. Smith's reaction to the death of George A. Smith while he was on a mission to Great Britain in 1875. However, I am glad that my grandfather was paying attention.

By: Edje Jeter

Edje Jeter — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 02:04:49 +0000

Thanks for the comments.

J Stuart:

“Did President Duffin connect the return to Missouri with LS’s hope that the Saints would return en masse sooner rather than later?”

Yes. Duffin explicitly predicts the return within the 20th century.

Ardis:

“I don’t know what that’s all about, especially given our habits in the blogging world of racing to share the most miniscule bits of Church news.”

I agree: it’s not so much the silence as it is the contrast between then and now. I wonder if it was “hot news” but the missionaries were merely not writing about the change in their diaries or if it just wasn’t that big a deal. Perhaps the advent of satellite/televised conferences has changed how the members/missionaries relate to general leaders.

Rameumptom:

“Perhaps it has to do with the short term of Pres Snow’s presidency.”

Very likely. On the other hand, Snow had been prominent in the hierarchy for decades and was one of the handful of surviving leaders who had known Joseph Smith as an adult. (And… if the conference report on Snow’s funeral is to be believed, the mourning in Utah was deep and sincere.)

Thanks, Christopher.

By: Christopher

Christopher — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 22:53:56 +0000

Nice, Ed. The almost entire absence of Pres. Snow’s death being mentioned is fascinating.

By: Rameumptom

Rameumptom — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 17:23:42 +0000

Perhaps it has to do with the short term of Pres Snow’s presidency. It did not give members much of a chance to experience him in the position. Kind of like when Pres Hunter died less than a year after becoming prophet, the response was much less than what we got with the deaths of Pres Kimball or Hinckley.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 16:16:27 +0000

My mother was on an Army post in Texas at the time of the roughly simultaneous deaths of US Pres. Roosevelt and LDS Pres. Grant. She heard all about FDR’s death through official channels, but it was many weeks before her family happened to mention HJG’s death in their regular letters. I don’t know what that’s all about, especially given our habits in the blogging world of racing to share the most miniscule bits of Church news.

By: J Stuart

J Stuart — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 15:55:29 +0000

Great post, Edje. I was similarly flummoxed by the dearth of reactions to the Woodruff Manifesto. Very few reactions, comparatively, anyway.

Did President Duffin connect the return to Missouri with LS’s hope that the Saints would return en masse sooner rather than later? I think the Smith descendant angle is very interesting as well.