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Gordon B. Hinckley, Dies at 97

Sunday, 27 Jan 2008 at 9:21 pm

President Gordon B. Hinckley, who led The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through twelve years of global expansion, has died at the age of 97.

President Hinckley was the 15th president in the 177-year history of the Church and had served as its president since 12 March 1995.

The Church president died at his apartment in downtown Salt Lake City at 7:00 p.m. Sunday night from causes incident to age. Members of his family were at his bedside. (official LDS press release)

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4 Comments

  1. Jonathan Blake said,

    January 28, 2008 @ 2:51 pm

    I’ve read a few of the obituaries on various blogs. As you might expect, I’ve reacted differently than most faithful members of the LDS church.

    First, I haven’t missed him and I don’t imagine that I will. Severing most of my emotional ties with Mormonism has led me to re-imagine GBH as a kindly corporate manager instead of a surrogate grandfather. Presidents of the LDS church now have very little influence over me. GBH’s death affects me no more than the death of any other seemingly nice guy.

    Also, a lot of the faithful bloggers fondly imagine the reunion between GBH and his wife, Marjorie. While I certainly wish that they are in fact reunited in the great beyond—everyone deserves that—I don’t have much hope that it’s true. I don’t say this to be cruel or spiteful. I just can’t ameliorate someone’s death by imagining that they get to be with their deceased loved-ones again. I don’t know that such reunions actually happen, and I don’t think anyone else really knows either. We may really want it to be so, and we may think we know, but in the end, we’re all in the dark about what happens to us after we’re dead.

  2. Kullervo said,

    January 29, 2008 @ 6:57 am

    Well, whether there’s a heaven or not, all the stuff that makes up GBH is being returned to the earth, where it will ultimately mix with everything else, including all the stuff that once was Marjorie.

  3. Jonathan Blake said,

    January 29, 2008 @ 1:22 pm

    In some way, I do believe we go on forever. I don’t know that our consciousness is immortal, however.

  4. Kullervo said,

    January 29, 2008 @ 8:07 pm

    I wouldn’t be surprised if our consciousness, at least the way we’re used to being aware of it, does not go on forever.

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