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Rexburg
native Elder J. Richard Clarke spoke on the importance of family history
work and the temple in his devotional address Tuesday at BYU-Idaho.
Elder
Clarke, an emeritus member of the Church’s First Quorum of the Seventy,
began by speaking of his former alma mater, Ricks
College: “You have come a
long way from the two-rock building campus of my youth. Yours is an amazing
saga of survival and triumph, Ricks
College, and I thank you for
being such an important part of my life.
“You
have a new name, but the same wonderful spirit. Enhanced by greater vision
and generous resources, you are an international campus. Yours need not be
the largest university to achieve excellence, but you can certainly be
among the finest,” he said.
Elder
Clarke then related the experience of the angel Moroni’s
visit to the young Joseph Smith 180 years ago. During his visit, he said, Moroni instructed Joseph Smith
concerning the spirit and power of Elijah, which would inspire and guide
people and events to open the way for family history and temple work.
He
then spoke of innovations like microfilm, computers, compact discs and the
Internet, which have paved the way for greater access to records all over
the world.
He
also talked about Alex Hailey’s best seller “Roots,”
which portrayed the history of a family back to the days of slave trading.
According to an article in the Congressional Quarterly he said, “Roots”
is the primary cause of the worldwide surge in interest in family history,
making it the second-most popular hobby today.
Elder
Clarke then quoted Hailey as saying, “In all of us there is a hunger,
marrow deep, to know our heritage . . . to know who we are and where we
came from. Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning.”
Relating
an experience he had while serving as executive director of the LDS
Church’s Family History
Department, he spoke of efforts made by the Church to microfilm vital
records in the former Soviet Union.
Cultivating
a relationship with the country for 30 years, it seemed to
many that gaining access would be impossible. However, in 1992 clearance
was given to the Church to begin microfilming vital records in 200 regional
archives throughout the country.
“What
in 1989 was said to be impossible was now reality,” he said. “Is
anything too hard for the Lord?”
With
128 temples built or announced, the opportunities to
perform temple work has been greatly increased.
“Living
and ancestral families may now be endowed and sealed in unprecedented numbers.
The spiritual quality of life will increase as members engage in temple
worship,” he said.
Born
in Rexburg in 1927, Elder Clarke attended Ricks
College and graduated from BYU
in 1952 with a degree in marketing. Before being called as a Church general
authority in 1976, he was general manager for the Mutual Life Insurance Co.
of New York and head of its Boise Intermountain Agency.
He
has held many civic leadership positions and has been involved with many
youth organizations including president of the Ore-Ida Council of the Boy
Scouts of America. He also served as president of the South Africa Cape
Town Mission and president of the Hawaii
Temple.
Elder
Clarke previously received the Distinguished Alumnus Award and the
Distinguished Businessman Award from Ricks
College.
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