For millions of church members who have come to the faith in the past 30 years or are simply too young to remember anything about the ban, the church's announcement that June day may not seem to be much more than a historical footnote.

In fact, many American churches restricted black participation before the civil rights movement changed U.S. norms on the issue of race.

But a poll conducted by the LDS Church News in 1998 asked a sample of 900 church members to choose the top LDS stories of the 20th century. About 49 percent responded to the poll, and "the revelation extending the priesthood to all worthy males" was ranked the top story of the century, higher than the proliferation of temples worldwide or the dynamic growth of the church.

Gray — who many regard as the church's foremost liaison with LDS general authorities on black issues — had been a leader in the church's Genesis organization for decades. He believes most Latter-day Saints in June 1978 remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news, "much like the 1969 moon landing or the Kennedy assassination. ... People even heard about it while they were in flight over the country. That was the importance of the news."

As a young paper supply company employee, he was working in his office when a female colleague ran in to share "a rumor going around the Church Office Building" after talking with an employee there.

Shocked but hopeful, Gray turned on a small radio and TV in his office, but nothing was being broadcast at that point. Next, he did "the only logical thing. I picked up the phone and called President Kimball," a man he knew personally because Gray had been asked to help ease tension with college athletic teams around the West that had threatened action against teams at church-owned Brigham Young University over the race issue.

Rather than President Kimball, Gray ended up on the line with his secretary, who confirmed the news. His reaction?

"Disbelief, first and foremost. Elation, secondly. And being challenged personally, third. I had become inactive at that point. I had not lost my testimony but I had stopped going to church. There were just too many painful experiences. I had to get myself back right to be able to personally benefit from what was now being made available to all worthy males."

As a convert in 1964, Gray immediately realized the announcement "not only affected the current day, but it meant everything for us looking at those who came before, who had died on were on the other side of veil. Finally, their temple work could be done," a prerequisite to exaltation with God in LDS belief.

Previously, when it came to family history and temple work, the church had "held aside any names it recognized as being African American, black or mulatto," he said.