Hinckleys get words of love and sympathy

Expressions of sympathy and love were sent to the headquarters of the LDS Church Wednesday, following the death of Sister Marjorie Pay Hinckley on Tuesday. The wife of church President Gordon B. Hinckley had been ill since January.

President Hinckley and other family members were with her when she died at home at 5:05 p.m. Tuesday. She was 92.

Roger Dudley, a Hinckley son-in-law, said Wednesday the 93-year-old church leader is "doing remarkably well. He loves the members of the church and is deeply gratified" by their expressions of sympathy and love. Church spokesman Dale Bills said the many expressions of sympathy had been "comforting and heartwarming."

A public viewing is scheduled Friday from 4 to 8 p.m. in the reception room on the main floor of the Relief Society Building, 76 N. Main. Funeral services will begin 11 a.m. Saturday in the Tabernacle on Temple Square. The service is open to the public and will be broadcast on BYU-TV and the church's satellite system.

Sister Hinckley will be buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery after the service.

Flags were lowered to half-staff Wednesday on the two-block downtown complex of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as Utahns of various faiths and political persuasions called in to pay tribute on KSL Radio Wednesday morning and sent messages to church headquarters.

Deseret Book president Sheri Dew, President Hinckley's biographer and a close friend of the Hinckleys, said Wednesday she had talked with the family. For President Hinckley, "I imagine it's just very difficult and on the other hand, he, I'm sure, is determined to press on and to do whatever he still needs to do while he is still here."

Family members "are, I think, grateful that their mother has been relieved of her suffering," Dew said. "Marjorie Hinckley was such a hub in that family and such a source of pure delight that this is a tough change. It's so tender to have her go. They have a great family, a supportive family, they rally, they do what all families do when they lose the hub in their family. They regroup and go on, and that's what I sense from them."

Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn offered condolences to President Hinckley during a press conference Wednesday at the Church Administration Building. Quinn and his delegation had expected to meet with President Hinckley regarding the "regrets" offered by the Illinois Legislature in a resolution last week for persecution of early Latter-day Saints in Illinois.