PROVO — With his own well-used shovel, LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley turned a bit of dirt to ceremoniously kick off construction of a building at Brigham Young University that will bear his name.

"You do me a great honor and a great kindness in what you do today," President Hinckley told invited guests at the Friday groundbreaking ceremony for BYU's new Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni and Visitors Center — an event held on his 96th birthday. "I'm deeply grateful and honored by what this represents."

The $35 million building is to be completed by fall 2007 and will replace the old alumni house. Officials say it will serve as a gateway to the campus, owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The old 11,000-square-foot alumni center was constructed in 1961. The new building, which will be paid for with donations, will enclose 80,000 square feet. It will have four stories — one below ground — with a distinctive clock tower and gabled roof.

"This new building is singular in the fact that it has been built while the man whose name it bears is still alive," President Hinckley said with a smile.

Turning to BYU President Cecil O. Samuelson, he joked, "I supposed Brother Samuelson concluded I was only half-dead and that we could go forward accordingly."

President Hinckley's son, Clark, said his father became involved with BYU in 1961 when he was appointed to its board of trustees. President Hinckley has served as chairman of that board for the past 11 years.

Presidents Thomas S. Monson and James E. Faust, members of the church's First Presidency, as well as Elders Robert D. Hales and David A. Bednar of the church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, also attended the ceremony, accompanied by their wives.

President Hinckley "has accomplished so many more things than anyone knows," President Faust said. "President Hinckley has traveled farther than any president of the church to declare his testimony to the people of this Earth. So, in many respects, this life is his testimony."

President Hinckley, who walked to the podium carrying his cane on his arm, expressed gratitude for those who had made and continued to make the building possible. He then commented that the only thing missing was his beloved companion, Marjorie Pay Hinckley, who died in April 2004.

In April 2003 BYU honored Sister Hinckley by naming a chair of Social Work and Social Sciences in her honor.

"She has, on this campus, a chair which carries her name and now I have a building," President Hinckley said. "Maybe we could move her chair into my building and we'd be together again."

President Hinckley then lifted the first scoop of dirt with his well-worn shovel. He was joined by other church leaders and alumni fund-raisers, then by his five children.

"Put your shoulder to the wheel," he told his adult children as they were handed shovels. "Away we go."

The groundbreaking was followed by a private luncheon for family and friends who celebrated his birthday with a special musical number, a video presentation and a group rendition of "Happy Birthday to You."

"We are so grateful for the honor you have paid to our father," daughter Virginia Hinckley Pearce said at the luncheon. "We feel a great deal of gratitude that ... our parents' names will be remembered forever at this great institution."

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