From Deseret News archives:
Y. Hinckley building to rise
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.
"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."
