BYU students honor Pres. Hinckley in their own ways

PROVO — While flags on campus flew at half-staff, students at Brigham Young University on Monday memorialized LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley in their own special, personal ways.

"It's like everybody has lost a friend," said Chris Mortorff, 21, of Atascadero, Calif., a sophomore majoring in business.

Some students at the school, which is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, left flowers, cards and candles at the base of the granite sign outside the Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni and Visitors Center on campus.

Others dressed in their church clothes for the day to show respect.

Students said the atmosphere on campus was normal, with everyone still doing homework and going to classes, yet everyone was a bit reserved.

As part of the high-tech generation, most BYU students who were interviewed said they heard of President Hinckley's death Sunday night via text message from a friend, from e-mails or even on personal Web sites such as MySpace or Facebook shortly after his death at 7 p.m.

From there, the students said they immediately hit LDS-related news Web sites to see if the rumors were true. Many of the Web sites were jammed due to the overwhelming amount of hits. Students said they then turned on televisions or went to mainstream sites such as Wikipedia, which they said had President Hinckley's obituary up immediately.

Students said there was so much cell phone usage Sunday night it was impossible for a while to call out or receive calls on or around BYU campus.

"It was like a flood of information," Mortorff said.

Other students had more creative ideas of spreading the word and expressing their feelings. BYU student Joseph Peeples, 21, of Thousand Oaks, Calif., a senior majoring in organ performance, headed to the Bell Tower on campus. Peeples, along with three other students who play the carillon bells at noon each day, did a special performance of "We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet" at around 10 p.m.

"We're not supposed to play past 8 or 9 p.m., usually, but we wanted to thank President Hinckley for everything," Peeples said, adding he got permission from his professor.

Mike Shouse, 18, of Mannford, Okla., a freshman majoring in music education, dressed up Monday by wearing a white shirt and a neon green tie with a Captain Moroni tie clip. "I was thinking about wearing a black tie but I wanted to wear a bright tie because it's more of a celebration of his life," Shouse said.