Virginia H. Pearce, one of President Gordon B. Hinckley's five children, spoke at the LDS Church leader's funeral on behalf of family members and reflected on her father's family background, which shaped his life so much.

Pearce expressed the family's gratitude toward the many people who were involved in President Hinckley's life, from the doctors and nurses who attended to him to the counselors and members of the Quorum of the Twelve who loved and assisted him.

"There is nothing so touching to the human soul as to see men and women of great power extend private, thoughtful and quiet kindness," Pearce said.

She said her family wanted to speak out "in celebration of the life of our father and prophet," as their tribute to President Hinckley.

President Hinckley's great-grandmother was the first in the Hinckley family to be baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1837 in Canada. The Hinckleys moved to Illinois and then to Utah, where President Hinckley's father eventually earned a teaching position at Brigham Young Academy and the LDS Business College, Pearce said.

She said President Hinckley was aware of the obligation he had to pass on the things he inherited from his forbears, and his children are grateful for the example and teachings they received from their father and mother.

"Our parents loved us, they taught us, corrected us, laughed and prayed for and with us," Pearce said. "And we honor them."

Pearce said the death of her mother, Marjorie Pay Hinckley, was a difficult trial for her father to endure. She said her father wept openly over the loss of his wife, but that he "went back to work — in every sense of the word," with an increased compassion for others as he dealt with his grief.

President Hinckley also mourned when he was diagnosed with cancer, Pearce said, but with the help of medical personnel, lived for two more years. Recently, when President Hinckley dedicated a renovated chapel in Salt Lake City, he offered an unusual prayer in which he publicly prayed for himself, Pearce said. President Hinckley prayed that God would comfort and sustain him and bless him, Pearce said.

"We bear testimony that his peaceful passing is evidence that the Lord heard and answered his prayers according to his needs ... ," she said.

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