He has 'gone home' — Service full of fond memories

With millions of Latter-day Saints worldwide watching and listening live, LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley was eulogized Saturday — his red chair on the Conference Center dais empty and his casket resting in front of the pulpit handcrafted from a tree he planted decades ago.

To members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it seemed only fitting that the "house President Hinckley built" was the site for his funeral, the first to be held there since its completion in 2000. He was remembered by his daughter and fellow general authorities as a giant of a man who built large on a legacy of faith that spans generations for his family.

Thousands braved the cold downtown before 9 a.m. to get tickets for the service after a two-day viewing in which nearly 58,000 people filed through the Conference Center's Hall of the Prophets. The last person in line passed the casket at 11:25 p.m. Friday, waiting between four to five hours to say farewell.

Virginia Hinckley Pearce told those assembled her father felt deeply the hand of ancestral faith, with three generations of forebears who had sacrificed and lived for their faith, and three generations now living who look to his legacy as part of their own.

Quoting him, she said he realized "the tremendous obligation that was mine to pass on all that I had received as an inheritance from my forebears to the generations who have now come after me."

Underscoring the feeling church members have for him, she said, "Our father was adorable. And he was a marvel to watch. Disciplined and courageous, with an unbelievable capacity for work, he believed in growth."

Such continual growth "is the story of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that he loved to tell, as well as the story of his own life. That kind of growth requires faith, courage, discipline and hard work — partnered with the gracious hand of the Lord."

She thanked church members, fellow general authorities, medical personnel and his staff and personal secretary, Don Staheli, for making it possible for him to fulfill his responsibilities as president.

President Thomas S. Monson, who presided at the service, said it was difficult to recall a time when he and President Hinckley had not known each other, having served side by side in the Quorum of the Twelve and First Presidency for more than 44 years.

When traveling together once on an assignment in southern Utah, he noticed that President Hinckley was wearing paper clips as cuff links. Realizing the situation, President Monson complimented him and they laughed, then he offered his extra set to his colleague.