Memories of Uncle Joseph Fielding Smith — Part 2

A crowning testimony came for me during his funeral services in the Tabernacle. I was young, in my 20s still, and in the back of my mind I was hoping to hear magnificent, brilliant praise of this man I loved.

As the brethren spoke, I at first felt a twinge of disappointment. Then realization swept through me. They knew what was of essential, eternal importance. With reverence in their voices they paid homage to Joseph Fielding Smith for his excellence as a husband and father for his devotion to family, for his example to them of what is finest and most worthy in a man of God, a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Humbled by the Spirit, I remembered the words of Brother Brigham, quoted by his daughter, Susa Young Gates: "Father was great in his handling of large affairs, in his infinite power to mold men and measures; but if he had failed, as he himself once said, in his duties as husband and father, he would have waked up in the morning of the First Resurrection to find he had failed in everything." (Gates/Widtsoe, 340)

I am blessed to know this humble prophet, Joseph Fielding Smith, who followed in the footsteps of his own noble father, and filled worthily the divine role as head of that sacred unit, the family — the one enduring, eternal organization that will grow in glory and happiness — that will continue on and on. 

Susan Evans McCloud is the author of more than 40 books. She has published screenplays, a book of poetry and lyrics, including two songs in the LDS hymnbook. She is the mother of six children.

e-mail: susasays@broadweave.net