Posted by:
catnip
(
)
Date: March 17, 2016 04:11AM
local temple on the way home from work.
I worked in a call center, where we never dealt in-person with clients, so there was no dress code. If you wanted (and I did) to wear jeans to work every day, nobody cared.
Our Stake president's wife and my aunt were both suffering from cancer. Since I was very fond of both of them, I figured that putting their names into the temple prayer roll couldn't hurt. I didn't have time to get home from work and change clothes before the temple closed, so I dashed in with my short list.
Wouldn't you know, the SP himself was at the front desk? He is very austere-looking and can intimidate the daylights out of just about anyone. However, during my friendship with his wife, I had gotten to know him better, and found him (behind the stern veneer) to be a brilliant thinker, very well-read, and quite likeable.
I saw his face start to form into a thundercloud-expression when I dashed in, wearing my jeans and sweatshirt. I handed him my unfolded paper, and said, "Could you add these to the prayer roll, please?"
When he saw that his wife's name was one of the two on the list, his expression changed entirely. As he took the paper from me, he closed both of his hands around mine, and in a husky voice, he said, "Thank you, Sister catnip." He placed the paper in what I remember as a large ceramic vase on a sideboard near the front desk.
Just for the record, temple roll prayers don't seem to have any better batting average than regular ones. Both the SP's wife and my aunt died of their cancer.
Despite my having left the church many years ago, the SP (now the Stake Patriarch) and I have remained friends. We are both great readers and run into each other once in a while at the local library. We share opinions on current best-sellers or current community goings-on, and we always compare notes on our grandchildren. Behind the severe façade, he is a genuinely decent guy.
And I deeply respect the fact that he never remarried after his wife died. That seems relatively rare among Mormon males, especially ones with high status.