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SALT LAKE CITY — Catholic Community Services honored Elder L. Tom Perry, an apostle for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his wife, Barbara, Thursday evening for their service to others.
The Perrys were honored at the 29th annual Humanitarian Awards Dinner at the Little America Hotel, according to a statement from the church.
"We've become great friends with the Catholics," Elder Perry, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, told KSL. "This is a great honor for Barbara and I, even though the honor should be Barbara's, and I'm just here to go along with the opportunity."
LDS Church leaders prepared a video tribute to the Perrys for the event.
"They are models for any one of us to emulate," Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said of the Perrys. "In care for each other, care for those around them and their desire to make this world a better place in which to live."
Elder Nelson said he worked with Barbara Perry at the University of Utah Hospital before she was married.
"She was so compassionate, that if a patient started to wince, Barbara would cry," Elder Nelson said. "She was just that empathetic. She's still that way."
This is a great honor for Barbara and I, even though the honor should be Barbara's, and I'm just here to go along with the opportunity.
–L. Tom Perry
CCS also honored former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and his wife Mary Kaye as the Humanitarians of the Year, a press release said.
Other honorees were the Utah-based ALSAM Foundation, Jan Luger, who helps distribute food to the needy in Ogden, Utah, and Pamela Mufuka, a refugee college student.
Various members and organizations within the LDS Church have been honored by the CCS in the past few years, including the Presiding Bishopric, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, the church's welfare services, former General Relief Society President Julie Beck and Elder M. Russell Ballard, a press release said.