- President Russell M. Nelson, 101, was remembered for his devotion to family and faith.
- He was a heart surgeon and church leader known for making people feel valued.
- His influence as a decision-maker and bridge builder will be remembered by many.
SALT LAKE CITY — A man who made time for each of his 10 kids. A heart surgeon who remembered each of his patients. A church leader and later prophet who made each person he met feel special and valued — and who didn't shy away from making decisions, even if it meant a break from tradition.
Those were just some of the qualities that President Russell M. Nelson, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, personified, his family members and fellow church leaders shared during his funeral services on Tuesday.
Laughter punctuated the meeting, as well as music and tears, as his family members and church leaders remembered him in front of thousands of church members at the service held at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City on Tuesday.
President Nelson died Sept. 27, at age 101, from natural causes incident to age at his home in Salt Lake City. He was the oldest president in the history of the church. He is survived by his wife, Wendy L. Nelson, eight children, 57 grandchildren and more than 100 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his first wife and two daughters.
As the funeral began, pallbearers pushed his casket, covered in an orange and red spray of flowers, near the pulpit as the organist played the hymn "Love One Another."
"The death of this remarkable man closes a chapter in church history filled with years of service and devotion to the Lord and to his fellow man," President Dallin H. Oaks said as he opened the meeting, noting that President Nelson's last 41 years of life were spent as an apostle and then prophet.
Music played an integral part in the funeral, with the women of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square wearing white dress sets that gave an angelic aura. The choir sang "Our Prayer to Thee," "Peace Like a River," "Let Us All Press On" and "It Is Well with My Soul."
Fatherhood, family life
Laurie N. Marsh, President Nelson's daughter, said her heart is full of "gratitude" for being a daughter of her parents, and her father's "101 remarkable earthly years," as well as those who sustained the prophet and prayed for him and his family. She also expressed gratitude to his widow, Sister Wendy Nelson, and said the family loves her.
"When I think of our dad, I think of joy. Daddy always chose to be happy, and that made him so fun to be around. I often think of the talk he gave entitled 'Joy and Spiritual Survival' when he said, 'My dear brothers and sisters, the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.'"
"When the focus of our lives is on God's plan of salvation and Jesus Christ and his gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening or not happening in our lives. Joy comes from and because of him. He is the source of all joy. For Latter-day Saints, Jesus Christ is joy," she said.
Marsh said her father's life was joyful "because he centered it on our Savior, Jesus Christ."
She said the family's goal, as her parents raised them, was to be an eternal family.
"We were secure in the knowledge that Mother and Daddy loved each other, they loved the Lord, and they loved each one of us," she said, recalling the many activities the family did together, including skiing, going on trips, taking walks and "often skipping together."
She said the family felt the joy that President and Sister Nelson felt in recent years as they served.
"I will sorely miss the joy and light that my dad's physical presence has brought to my life, but I know he has great faith in you and in me, and he will always be cheering each and every one of us on, inviting us to joyfully live with Christ in the center of our lives," Marsh said.
Russell M. Nelson Jr. shared things he observed over the years as his father raised him.
"Family was top priority for our dad. He made sure we all felt individually recognized and loved. His posterity numbers over 300, most of whom are here today," he said. "Thank you to our angel mother, who played a key role in making him the man he became, and thank you to his dear wife Wendy for being by his side and helping him magnify his calling."
He said over the course of his life, President Nelson was "constant and consistent" when it came to his devotion to family, God and serving others.
As a boy, Nelson recalled seeing his dad's devotion as they ministered to families in their ward.
"I can still see my dad sitting, listening attentively, teaching and counseling with those families. Each member of those families, we grew to know and love," he said.
Decades later, the Nelson family visited that home ward as President Nelson sat on the stand as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. President Nelson saw the faces of those to whom he had ministered, and he "felt a prompting" seeing people who appeared sad, his son recalled. After the meeting, he visited them, ministered to them "and helped let the light of Christ back into their lives," Brother Nelson said.
He noted his father's promise when he was sustained as church president to serve God and Jesus Christ, and church members, "with every remaining breath of my life."
"He did just that. We will miss him. The sting of physical separation is real, but we shouldn't be too sad. With faith and understanding of our Heavenly Father's masterful plan, President Nelson himself taught us this. Not only is mourning normal, it is a healthy reaction," he said.
'Dignified and courteous with every man and woman he met'
President Camille N. Johnson, Relief Society general president, said President Nelson always called her by her name, and she said she felt the love of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father through him.
She said President Nelson had the gift of discernment and once discerned her personal needs, which she hadn't disclosed to those outside her family.
{#quote} When she thanked him for knowing, he responded, "He knows," referring to the Savior.
"President Nelson has literally changed the world one person and one interaction at a time, and he has invited us to do the same as drawing upon the power of God as covenant women and men," she said.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said he once introduced President Nelson "as the man for whom the word 'gentleman' was created, and for the rest of his life, he proved me true, day in and day out."
"He was dignified and courteous with every man and woman he met, be they diplomats or other dignitaries, new neighbors or complete strangers," he said.
"And he loved the rising generation, every youth and young adult he ever met ... not only for what they were, but for what they could become."
"I knew I had lost a little ground when my own mother told me, after yet another of then-Elder Nelson's many courtesies to her personally, that I was not to worry, that I was still clear ahead of the rest of the pack as her second-favorite apostle," he said.
Elder Holland spoke of his worldwide travels ministering with President Nelson, and said, "No matter how tired he was on any trip, President Nelson was always perfectly groomed and carefully attired as he stepped off the plane, casting that patented Nelson smile on those he met and to whom he spoke."
"Having the opportunity to see him love the people, and the people to love him, made for the most beautiful of memories. I have those memories in my heart now, today, and forever. They've often sustained me on days when the sun forgot to come up," he said.
He said President Nelson provided those kinds of experiences to many people over so much time, calling him a "lamp" rather than the "feeble lamp-lighter I was trying to become."
Elder Holland called him "the holder of hands and the healer of hearts."
Elder Henry B. Eyring, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, said his mother underwent many operations by President Nelson, as he was a heart surgeon. They extended her life.
Elder Eyring recalled President Nelson's detailed memory and devotion to his patients, and that he remembered the number of surgeries he performed on Elder Eyring's mother — nine surgeries rather than eight, as Elder Eyring had originally thought — years later. President Nelson kept detailed records of those operations and later let Elder Eyring read them.
"President Nelson had the ability and the desire to go the extra mile to bless the lives of others and their families. As I served by his side in the First Presidency, beginning in January 2018, I became a personal witness to the fact that the Lord inspires his prophet. I have seen how the Holy Ghost opened President Nelson's mind and heart to receive direction for the Lord's church here on Earth. I have been an eyewitness to President Nelson's ability to help each person in a meeting to feel that his or her opinion on a particular matter was important to him," he said.
"He sincerely wanted to hear what others thought."
President Oaks described what it was like to sit beside President Nelson in the church's highest councils, "and how he became my best friend and most effective teacher."
His comments prompted laughter from those in attendance at the funeral as he described President Nelson's shift from a quiet apostle to a decisive church president.
During council meetings of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, President Oaks said President Nelson was "thoughtful and wise but never as active in the discussions as a few others, mostly former lawyers," prompting laughter from the congregation.
"So I was not prepared for what happened in January 2018, when he became our president, with the mantle of the prophet settled upon him. Suddenly, I saw Russell M. Nelson as a decisive church decision-maker. Imagine how that transition looked to his fellow apostles, some of whom were former lawyers, whose traditions of professional work could always seek a continuance or advocate appointing a committee to study a question and make a recommendation before a decision was reached," President Oaks recalled.
"I came to understand that his professional work as a surgeon assumed and required quick decision-makers because those they served were sometimes immobilized on a gurney with no time for postponement for their surgeon to make further study and no opportunity to ask for a continuance," he said.
In the first meeting of the new First Presidency, they needed to decide who should write the introductory page in the monthly issue of the church's Ensign magazine, as had been done for many years.
"Before President Eyring and I could get involved in any discussion of which one of us would do that, President Nelson said, 'Why do we do this? Is this really necessary? Let's stop doing it.' The decision was quickly made. That approach was repeated again and again as I saw President Nelson as the decision-maker rather than the wise and supporting member of the Quorum of the Twelve I had sat beside for 34 years," he said.
He said he figuratively "tightened my seat belt a few more notches and said to myself, 'Being a counselor in this First Presidency is going to be fun.'"
He noted church leaders met with international leaders, and they marveled "at the impact President Nelson had on these leaders."
"They came to meet him," he said, adding that the power of his presence "melted hearts."
He said President Nelson's influence will live on, as will the grief at his loss.
He quoted a religious leader of another denomination who said President Nelson will be remembered as a "bridge builder, a healer, and a man whose life bore witness to the power of faith in action."
