"MOMENTS OF TIME": July 2012

July 6, 2012

TESTIMONY OF LAMAR S. WILLIAMS -

The Testimony of LaMar Williams given on

July 1st, 1979 in the Paradise 1st ward Sacrament Meeting.

Brothers and Sisters, I was just thinking that where ever you go in this church you can feel at home. It matters not, you can step into this chapel although we've not been here before and feel like we've always been here. Perhaps it's the spirit that radiates from the members and the fact that you are associating with people that have the same ideals and the same principles. It was rather strange as my wife and I was riding on a bus over in Austria, just sightseeing, from Berchtesgaden over into Austria, and someone tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Are you a Mormon?" and I turned around and there was a young couple behind us, never seen them before.

As my wife and I stepped off the train in Chicago with our two oldest children to fulfill a mission in Lansing, Michigan, there were hundreds of people stepping off that Union Pacific train; platform was crowded, and two young men came right up to my wife and I and put out their hand, "Brother Williams", I said, "How did you know?" "We've never missed yet!" And you can identify them, my wife and I met several hundred missionaries as they arrived in the mission field a few years ago and you could pick them out every time, they just look different. They have a certain glow about them, a certain appearance, a certain radiance that you can't miss.

I little realized, as a boy, that in a little Idaho farming town, in fact I grew up and graduated from high school without going more than a few miles from my home, except for two occasions. But I little realized as I lived there that I would know some of the prophets of the Church. I was greatly honored as a young man to be ordained a High Priest by Joseph Fielding Smith, a member of the Council of the twelve. I didn't know at that time, in Idaho, that I would live to be his bishop when he was the prophet of the Lord. I was greatly blessed by the Lord to know personally five of the prophets.

President George Albert Smith

I was in President George Albert Smith's office alone with him one day, he just sat on the corner of his desk and I was over by the door standing and we were talking about something, but there's only one part of that conversation I remember and that was some words that his father told him that he repeated to me. He said this, "My father said to me, "George, I wouldn't be dying now if it wasn't for the meat I had eaten." And I thought that was rather a strange comment but as I have read the Word of Wisdom; I suppose there's a lot to that.

Pres. Harold B. Lee

As I was traveling on an airplane with Harold B. Lee over to San Francisco to a stake conference, no, it was down in Los Angeles. I had been set apart as the Presiding Elder of Nigeria, having gone over there three times but not able to get in with the missionaries because of the attitude of the blacks against the Priesthood. We were discussing it and I was explaining to him how difficult it was and we weren't certain we could get in. He said, "LaMar, it's just a matter of timing." Little did I know then that the Lord would give Spencer W. Kimball a revelation that all men would receive the Priesthood based on their character. I always felt this way but didn't think I'd live to see it.

Pres. David O. McKay

I was very pleased to know that David O. McKay, upon one occasion, being in his office, making a moving picture for the church and I was asked to more or less assist, because I was in that field of work for the church. As the photographer finished the film he said, "President McKay, I still have three or four hundred feet of film in the camera, is there anything that you would like?" And he said "No" and so they decided to put away everything. I said, "President McKay, would you mind bearing your testimony so that we could have it recorded on film?" He said, "I'd be glad to do it." So he bore his testimony. I have a little four or five minute film that no one actually has seen except my family of President McKay's testimony. Never been released, but in that film, in color, with sound narration, I'll never forget that he made this statement: "That I know that Jesus Christ lives, I'm just as sure that he lives as I am that the sun comes up in the East in the morning and sets in the evening in the West. I know that he lives because I have heard his voice." No one has every heard him make that statement in a congregation, but it is on that film, recorded in his office, a Prophet hearing the voice of Jesus Christ.

Pres. Joseph Fielding Smith

President Joseph Fielding Smith, wouldn't let anyone else cut his hair but me. I loved across the hall from him. I wasn't a barber but I had five sons, I cut Roger's hair many times. Had a little practice, thank goodness, but in the kitchen, under the light, by the kitchen table I would cut his hair and Jessie would sit over here and tell me when it was just right. And how to do it.

President Joseph Fielding Smith was truly a Prophet of our Heavenly Father. And just six years ago tomorrow, the 2nd of July, it was in a fast meeting similar to this, in the 18th ward, President Smith was seated at my right, I being his Bishop, and we stood to sing the National Anthem at the conclusion of our testimony meeting. And he sang it very vigorously, he loved to sing with Jessie and she was seated, no, she'd passed away by now, he was alone. He was there with his daughter, Bruce R. McConkie's wife, she'd brought him. I walked down the aisle with him, put him in his car, he took his hat off and as he sat on the front seat and the door was open after he'd entered the car, I handed him his black hat. It was upside down and inside in the band was the initials J.F S., Joseph Fielding Smith. He pointed at it, looked up at me and I said, "President Smith, that is a better brand than a Stetson." He smiled and nodded his head and put it on his head at the time. I closed the door and that was the last time I saw him alive. That evening, July 2, I went up to his home where he was staying and there he was on the cot, or the couch, in the front room, everything but his black hat on, his shoes, his suit, his tie, white shirt and all, he'd passed away in a matter of about five minutes and was lying there. They'd put him on the front room sofa. In the next room was President Lee and some of the brethren, the councilors to the First Presidency, and they were arranging for his funeral and being his Bishop, I was invited to come up. Wonderful experience, though, to be where the Spirit of the Lord was. These men are truly Prophets of our Heavenly Father.

Pres. Spencer W. Kimball

Spencer W. Kimball; I've know him for years. I worked under him. For fifteen years he got a copy, a carbon copy, of every letter I dictated to Africa concerning the Nigerian or the Black people interested in the Church over there. Not so long ago, before my wife and I went out to preside over a mission, he came to me and ask me to fulfill a little assignment regarding these people. I've even forgotten what it was that he asked me to do. I felt that I shouldn't do it, that one of the brethren ought to do it. And so I made the statement to him after he asked me to do it. I said, "President Kimball, I really feel that you ought to do this, that I shouldn't." He said, "No, I want you to do it." I said, "But President Kimball I might get cut off the church." He said, "It would be a whole lot better for you to get cut off the church than me." Well, and I think he's right. They certainly need him. They'd get along without me I suppose, but, brothers and sisters, it's been a privilege and honor for me to know these men personally and to be in their offices and to travel with them.

All I want to do is testify to you that I know they are prophets of Heavenly Father. They're men just like we are. They may have some failings, but God has chosen them to be his servants. And it is a great honor and a privilege to know them and to sustain them and to love them, and to know in your heart that God has called them to be his servants here upon the earth, each one of them. All of the Presidents of this church have been prophets, and Spencer W. Kimball has been perhaps the greatest since the days of the Prophet Joseph in all the things that he has brought to pass, the new revelations and all that he has done for our Heavenly Father's children because he has loved them all. And he's opened the doors so that all might have a fullness of the Gospel based upon our character. Brothers and sisters, the Gospel is a set of rules, the most perfect set of rules every devised by which we can develop a perfect character and the church is the only organization on earth fully qualified to help us prepare to enter our Heavenly Father's kingdom after having developed a perfect character. We all have a common goal. Let us live the Gospel, let us put our trust in the Lord. Let us exercise our faith and support of our Heavenly Father's servants. I testify that they are truly men of God, and I do it in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Post note:
LaMar also knew well President Ezra Taft Benson -

Pres. Ezra Taft Benson

President Gordan B. Hinckley was LaMar's Manager in the Missionary Department for many years.

Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Father and Mother Williams

LaMar Stevenson Williams was born on December 4, 1911 in Groveland , Idaho to Peter Joan and Elosia Call Williams. Nyal Bowen was born on February 9, 1013 at Lyman, Madison County, Idaho. LaMar and Nyal were married in the LDS Logan Temple on March 2, 1934. They served faithfully in many church callings. They were devoted to each other and their family. They were the parents of 8 children: Marilyn Brady (Don), LaMar B. Williams (Mary Kay), Bruce Call Williams (Anita), Gloria Yeates (John), Roger Lee Williams (LeAnn), Micahel J. Williams (Tammy), Steven E. Williams (Lana), Jerry L. Williams (Kaylene), and "adopted son", Behrooz Fehrangi. They have 35 Grandchildren and 75 Great Grand Children. Nyal passed away on April 25, 1993; LaMar passed away on January 28, 1996.

LINE OF AUTHORITY

LaMar S. Williams ordained a High Priest by Joseph Fielding Smith Joseph Fielding Smith was ordained on apostle April 7, 1910 by Joseph F. Smith Joseph F. Smith was ordained an apostle July 1, 1866 and set apart as a member of the Quorum of Twelve apostles, October 8, 1867, by Brigham Young. Brigham Young was ordained an Apostle February 14, 1835 under the hands of the three witnesses, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris who were blessed by the laying on of hands of the Presidency (Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams) to choose and ordain the Twelve Apostles; (D&C 18:37; History of the Church, Vol. 2, pp. 187-188) after which the Presidency laid their hands upon them and confirmed their blessings and ordinations (Times and Seasons, Vol. 6, 868). Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the Melchizedek Priesthood in 1829 from Peter, James, and John. Peter, James and John were apostles and angelic ministers of the Lord Jesus Christ chosen and organized by Him (John 15:16).

BRIEF LIFE HISTORY OF MY FATHER PETER JOAN WILLIAMS

My father Peter Joan Williams was born at Goshen, Utah on September 25, 1873. His early childhood was spent at this place. While yet a young boy, about eight years old, his parents decided to move to Chesterfield, Idaho, a place named after my grandfather Chester Call. This was a long hard journey by team and wagon. Father had to walk most of the way bare footed. His feet would become so chapped with heat and dirt that large cracks developed around his toes and it became necessary for him to tie greased strings around each toe to soften the skin and heal the sores. All of father’s brothers and sisters were born in Utah. In their order George Enoch was born 25 September 1863 at Springville and died 28 April 1927 at Shelley, Idaho. Joseph Charles was born 19 August 1865 at Springville and died in 1918 at Blackfoot, Idaho; Martha Esther was born at Springville 20 March 1869 and died. James Thomas was born 22 December 1870 at Springville; (Father was born after James Thomas) Emma Jane was born 22 September 1876 at Goshen; Herbert Stanley was born 17, October 1881 and bled to death on 15 March 1895; Lucy Christina was born 20 July 1884 at Provo; there were nine children in all; five boys and four girls. Father’s parents were George Williams and Emma Jane Stevenson; together with their nine children lived under very moderate circumstances. Food was often received from the Bishop in the winter time, and I remember father telling of such instances as having to sit in a high chair all day long crying for a bite of food while grandmother sewed for a lady who did not attempt to appease his hunger. On another occasion Father walked outside into the snow one winter day and he had on his only pair of shoes, which was his brother’s boots. These were much too big for him, and not only that as he looked down he saw his toes sticking out big holes in the end of the foot wear. A sack of candy was often his only Christmas present or was at least for one Christmas that I am sure of. Father was baptized into the Church by Peter Oakelbury in 1881 and was confirmed by the same man. The only early schooling he received was in Goshen, Utah; however, in 1893 he spent a winter at the Preston Academy. While attend this school he and another boy lived together—if my memory is correct – in an old log house. Their meals consisted of sour-dough bread, molasses, and bacon three times a day. In 1865 he became the President of his Deacons Quorum and in 18889 the Secretary of the Mutual Improvement Association. In his youth father often drove the horse and buggy for grandmother while she went from place to place caring for the sick and dressing the dead. Upon one occasion a sickness was ragging through the community and many were dying; father thought to himself who will be the next to pass away. Immediately a voice said Leon Hatch. He told his mother of this experience and she said, “Oh no, Peter, that couldn’t be for I was just over to his place this afternoon and he was well and outside playing.” She felt sure she was right for there were several persons on the verge of death, but Leon took sick the next day and was the next to die which was about three days later. Life on the range appealed to father and he became the foreman of a big cattle ranch in 1890-93; he then went to Preston to school and on returning in 1994 became foreman of another cattle ranch. Before his life on the cattle ranch he became employed on a sheep ranch at the age of sixteen. While here a dispute arose between him and another person, a Mexican if I’m not mistaken. He was about forty five years old, and in the course of affairs a fight resulted. Father being large and strong for his age and also a good fighter got the Mexican down on his back. Since father had not had his hair cut for six months, it was long and his opponent quickly seized a handful and brought dad’s head down next to his chest. Holding him thus he reached with his other hand into his pocket and got his pocket knife out, opened it with his teeth. Father watched him until he raised his arm back to strike. With a quick jerk left his hair in the man’s hand. When the owner heard of the trouble he took father over to the camp of the Mexican and with fun in hand insisted on a clean fight. Needless to say father gave him a good trouncing. Yes, my father was a lively young fellow and often got into trouble. He was quick with a gun but never injured anyone. I have often listened with interest to his thrilling experience with man and beast. On December 3, 1895 he left for a mission in the Northern States; the same mission that my family and I later attended. While there he became the second President of the Nebraska Conference in 1897. This was really the beginning of a long and useful career in the church. When he returned from his mission he was immediately ordained a High Priest and made the first Bishop of the Hatch Ward in Idaho in 1898 November 20. Five days later he married my mother Eloisa Call in the Logan Temple on the 25th of November 1898. In 1902 he became the first Sunday school superintendent of the Groveland Ward, Groveland, Idaho which was the place of my birth. From 1904 to 1913 he acted as member of the Blackfoot Stake Sunday School Board. I was born on December 4, 1911 the sixth child, having five older sisters; and when about eight months old we moved to a new home about two miles east of Blackfoot, Idaho. While here father worked in the Blackfoot Mercantile Store, ran a dairy and farmed. He became water master and irrigation canal and road overseer. During the years 1906-1908 he was Deputy Sheriff of Bingham County, Blackfoot, Idaho; and in 1910 and 11 was Probation Officer and Deputy Assessor. From 1912 to 1914 he acted as President of the Canal and water master. I remember riding past his canal with my father. We were on a wagon and from the road we could see our neighbor and the Sheriff walking along the canal bank. We later learned that he had killed in self defense the farmer living next to him. It was done with a shovel which I saw and was the result of a water dispute. From 1914 to 1920 father was in the Bishopric and became the bishop of the 1st Ward in the Blackfoot Stake. While acting in this capacity and in 1919 his wife, my mother, died December 1919. It was a very unhappy Christmas that year. Father was so attached to mother that he still mourns her loss. Many times I went with him to the cemetery where at times he would stand by her grave for what seemed hours. In the year 1921 he became the President of the High Priest quorum on the Blackfoot Stake and in 1923 a member of the High Council. In the spring following mother’s death father bought interest in a grocery store in Blackfoot and we moved into town. His business was very good, but we children were too much of a worry for him so he moved on to a farm in Wapello six miles north of Blackfoot where he still resides although he has bought another forty acres totaling eighty altogether. He was a member of the Stake Genealogical society and Head of the Old folks committee during the years 1923 – 1926. In 1923 he married Mary Archibald Willyerd and has had two children by her, Peter Jr. and Patricia. He also has a step son Fredrick Willyerd. Three years later on January 31, 1926 he was made Bishop of the Wapello Ward and held this position until April 26, 1939. Upon his release he was called as a Stake Missionary in the Blackfoot Stake, according to my knowledge he is still in this position. On this date February 23, 1942 and is in his sixty ninth year. He is still in excellent health. To my knowledge he has only spent two or three days in a hospital. He can still out work me though forty years older. He weighs in the neighborhood of 200 pounds and is five foot ten inches tall, has a good head of hair rather gray, all of his teeth except one or two, blue eyes, very few wrinkles, a good sense of humor, and a youthful outlook on life.

MY EARLIEST RECOLLECTIONS

MY EARLIEST RECOLLECTIONS If I record my earliest recollection, I must go back to a period of my life when I was about two years of age. While I was watching my father fix a flat tire on his bicycle I had a childish mishap. Mother took me into the kitchen and changed my overalls. We were then living on a farm two miles East of Blackfoot, Idaho. Another early recollection was in the summer of my third or fourth year. Our family with several other families of close association took a week’s trip to the mountains in our White Top buggies. On our return we stopped at a creek to give the horses a drink. Near by was a house with the front door open. At a near point we could hear the occupant of the home, a lady, conversing over a telephone or perhaps it was a phonograph, but whatever the instrument I knew it was rare and unusual from the silence, bewildered look’s on the faces, and happy laughter followed by a sharp silence, of the curious group assembled by the front gate of a stranger’s home. HOMES I was born in Groveland, Idaho in a house that has since that time been removed. I do not remember seeing it, but will attempt to describe it as it has been related to me. When about eight months old we moved to a place about two miles east of Blackfoot. The home was one that father built. We lived there for eight years and since that time it has been destroyed by fire. It was a comfortable little cottage of about five rooms. It was square in structure with a full width front porch. The roof of the porch was supported by four white pillars made of wood. Every year a pair of blue birds built their nest at the top of one of these supports. Father always had a neat front fence, kept the yard as attractive, and the house painted. His home has been his pride. We moved to a home in Blackfoot, Idaho. This building was also a frame structure located on North Shillings just south and on the opposite corner from the old High School. This building had four or five rooms with an inside toilet which seemed to be a luxury. It was rather old fashioned and painted a grayish white. Within a year father traded this place for one in Wapello where he still lives. This building was a white bungalow very warmly built with a full front porch. It wasn’t finished either inside or out. Not many years later we finished our home, including hot and cold water and a bathroom which was rather uncommon on a farm. It has always been painted white, and in front is a white fence. My wife and I have not had a home since we have been married. We have made many moves. We went directly to Salmon, Idaho after our marriage. We lived there in a small tent with a board floor and board walls about three feet high. We lived here on what is known as Indian Creek until September. We were located about a quarter of a mile from it’s mouth which empties into the Salmon River. While here I was Mess Steward for the Civilian Conservation Corp.

From 2009-12-10

We moved to Pocatello. From Pocatello we moved to Shelley, Idaho the following March and lived in the upstairs part of a Mr. Wilson’s home. I was the manager of a small ill paying Wescott Service Station. We left here in July following an operation on Nyal for the removal of her appendix and gall bladder, stayed a few weeks with my sister Leona at Rexburg, and then moved to Wapello where I had received a contract to teach school on August 19, 1935. The next year we moved to Riverside and had our apartment in the basement of the school house. It was steam heated and comfortable. Being much improved over the old house we lived in at Wapello, which was on my father’s farm just a block south of the school house. The next year we moved to Iona. Our first place of residence was a little stucco house of three rooms and a bath. It was comfortably furnished but rather high in rent so after a few months we moved to the home of Clifford Scoresby. This was located across from the school house. It was a large stone building surrounded by large trees. Very little sunlight reached our rooms, so we decided to move into Eugene Olsen’s basement house. It was not finished; the walls a roof were all that was completed. I finished the construction and applied it on rent. The first winter was rather damp and the children were not too well. And since then we have tried to stay out of basement apartments. Two years later I began teaching at Deblin, a one room school in the mountains. We lived in two north rooms of the building. There were high ceilings and black boards in each room. The windows were loose and the wind blew hard nearly every day. In cold weather it was necessary to sleep in the kitchen and keep a fire all night. On week ends we would go twenty five miles to Iona to do our washings and attend church, since I was a member of the Bishopric, being put in that office at the age of twenty eight. The house we lived in here was next to the basement house and also belonged to Brother Olsen. It was a two story house. Two rooms upstairs and two down. It was at least forty years old, unpainted and cold to live in. We next moved to Provo on December 1, 1941 and stayed in the Partrician apartments at 417 North 1st East. The rent was too high and it became necessary to move directly across from the training school at 517 North 1st East. This was a one room apartment upstairs. The room was light and cheery, close to school for the children and us for we were all going; the children to the training school and Nyal and I to the University, and the lights and hot water furnished. We paid thirteen dollars a month for this place. I am now writing this history in this room, February 23, 1942.

From 2009-12-10

MY SCHOOL -TEACHERS- Grade 1918-1926 - 1st Mrs. Austin 2nd Miss Maulvane 3rd Mrs. Frank Berlin 4th Mrs. Frank Berlin 5th Mrs. Lawrence Gordon 6th Mr. Ira Wright 7th Miss Winkler 8th Mr. Joe Johnson High School 1926-1930 - Mr. R.M. Berry – Principal and Geometry Mr. Ira Corey – Algebra and Radio Miss Jefferies – History Miss McCain – English Miss Hostler – English Mr. Max Felbaum – Animal Husbandry and Shop Mr. Capellan – Speech and Dramatics Mr. Frank Hartcroft – Athletics Miss Hansen – English Mr. Stout – Band Mr. Willardson – Music and Band College Courses- Chemistry – Shorthand – Mathematics – Typewriting – Surveying – Book keeping – Mechanical Drawing – Eco. Geography – Advanced Algebra – Economics - Descriptive Geometry – School Room Management – English – School Room Organization – Play Production – Practice Teaching – Public Speaking – Genealogy and Temple Work – Physics – Zoology – R.O.T.C. Military Training – Psychology Advanced – Glee Club – Sociology – Machine Shop – General Secondary Method – Blacksmithing – Child Psychology COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE- In the fall of 1933 I was out to Salmon working and one day I received a letter from my sister Janet, who was then training to become a nurse at the L.D.S. Hospital in Idaho Falls, Idaho. In the letter she mentioned her girl friend. When I answered I asked for her picture. A week or so later I received it. After thinking it over I decided that here was a girl I would like to marry. I wrote her a letter or two and received an answer. At Christmas time December 22nd, which was Friday night, I went up to the Hospital. I remember I had on a slicker, riding boots and a cowboy hat. I asked at the desk for Janet and they told me that she was in isolation with a spinal meningitis case and could not see her, so I asked for her friend, Nyal Bowen. In a moment or two an attractive young girl in uniform appeared. She was all that I had hoped for.

From 2009-12-10

She invited me to a nurses’ party up on the fifth floor. We went up and played the player piano until time for the nurses Christmas party to start. We didn’t have much to say. After the party we walked down to her sister’s place on South Capital. Her husband was an old neighbor of mine, Orville Clark, whom I later had the privilege of baptizing into the church. Genevieve was in bed and Orville and I were spending a little too much time talking, so Nyal went into the bedroom and asked “Bee’”, as we called her, to call Orville to bed which she did and the rest of the evening was our until eleven o’clock at which time Nyal was to be back to the hospital. It was rather a quiet evening, but I did muster up enough courage to ask her to go with me to the dance the next night and she accepted. The night of the dance came and we rode out in my brother-in-law’s car. We had about a mile to go, so on the way I collected enough courage to ask her to marry me and to my surprise she accepted. The nex day I saw her agin, and she still felt the same way. This was Sunday, the day before Christmas. I went out to Salmon without seeing her any more. And came back two months later, took her to a show on Wednesday afternoon, got our things together Thursday night, and arrived at the Logan Temple Friday morning at six o’clock and we were married about noon. Yes, we were strangers, but we had gone to the Lord about it and have been happy every since.