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07/22/2004: "Missing Elder Maxwell"

music: Pokemon (I know, I know)
mood: reflective

Elder Neal A Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints died last night, after a hard fought battle with leukemia, at the age of 78. He was always someone that I enjoyed listening to on any subject. His eloquence and turn of a phrase packed every conference talk or article with so much information that it needed to be studied and pondered more than once. I identified with him as a Political Science graduate, an educator, a writer, a wonderful speaker....

I feel grateful to have the conference cds to go and listen to today while I'm working on other things. I only have the last two with me here in Idaho (others down in AZ storage) but there are more of his speeches available over the internet too.

I had somehow imagined that this current set of Apostles would survive and function as a group for many many many years to come. I know he is "free from [pain] and sorrow too, with the just [he] will dwell."

He once said that death is a comma, not an exclamation point. And so it is, that I pause at his death, and reflect upon the joy that he has brought me in this life. My condolences to those family and associates who knew him so well. He will be missed.