Franklin Amos Terry

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF FRANKLIN AMOS TERRY
2nd November 1895 to 27th December 1960

Son of:
Frank Durmoth Terry
Rhoda Elizabeth Hunt

Married to:
Ellen Ann Goodliffe
16th December 1915
St. George Temple

I, Franklin Amos Terry came into existence on 2nd day of November 1895, at Hebron, Utah to the parents Frank Durmoth Terry and Rhoda Elizabeth Hunt Terry. I spent the earliest part of my life at Hebron, then we moved to Etnerprise, a distance of about ten miles away. Enterprise was starting to be settled at this time and only had a few families there. It was my chore to keep water in the house and to water the livestock. This was done by drawing water from a well. Sometimes my hands got frozen from handling the ice rope which was used to draw the bucket of water from the well. I have always been a lover of horses and dogs and owned and enjoyed both for most of my life. I went to school at Enterprise, Utah until seventh grade and then to St. George to complete my high school While at St. George I took violin lessons and became good enough to play in the orchestra, duets and solos. I enjoyed the violin and spent many hours playing in my later life. After graduating from high school, I went to Idaho and worked for the railroad. It was here that I met my bride, Ellen Anna Goodliffe and we were married at Sugar City, Idaho on the 8th of December, 1915. We left Idaho for Enterprise, Utah and had our marriage solomized in the L.D.S. St. George Temple on the 16th of December, 1915

In my lifetime I have worked for railroads, been a lumberjack in California, mined from mines in Pioche, Nevada, been a foreman over a number of men for the W.P.A. (Works Progress Administration), and spent a lot of my life as a farmer, owning my own farms and ranch.

I have seen parts of California, Arizona, Oregon, most of Idaho, Washington and Utah. I have had the pleasure of seeing five temples: Logan, Manti, Idaho Falls, St. George, and Salt Lake. I have been to the last two many times. Since moving to Salt Lake City at the Harvard Ward I received the ordination of high priest. Even though my health wasn’t good I was always on the honor roll for getting my Ward teaching completed by the first week of every month and never missed a month.

My wife and I have been blessed with ten children: Arvetta, Leila, Gordon, Clifford, LaVerna, Leona, Wendell, Jewel, Arnold and Clea Jean. These children have brought much joy to our lives. I feel my life would be complete if I could have all my children go through the temple and be sealed for time and eternity. I love each one and would like to have one big link connected [through the eternities] as it should be.

When I was young I read many books of scripture and gained a strong testimony of faith and healing. I have always believed, without faith it is impossible to please our Lord, for he that cometh to God must believe he is. He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. I have been near death four times in my lifetime and been healed each time through faith and prayers. I feel I have had much to live for, wonderful parents whom I miss and long to see, but there are times when I feel they are so close to me that I could touch them, especially my father. I hope and pray that each of my children will read and live the wonderful gospel, at all times, is a wish of a loving father.

FUNERAL TRANSCRIPT FOR FRANKLIN AMOS TERRY December 31st, 1960

PRELUDE . . . . . . . . . . . Helen Dunoskovic
OPENING REMARKS . . . . . . . . . . . Bishop A. Arnold Hunt

The hour has arrived, brothers and sisters, in which to commence these services in honor of Brother Franklin A. Terry, who has passed from our midst. The program has been arranged by the family and I will read the program as it has been arranged and then it will proceed as I have read it. The family prayer was offered in the Relief Society Room by Brother Howard L. Ricks, a son-in-law to Brother Terry. The prelude music today has been played by Sister Helen Dunoskovic, a member of the Harvard Ward and a friend of the family.

The invocation will be offered by Brother Joseph D. Pyper, a friend of the family, a fellow high priest to Brother Terry, and a neighbor of Gordon. Then we will listen to a vocal solo “Silver Haired Daddy of Mine” to be sung by Dorothy Cannon, a grand-daughter, and accompanied by Kathy Rampton. The first speaker will be Bishop A. Arnold Hunt. Then we will listen to a violin trio “I Know that My Redeemer Lives” to be played by Liela Shipp, Jenny Lou Morley, and Marilyn Shipp, accompanied by Janice Morley. These fine people all reside in the Midvale 1st Ward where Clifford lives. Clifford is a son of Brother Terry.

Then a tribute will be given by Carla Kay Cannon Evenson, a grand-daughter, and she will be accompanied on the organ by Sister Helen Dunoskovic. Then we will listen to a quartet, “I’ll Walk With God” to be sung by Bishop Robert J. Morley, G. Grant Martineau, Lloyd Gardner, LaVern J. Dixon, accompanied by Janice Morley, all of the Midvale 1st Ward.

Our speaker today will be Jacob T. Hunt, an uncle to Franklin, and the family all call him uncle. Then we will listen to a piano solo “O My Father” to be played by William R. Martin, grandson. The benediction will be given by John Geigle, postlude will be played by Helen Dunoskovic, and then the services here will be over. The family will follow the body to the car on its way back to the mortuary. The flowers remain here until everyone has dispersed and then the Relief Society sisters will carry the flowers out to the mortuary car in the rear; and they will go back to the mortuary to be held over until Monday. And then Monday at noon, at 12 o’clock noon, or as near hour as we can all arrive in Enterprise, we will have a short graveside service in Enterprise where he will be buried. The pall bearers today are Garlund Terry, Billy Martin, Jennings Miles Lee, Gary Evenson, Heber Myers, and Leo Barlocher, all members of the family. These beautiful floral decorations today were arranged by the Relief Society sisters of the Harvard Ward under the direction of Sister Dibble, and they are beautiful. The family wishes to extend their thanks for that favor. The program will now proceed as I have read it.

INVOCATION . . . . . . . . Joseph D. Pyper

Our kind Heavenly Father, we humbly present ourselves before Thee at this time and pray that Thy spirit may be with us during these services. We have met here to pay tribute, Father, to one of Thy sons whom Thou, in Thy wisdom has called back home that he might enjoy peace and happiness there. May the words that are spoken here today, Father, the music and all that is said and done, be under Thy guiding influence and pleasing and acceptable unto Thee. We are grateful, Father, for the knowledge and understanding we have that brings joy and satisfaction upon occasions of this kind, bringing also a feeling of comfort through the teachings of Thy revealed gospel. And Father, we pray humbly that Thy guiding and comforting influence may be with those who have cause to mourn at this time, that they may realize and understand that this separation is only temporary and that through their faith and efforts they may, at some future time, be reunited with their loved one and enjoy his companionship again. Now, Father, we dedicate these services unto Thee at this time. We do it humbly in the name of Thy son, Jesus Christ, Amen.

VOCAL SOLO . . . . . . . . Dorothy Cannon “Silver Haired Daddy of Mine“

SPEAKER . . . . . . . . .Bishop A. Arnold Hunt
That’s certainly a beautiful, high soprano voice. I can listen to her sing all day. Brother Franklin Amos Terry, 65 years of age, residing at 1090 South State Street, passed away last Tuesday, December 27th, 1960 at approximately 3:20 p.m. in the local Salt Lake City Hospital of a long and lingering illness. He was born November 2nd, 1895, in the little town of Hebron, Washington County [Utah] to Franklin D. and Rhoda Elizabeth Hunt Terry. He married Ellen Goodliffe, December 8th, 1915 in Sugar City, Idaho, and the marriage was solemized on December 16th, 1915, in the St. George Temple, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Nearly all his life he followed the occupation of a farmer and he was always active in one way or another in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and for the past approximately five years he has been a member of the Harvard Ward, and a very active member as much as his health would permit him. So much so that we felt that he was worthy to be recommended to be ordained a High Priest. And he was ordained a High Priest a short time ago.

He is survived by his widow, four sons and six daughters. The sons are: Gordon F. Terry and Arnold D. Terry and Mrs. Howard (LaVerna) Ricks all of Salt Lake City; Mrs. John (Arvetta) Cannon of Bountiful; and Clifford G. Terry of Midvale; and Wendell Terry of Kearns, and Mrs. Pete (Leila) Martin of Milford; Mrs. Jennings M (Leona) Lee of Provo; and Mrs. Meade (Jewel) Forsythe of Cedar City; and Mr. George (Jean) Holgerson of Terrance, California. And thirty-two grandchildren and two great grandchildren; and one brother and six sisters. Ophna is the brother, Ophna Terry and Mrs. Ernest (Iona) Barlocher, both of Enterprise, Washington County; and Mrs. Victor (Alberta) Phillips of Sacramento, California; and Mrs. Clifford (Grace) Wadsworth and Mrs. Heber (Gilva) Myers, both of Milford; and Mrs. Cain (Verona) Christensen and Mrs. Theron (Violet) Bunker, both of Las Vegas.

Now before I forget, brothers and sisters, the family has asked me to thank you for them for your wonderful kindness and sympathy and expression of love at this time and for the beautiful floral decorations. Words cannot express the way they feel and the thanks and gratitude they have in their hearts. And we would like you to know Sister Ellen, and your fine family, we at the Harvard Ward have learned to loved you, and we appreciated the fact you chose our ward to live in for the past five years. We have enjoyed your friendship and your association in the work of the Lord. And although I’m related to you and your fine family, it has been a privilege for me to become reacquainted even though it had to happen through the illness of your husband and father.

It makes me today more grateful than I have ever been at any other time in my life for the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What a wonderful privilege it is to belong to this Church, and to mingle with and learn to love the finest people in all the world, the latter day saints who have found it in their hearts to affiliate themselves with the Church of Jesus Christ and believe in the restoration of the gospel. The friendship and love that comes from the work and effort we spend in this great Church cannot be described in words.

And so we want you to know, you fine folks, that we love you and our hearts go out to you today. We mourn today, of course we do. It’s only natural in parting. We mourn when we place one of our sons or daughters on the train to go on a mission. We mourn if some of them are called away from home to go into the service in their younger years. And we mourn when they leave home and become married and move away to build a home of their own. It’s a natural thing and we mourn today.

But our mourning is not a bitter mourning, brothers and sisters, because we know that the things that are told us in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ are true and that we are one big family here and we will be one big family in the resurrection. And we will not be forever parted. But we will be together if we live worthy of it throughout the eternities to come. And this parting is just a short one compared with the eons of time, or the eternities to come.

And after we have all gone through this same experience and passed over there, we will probably look back upon these experiences with thanksgiving, but maybe with a little amusement, to enjoy talking about them and the things that we went through and the way that we felt and the things that we did. We have been told that if we knew what was over on the other side, we would probably commit suicide to get there. Those who have had the privilege of seeing what is on the other side have told us that.

And so every time we have an experience like this, when one of my loved ones passes to the beyond, as I have said before, it just makes me look forward a little bit more to my time when I will go and meet these wonderful people who are, no doubt, over there preparing a place for me and for you to welcome us when we come.

And so with those thoughts in mind, this isn’t a bitter experience. I like to look at it as sort of a graduation exercise. Brother Franklin has fulfilled his mortal existence and done all that he could possibly do while he was here. And now the Lord can say of him, “Well done thou good and faithful servant. Enter into thy joy.”

And so we won’t make his existence over there unhappy by mourning about him. Of course we’ll feel bad and we’ll miss him and his place will be vacant and be missed for a long time in some of our hearts. Some of us more than others and especially Sister Terry.

I understand that Franklin suffered from this illness, from heart trouble and strokes and what-not, for about eight years. Now, we do not know why we have to suffer like this. It would be a blessing if we knew that we were going to have to suffer like that if the Lord would take us in the first place, but He doesn’t. And we don’t know why yet. But I’m sure, as sure as I stand here, that when we get over on the other side, we’ll find out why and know the reason why we had to go through these things.

And I’d like to say this about Franklin that he stood up under it well. And he did not complain. He accepted his lot. Sure, he wanted to get well. Who wouldn’t. Many times I’ve been over to his place and he’s told me “I’d just like to get well enough to go over to the ward and play the violin for you people just once to show you I can do it.”

And I don’t know as I ever knew a man who hung onto life as dearly as Franklin did. He dearly loved his life. And he dearly loved his family. Every one of them. I don’t think there was one exception.

I think I can remember in Enterprise – You know it’s a coincidence that I was raised in Enterprise and Old Hebron where Franklin was born and I’m related to him. My father is his uncle, and I guess that makes me a cousin. And I was raised down there and I went out into the fields and worked for Franklin and Ernest, Ernest Barlocher who is here today. I used to go milk their cows for them when they were away from home, and they’d pay me in a quart of milk or a gallon of milk or as much as they wanted or needed. And I can remember the time when I’d go out to tromp hay for them and they’d decide they were going to have a race, I guess, to see which one could pitch hay the fastest and they’d bury me before I got the opportunity of getting on top of the pile of hay. And then we’d go in and stack the ahy and they’d try to make a stack as high as they could throw it, and we handled all our hay those days by hand with a pitchfork, if you know what a pitchfork is. And then they’d tease me because I couldn’t keep the corners square and slope the slopes when I was topping off the stack like it ought to be.

Little did I know, brethren and sisters, that someday I would be bishop of a ward and that Franklin would live there in that ward and be one of my ward members. And then it would fall my lot to preside and to talk at his funeral service. I didn’t realize those things when I was 12 and 13 years old. But I did know one thing, that Franklin was a great guy and Ernest and their fine wives, and I’ve eaten many a meal in their homes, their good cooking. There isn’t a better – there aren’t better cooks anywhere than these two. And they could fill you full and you could enjoy it.

And I know one thing that they were great people. They were Latter-day Saints. They were the salt of the earth. Franklin went to – I think I can remember, when Franklin went to Idaho and got Ellen and brought her home as his wife. He had to go away fom home to get a wife because if he found a wife in Enterprise he’d marry somebody related to him. So he went away and brought back Ellen. And I can remember the people talking about what a beautiful girl she was.

And she was a beautiful girl, and she became a beautiful mother. And a dutiful mother. The mother of Franklin’s children, ten of them. Was there one more? Just ten, all here today, I think. I wondered if there was one more because my father’s family grew up and he had ten and one passed away and Aunt Libby, Franklin’s mother, I think had nine or ten and one or two passed away and I can’t keep track of all of them.

But it’s a great family, the Terry’s and the Hunt’s and the Barlocher’s and the Holt’s and the Lund’s. I can’t attempt to name all of them that lived in Enterprise, that lived there originally. And they are now spread all over the world. And it’s an easy thing to go into the wards of the stakes of Zion and find one of them presiding at one of these wards, and even in Franklin’s family. Gordon is a member of a bishopric, Clifford is a member of a bishopric. The girls have been active in Relief Society and Primary and Sunday School, Mutual. All active in the Church. Nearly all of them married in the temple, and the rest of them with a great desire to go and complete their life and accept their endowments here so they’ll be worthy of all the blessings that are in store for us in the resurrection.

What a great experience this life, and Franklin had his part of it. And he wouldn’t have missed one whit, not one whit. How grateful, I can say again, that I am that he moved in our ward to live with us for five years.

He loved ranching. He loved cattle. Many times I’ve seen him go out in the corral and rope his calves and tie them and brand them, then them loose on the range, get on a horse and go out and spend days hunting the cattle on the range and bringing them in for branding and whatever had to be done to them. He loved that type of work and so most of his life was spent in farming and ranching, and he was a great farmer.

I’d like to say to you, as I may not get the opportunity again while the family is all together, that I appreciate the fact that Gordon lives in this ward and that he is one of my counselors in this bishopric. And if all of you members of this family have the same traits of character and love for his fellowmen that Gordon has, then you don’t need to worry and you don’t need to have any regrets. Your salvation shall be assured.

He loved, as I stated before, music, and he loved to play the violin. I don’t know whether he ever took lessons from Grandpa Hunt or not. Grandpa Hunt, he was named after Grandpa Hunt, as you note, his name was Amos. Franklin Amos Terry. So was I. May name is Amos Arnold Hunt. I never saw my grandfather. He died before I was born. I think maybe Franklin saw him when he was ten, fifteen – fourteen years older than I. I think maybe he saw him. I don’t know whether he ever took any violin lessons from Grandpa Hunt, but I’ve been told that Grandpa Hunt was a great violinist, and that he used to go and play for all the dances and parties and programs and everything else in Southern Utah in his day, when he lived down there, and I’ve had my dad tell me that he has often gone to a dance and Grandpa Hunt used to sit with the violin and tap his knee and his foot on the ground and the kids would slip up behind him and put a pie under his foot so that he could mash them into the floor.

That’s the kind of a family he came from. The Truman family, the Hunt family, I’ve been told that somewhere back three or four generations, that we are related to president Truman. Not that I’m boasting about that, but I guess he’s a great man in his own right.

As you know, brothers and sisters, the biggest business and the best business that he loved was his family business. His children. And his whole life was spent for them and their welfare. And he and his good wife spent their whole life teaching their fine family, the ten precious souls that God awarded to them, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And Ellen, I don’t think you have to have today any regrets. And the Lord has loved you for it and has blessed you for it and will continue to bless you for it.

I was reading in a book by Joseph Fielding Smith, and he had this to say, brothers and sisters, “Death, so called, does not separate rightous parents. Neither does it take from these parents their righteous children.” Can you remember that, folks. Death will not separate us, we who are rightous. And it cannot hold us apart. That’s the will of the Lord and that’s the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I have told you that I thought Franklin was a noble man, and I do, and I’d like to read a poem in honor of him being a noble father:

I follow a noble father, His honor is mine to wear,
He gave me a name that was free from shame,
A name he was proud to beard.
He lived in the morning sunlight, and marched in the ranks of right,
He always true to the best he knew, and the shield that he wore was bright.

I follow a noble father, and never a day goes by
But I feel he looks down on me to carry his standard high.
He stood to the sternest trials as a brave man only can.
Though the way be long, I must never wrong, the name of so good a man.

I follow a noble father. Not known to the printed page,
Nor written down in the world’s renown, as a prince of his little age.
But never a stain attached to him, and never he stooped to shame,
He was bold and brave and to me he gave the pride of an honest name.

I follow a noble father, and him I must keep in mind,
Though his form is gone, I must carry on, the name that he left behind.
It was mind on the day he gave it. It shown as a monarch’s crown.
And as fair to see as it came to me It must be when I lay it down.

Franklin fought a good fight. He has now finished the course. Henceforth there is laid for him a crown of righteousness and he has gone to paradise where he will rest for a little season and perform the work of the Lord that is assigned him there. And then in due time he will again be reunited with his body and because of the Priesthood which he held, I would like to say to you, to his children, he will be responsible for raising you from the grave. That’s his blessing and his authority because of his Priesthood. You remember that.

Let us live so that we can be worthy to go where he has gone when our life is over and we can have the same things said of us that can be said and are said of him today. May God bless you, his children, and my God bless you, Ellen, that you may be comforted and buoyed up, is my humble prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

VIOLIN TRIO . . . . . . Leila Shipp, Jenny Lou Morley, Marilyn Shipp “I Know That My Redeemer Lives”

TRIBUTE . . . . Carla Kay Cannon Evenson (with organ background “Home, Sweet Home”

A Tribute to Grandfather Terry
I write these lines in tribute and what I hope will be
A mental portrait well engraved upon our memory.
Many of his grandhcildren are quite grown up,
And to us it is only too clear,
The dreadful loss we’ve experienced
In the death of our Grandpa Terry so dear.
But some of you are yonger in years,
To you I would like to say
These words of tribute to Grandpa Terry
In memory today.
They say that time is a healer
And I hope that as time goes by
Our aching hearts will be slowly healed
By a power from on high
But as these coming years roll by
One thing is fearful to me
That as it heals our aching hearts,
It will dim our memory.
Of all of the virtues of Grandpa Terry
I can only mention a few,
But I want you to cherish the memory
Of the heritage left to you.
His home was truly a castle
He presided with loving care,
His faith was ever promoting
To guide his children fair.

His home was gay and happy with a special warmth and glow,
And a feeling of charm and friendship that made visitors want to go.
His door was always open wide to greet all those who came,
Friends, family, mere acquaintances, their welcome was the same.
Though ten children called it home, there was always room to spare,
For one more place at the table and you would be welcome there.
Yet they were always on an equal plane, no partiality ever shown
Just ten precious children, all his very own.
Grandpa Terry was always on hand when his friends were in need of aid,
He had such faith in his Heavenlay Father, a gift more precious than trade.
Grandpa and Grandma were sweethearts, the kind that endures through the years,
Based on love and service, through laughter as well as tears.
I’m sure one of the beautiful things that made this friendship live
Was a perfect sense of gratitude in everything he did.
And though we’re sad at parting, It’s a blessing to have known
Such a great and loving father, to claim him as our own.
To the yonger ones again I say, may “His” pattern of living be
A guiding star along your way. Your very cherished legacy.

QUARTET . . . Bishop Robert J. Morley, G. Grant Martineau, Lloyd Gardner, LaVern J. Dixon “I’ll Walk with God“

SPEAKER . . . . . . . Jacob T. Hunt
I know that My Redeemer lives. It’s wonderful, boys and girls, and Sister Terry, that you have confidence in me to honor me to say a few words to your wonderful father and your wonderful husband. One of God’s choice spirits that has been sent in this day and age of the world when the Gospel has been restored in its fullness. And he accepted of it and has reared his family up in such a wonderful way. Boys and girls, together with your mother, may you feel down in your hearts this day to shout praises and glory unto your Father in heaven for the blessings you have had of having such a wonderful father. I’ve known this boy from his infancy. I used to hold him on my knee when he came to my mother’s while his mother went somewhere else. I’ve rocked him in the cradle and I’ve carried him around, and I’ve seen him grow to manhood. I’ve seen him blessed with a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and his great desire, brethren and sisters, all of his life, was that his family would be reared up in the way that each and every one of them would have a testimony of the Gospel, that they could stand up and declare before our Father in heaven that they knew the Gospel was true, that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and that God lives. That they knew Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. This was the righteous desire of his heart.

The last time I talked to him, I was sitting by his side and I knew what he had suffered. I knew the many trials and tribulations that he’d gone through. I knew that he knew his health was gone, and I said to him, “Franklin, the Lord, our Heavenly Father, must have some work for you to do before He calls you home, because your life has been spared as it has through these many trials.” He said, “Uncle Jacob, I only have one desire in my heart, and then I’m ready to go. If I can live to see every one of my boys and girls married in the temple, sealed for time and eternity, that my chain may be linked together, that there will be no loose linls, there’ll be no broken links, then I’ll be ready to go to my Father which is in heaven.”

I trust to God, boys and girls, if there is any of you, I don’t know your lives, as well as I knew your father’s, but if you haven’t complied with this great ordinance, this great blessing that your father desired so much to see you perform before he went home, try to prepare you lives and place yourself in the condition, that you can link that chain together, that it will be solid, that it wont be broken because we are told and we know it to be a fact that a chain is no stronger than its weakest link.

And if God will help you to do this, I’m sure your heart, together with mind, will rejoice in the gospel of Jesus Christ that He has given unto us here upon the earth.

When them violins was going there, I sat and thought, and thought and thought. Brother Terry wanted to use his talent. And he had a talent for music, I want to tell you. But through these things that had come into his life and had weakened his condition, he was scared to even try. When he was going to school as a boy, to high school, the teacher that was giving him lessons thought he was so good at it. that he had such a good timing, such a good music in his mind and his heart, that he should go on and on and on. And he made a special trip to Enterprise and St. George, some 45 miles to see his father and his mother to see if he couldn’t bear upon them the necessity of this boy going on, on and on in his music.

And he asked them if he couldn’t take the boy and take him into Canada where he lived. And he said, “I’ll make one of the finest soloists of him, of anybody that ever played the violin. He has the talent. He has the time, and he is worthy of it.” But I can just see my dear old sister, bless her heart. Never was a more faithful woman lived on the face of the earth than she was. “No, I can’t let my boy leave me at this age. I can’t let him go out into the world, just because of music. I want to keep him by my side, that I might keep planting into his heart the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” And he stayed home. He didn’t go on with Brother Briggs, the music teacher of the St. George High School at that time.

But he was a good musician, just the same. As my son had said unto you, my father played all of the music for the southern part of Utah, all of the surrounding towns and all of the villages for some twenty years. I thought he was the best violnist that I’ve ever seen in my life, and I believe he was. I can hear him play the violin today with trembling fingers and the great music that comes on, but they don’t touch my heart like the old pieces that my dear old daddy played to me.

This boy desired a mission. He would have liked to have taken a mission. but circumstances didn’t allow it. He had the strongest testimony of the gospel of anybody I ever heard bear a testimony. He knew more about the Doctrine and Covenants and the Book of Mormon than most of the people in the Church. I could sit down here in this congregation and have a man come up here and preach and go to quoting something about the Book of Mormon or something about the Doctrine and Covenants, and he’d reach over, “Uncle Jacob, when you go home, read the 29th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the 20th section of the Doctrine and Covenants and the 40th chapter of the Book of Mormon, or something like that,” that they had referred to in their remarks and he had read in these books that he wanted me to see the facts of.

He loved the Doctrine and Covenants. He knew it almost from A to Z. He never had the privilege of telling what he knew about the Doctrine and Covenants. He used to come there to fast meeting and I’d sit by him and I’d say, “Franklin, you have a wonderful testimony of the Gospel. Why don’t you get up and bear it?” He’d reply, “Oh, Uncle Jacob, you know my condition. If I got up and was excited and I’d lose my speech, I never would get over it in the world. I know that you know that I have this testimony, and that’s good enough for me.” That’s the confidence that this boy, the oldest son of my oldest sister, had in me as a servant of God.

He came from a good family on both sides. The Terry family and the Hunt family who were settlers of all those little towns down in the southern country. His Grandfather Terry was a patriarch. He gave me my patriarchal blessing. And I often think about it and I thought about it as I was sitting here on the seat. As he laid his hands upon my head to give me this blessing, my desire was that he would tell me some things that would encourage me in my life to help me to be a better Latter-day Saint.

And as he went along, giving me this blessing, and was just about to close, I thought, and I said within myself, “O God give unto him the thing that I come to be told.” And then it came. He said, “Brother Hunt, you will live a life that when you go beyond that you will have the privilege of standing up and calling your family to you and live with them throughout the ages of eternity.”

That’s what I wanted to hear. If I was going to be worthy to call my family up from the grave, as a patriarch unto them and to live with them throughout the ages of eternity. That was the desires of my heart.

His father was a musician. His father had the best tenor voice of any man I ever heard. And I’ve heard lots of them. I never heard a man that could sing tenor like his father could sing. He led the choir for some fifteen years in Southern Utah, in the little town that I was raised in, sixteen families, in a little building some sixty by thirty feet where we were raised, where we went to our schools and where we had all of our amusements. And I want to tell you, when those sixteen families got together, it was just one unit. One family. And I can remember when the meetings were out how the young people would gather over to my father’s place, his grandfather, because we had an organ, we had a guitar, and we could sing music and father would play the violin.

I am only grateful unto my Heavenly Father that I have come from such a family. I remember when Franklin came to Idaho – I lived in Idaho then. My father, you know, when I was called in the mission, lived down in Enterprise, Southern Utah. And after I had been out for about sixteen months in the mission field, my mother died. And the bishop asked my mother, “Should I send and have Jacob come home?” She said, “No. He can’t help me if he did come home. Id’ rather he’d stay in the mission field and carry the glad tidings of great joy unto the children of men and bring souls unto our Heavenly Father than to return for what good he could do to me now.” That was the faith of my mother. The grandmother of this boy.

And then father became discontented. He left Enterprise and he went up into Idaho and hadn’t been there only three months when a horse kicked him and killed him. I never had the privilege of seeing my mother and father no more in life. And I want to tell you, when I see boys and girls come from from their missions and I can see their fathers and their mothers there to put their arms around them and welcome them home, I have to turn my head and let the tears roll down my cheeks. I never had that privilege.

But, oh, brothers and sisters, I want to live a life that when this life is over and I’m called home, I will meet that father and mother and they’ll put their arms around me and they’ll welcome me into the kingdoom of God. This is my testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I know it is. I know that [as sure as] I live. My life has been full of rich experiences. I have had wonderful expeirences in administering to the sick among the people. I doubt very much if there is a man in this Church that has been called out more to lay their hands upon the sick and to bless them and to bring them to health, if it was the will of God, that they should be made well, than I have. And that’s saying quite a bit.

But during the years, when that influenza was around, you know, we lived in that little town down there. We had no doctor. The closest doctor was fifty miles, and he was busy in the town that he was in. President Joseph F. Smith told us as a bishopric – I was in the bishopric then – that if we’d put on a mask and go out among the people and bless them that we would not have the disease. We put on a mask and we went day and night. We harldy knew what it was to spend an evening home [becasue we were out] among the people blessing them.

And since I have come to Lehi, I have been called on to go bless the sick. Since I have come to Salt Lake City, I’ve been called on to go bless the sick. I often think, my father told me that he was blessed with the spirit of healing. And I have often thought that he gave me that very gift. I remember very well, brothers and sisters, I had to take the train in a little station twenty miles from my home, to come to Salt Lake, and I never had been on a train, nor I never had been to a big city. But my father laid his hands upon my head just before train time and he gave to me a blessing. And I’ll never forget that blessing as long as I live.

I was taken care of, just as he said I would be taken care of. I happened to get on with a man that knew my father, and when we got into Salt Lake, he took my hand and we walked together out of the depot and there I met an uncle, a brother to my mother, who then took me and brought me down here to one of the hotels and got me a room.

Brothers and sisters, the Gospel is true. Sister Terry, I want you to know, and I’m saying it in all humility and in love, in respect for your family, that we love you, that we love your children. And boys and girls, your loving mother is going to have times of loneliness, times of sorrow, times when her heart will feel like it was almost eating her soul away. And can you, during this time, God bless you, go up to your mother and put your arms around her and tell her that you love her. If you’ve never done it before, do it, boys and girls, because you do love your mother. She is just like your father. She would lay down her life for any one of you, if it was necessary.

Now, I bear my testimony to you that I know God lives. I know He hears and answers our prayers, and I know that if we live lives worthy of inspiration that He will guide us from sin and lead us into righteousness. And I know that if we’re humble and prayerful, we are told that a family that prays together stays together. And I’ve thought of this very often.

I remember one of my sons, when he returned from a mission, I saw him out gathering a bunch of sticks. I wondered, what’s he going to talk about that he’s a getting those sticks. And when I got to the meeting and this boy was called up to give his home address, he took those sticks out of his pocket and he says, “You know, our family is like a bunch of these sticks that I have in my hands. I can’t break them. You see, I can’t break them. Not while they’re all together. But let me pull out one, pull out two or pull out three, and so on, and it will get so that I can break those sticks and then there will come a separation.” No, let’s not let this be. Let’s pray together. Let’s live together. Let’s seek together and build honor unto this good man which had an honorable testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. May your hearts be made glad.

We are told by the Prophet Joseph Smith to live so in love that we will mourn with those that mourn. And that we will rejoice with those that rejoice. So today as we accept a part of your sorrows. We’re willing to carry them and we’re willing to ask God to be with you and to bless you and to comfort you and to build you up in your faith that you may live a life [so that] when you are called home that your Father will come and meet you with arms open and welcome you in to the kingdom of God, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

PIANO SOLO . . . . . . . William B. Martin “O My Father“

CLOSING REMARKS . . . . . . . . .Bishop Hunt
This has been a glorious service and on behalf of the family we thank everyone who have participated. I would like to make one correction. In the quartette singing in the place of Lloyd Garner and LaVern Dixon was Judd Wasden and George Barton. I hope I didn’t make any other mistakes.

Now, after the benediction, the serivces will be adjourned until Monday at 12:00 in Enterprise. May I admonish all of you who are driving down there or riding in any way, to be careful. We don’t want to hear of any accidents, anybody getting hurt, so that we can get there safely.

The family will pass out with the bier and the flowers will then be carried out to a truck at the back door by the Relief Society. Brother Geigle will offer the benediction.

BENEDICTION . . . . . .John Geigle
Our Heavenly and Eternal Father, at the conclusion of these most beautiful services, where we have paid our final tribute to one of Thy humble sons, Brother Franklin Terry, we feel to thank Thee, Father, for the wonderful spirit that has been here with us, for each of us have felt it, I’m sure. For the wonderful things that have been said, and the music that’s been played, here this day.

We are truly grateful to Thee, Father, for having been associated with Brother Terry, as a husband, brother, associate or whatever it might have been. We know of his great love and devotion and of his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ that he shared with all of us. We are truly thankful for this, Father, and for the example he set for each and every one of us to follow.

We would ask that Thy spirit will be with his family, especially his good wife at this time, that they will be comforted in their time of sorrow. And bless each and every one of his children that they might pattern their lives after his, as we know he patterned his after our Savior.

Father, we ask that, inasmuch as the conclusion of these services will be held in Enterprise, that no harm nor accident will befall anyone travelling to and there-from, that Brother Terry might be laid in his final resting place in peace and safety, and that Thy holy spirit and influence will be with his wonderful family in all of their activities, throughout their lives.

We dedicate this service unto Thee, thanking Thee for all of our many blessings. We do it humbly, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

POSTLUDE . . . . . . Helen Dunoskovic

Transcript from Tape by
A.G. Pack Recording Company
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