I’m not sure why I wrote this other than I love the Logan Temple. This is not really a talk, testimony or lesson about sacred ceremonies, ordinances and covenants. It contains bits of temple history along with some of my personal thoughts, experiences and pieces of my life story. Although it is a rather lengthy epistle, I hope you enjoy it.
So far, seven generations of my family have been blessed with being able to participate in ordinance work in the Logan Temple. All of my siblings and all of my children were married in the Logan Temple, excepting one sister and one daughter, both of whom married in the Salt Lake Temple. Our oldest four grandchildren have been able to do baptisms for those who have passed on.
My great grandfather, James Milligan, assisted in the building of the Logan Temple. When he left his native England, he brought a diamond glass cutter with him. He cut the glass and put the original panes of window in the bottom section of the temple. He also did some of the interior painting. The family members of my great-great grandparents, James and Rachel Hancey, contributed money to the temple building fund. From May 1877 to February 1885 they kept a family ledger where they listed the name of each donor and the amount contributed. I have a copy of one of the pages. The smallest donation shown was 5 cents, the largest was $66.95 (by Horace W.), and half of all contributions were under a dollar. The total amount of family donations amounted to $6,563.77. These donations came at a time that most valley saints were already paying .50 per month into the Salt Lake Temple building fund and were also helping to finance the Logan Tabernacle.
I was born in the Logan LDS Hospital kitty-corner to the northeast of the Logan Temple. The site of the hospital is now a temple parking lot. My parents and two older sisters had moved into a new home at 321 East Center Street about two months prior to my birth. Our home was located just beneath the temple. The back of our home had many large patio-type windows which gave us a clear shot of the temple.
I remember my mother opening the living room draperies each morning and having the temple come into view. Some days when Mother opened the drapes there would be a thick fog that hid the temple from our sight. She would say, “I guess the temple has gone to heaven today.” I never questioned her; I figured she was stating a fact. Mother must have said that several times because it made quite an impression on me. In my mind, Heavenly Father used fog to cover the temple so it could be lifted to heaven to do His work. After the needed work was done, He’d lower the temple and take the fog away. I suppose I believed that all things were possible with God. When I was older and knew the temple really didn’t ascend to heaven when it was foggy, I still thought it was plausible. After all, the City of Enoch was taken to heaven.
Whenever we went out of the valley and were coming back home through the canyon, Dad would say something like, “Who is going to be first to see the temple?” We always looked for the beacon on the hill and knew we weren’t far from home.
When I was in kindergarten I needed braces on my teeth to correct a cross-bite. There was not an orthodontist in Logan at the time so we drove to one in Brigham City. I remember ‘bragging’ that I knew my way from our house to my appointment in Brigham and home again. I said that I’d never be lost if I could see the temple because if I could find my way to the temple, I could find my way home. That statement had a deeper meaning and truth than I knew of at the age of six. In a larger sense, if we can find our way to one of God’s holy temples, receive the ordinances thereof and honor the covenants we’ve made, we can find our way back to our heavenly home.
During the daytime we used to see lots of pigeons flying around the temple. At night when the temple was illuminated we could often see bats flying around the spires. The temple used to be lit only until 11 p.m. I slept in a bedroom under windows on the north wall of our home. In my early years before the trees in the backyard got really large, the lights of the temple somewhat brightened my room. I could tell when the lights went out. I used to say that I couldn’t go to sleep until the temple went to sleep.
I remember playing on the temple grounds as a little kid. The temple was surrounded by a short, black, wrought-iron, picket-type fence. It certainly wasn’t a security fence. It was fun to roll down the grassy slopes west of the temple. On the south side of the temple there were lots of trees and grassy areas instead of the parking lot. There was a circular fishpond which was stocked with goldfish during the summer. I recall walking around and around the edging of the pond. One time I tripped and one of my legs got scraped on the concrete sidewall when I accidentally stepped into the water. There was a greenhouse at the temple. The grounds were pretty and park-like.
I recall coming home from school and finding Mother at the ironing board. Obviously it was before the day of permanent press fabric but it seemed Mother used to spend many hours painstakingly ironing temple clothing.
We were a one-car family. After Mother finally got her drivers license, there were times she’d drop Dad off at the temple and he’d walk home when he was finished. I am a little confused about this, because I didn’t think Mother had a driver’s license when I was so young, but one time I hurried home from Kindergarten or 1st grade as fast as I could because I needed to go to the bathroom. The front door was locked! I rang the doorbell banged on the door. Marsha was inside. I hollered for her to let me in. Through the door she said Mother just went to the temple to pick Dad up and she’d be back in a few minutes. I begged her to open up but she said Mother told her she wasn’t supposed to open the door for anyone. I danced around and ended up wetting my pants. I was furious with Marsha and embarrassed by my accident.
There was a woman in our ward who stood up in Fast and Testimony Meeting and related an experience she had in the temple when her deceased father appeared to her. That bothered me. I told my parents that I didn’t want them to come back to ‘haunt’ me after they died.
When I was a child, after we had our 8th birthday and had been baptized, we were able to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. We were either in the Co-pilot or Top-pilot class in Primary and our teacher, Lela Bindrup, would take a carload of us to the temple after school. After being in school from 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., it was hard to sit still. It seemed like we waited forever for our turn. When we would get a little squirmy, Sister Bindrup whispered to us that the persons for which we were being baptized might have been born in the 16, 17, or 1800’s. They had possibly been waiting for hundreds of years for the opportunity to be baptized. She told us that if they had waited that long, surely we could wait a couple of hours. That put things in perspective for us and for a while we quieted down. Back then, in rapid succession, we would be baptized for a person, then pulled up onto a seat at the edge of the font and confirmed, then practically pushed back into the water, being baptized and confirmed over and over again. There was not a chance to get the water from our eyes or take a deep breath. I felt like a drowned rat.
As a youth I enjoyed hearing the stories about the temple. Timbers and granite for the temple came from the local canyons and rock quarries. Many of the places up Logan Canyon were named in relation to the temple…Brown’s Roll-off Campground, Wood Camp, and Temple Fork. The road through the canyon was mostly a horse trail until road missionaries were called to build a road and bridges to assist in the retrieval of building supplies. The ‘long dug way’ that goes from Canyon Road at 600 East up the hill to about 300 East, was constructed to get the timbers and rock to the temple site. Sand came from the area that Kloepfer Sand and Gravel later occupied.
The first talk I gave in church that I remember preparing myself was taken from a book I read by the title of “Temples of the Most High.” I gave the story about Satan and his followers arriving on the temple grounds and asking the 1st temple president, Marriner W. Merrill to stop the work that goes on in the temple. When President Merrill said the work would continue, Satan said he and his people would whisper into the ears of those in the valley and discourage them from attending the temple. The story went on to say that for many years temple attendance declined dramatically. Another book I enjoyed reading at a later time was “Logan Temple – The First 100 Years.” It is very interesting reading.
In preparation for another talk I was assigned to give on temple work, I read many conference talks and books. One thing I read is that most children look forward to being baptized at the age of eight. Parents in the church recognize the importance of baptism and make every effort to have their children participate in this ordinance. When it comes to temple marriage, many look at it as ‘optional’ or something they might do someday. They don’t realize the importance of this necessary ordinance. I don’t know who made the statement, but it was said that civil marriage is no more the way of the Lord and His church any more than baptism by sprinkling is.
I received my endowments in the Logan Temple on January 22, 1971. Three days later, on the 25th, Reed and I were married. On my wedding day, the above-mentioned teacher, Lela Bindrup, and another ward member, Edna Crockett, were at the temple for an endowment session. When Mother saw them in the waiting room, she asked if it would be okay to invite them to see us get married. I consented. Besides Lela and Edna, those in attendance at the sealing ceremony were: my parents, Reed’s parents, my sister Jean, my sister Marilyn, brother-in-law Gary and one of Reed’s friends, Fred Hayes. I wore Marilyn’s wedding dress. It was so tight I could hardly breathe. It seemed the sealer, President Elvie Heaton, talked on and on and on. My mouth was so dry that when I tried to answer “yes” at the appropriate time, it came out as a squeak. Our long kiss over the altar brought laughter from those in the room. When we came out of the temple we were greeted by many other family members.
On May 26, 1968, when I was 17 ½ years old, I received my patriarchal blessing from our Stake Patriarch, Sylvannus J. Postma. There were many special blessings, promises and words of counsel pronounced upon my head. I have often reflected on the parts that made references to the temple…”You shall be privileged, dear sister, to go into the House of the Lord to be sealed to a good companion, who will become the father of your children, and they shall bring honor to your name.” Also, “The Lord has a mission for you to perform in His temples, performing vicarious labors. Avail yourself of this opportunity.” When our children were small, I was often frustrated that I was not able to attend the temple as often as I wished. I had to keep reminding myself that there was a time and season for all things.
Occasionally wards and stakes were assigned to clean the temple. Those who went to do the work were asked to take cleaning cloths. I always wanted to sign up but was never able to do it because of the scheduled times and with having small children. One time when Mother went to clean, she was assigned to dust and polish all the handrails and banisters. She said it was interesting to go anywhere and everywhere in the temple and see areas she had not been in before as she did the work.
The temple was closed in October of 1976 for a major remodeling job. Work was done on the grounds as well as the temple interior, which was totally gutted and rebuilt. We took Kimberly and Jill with us when we attended the temple open house in February of 1979. I was fortunate to get tickets for the re-dedication on March 14, 1979. I still have my ticket somewhere. I was able to be in the large assembly hall on the 4th floor when President Spencer W. Kimball offered the dedicatory prayer. I was surprised by President Kimball’s short stature. I remember looking at President Kimball and thinking that his whole being seemed to glow. It was nice to be in the presence of a Prophet of God. The dedication was my first experience with doing the ‘Hosanna Shout.’ I have a notation on my 1979 calendar that says the temple re-opened on April 3rd.
The logo or seal of Logan City used to have pictures of two Logan landmarks, one being the Logan Temple and the other of ‘Old Main’ on the campus of Utah State. Really, what else stands out or represents Logan than these two prominent icons? There were complaints that the city shouldn’t display an LDS building when it doesn’t represent everyone. There was also issue with separation of church and government. Now the City of Logan has a simple design with a sun coming up over the mountains. What is ironic to me is that the local newspaper, ‘The Herald Journal,’ which often seems to have an ‘anti-Mormon’ sentiment, has both the temple spires and the ‘A’ on old main in their heading.
Reed and I were called as temple ordinance workers in October 2005 and served for two years prior to serving as missionaries at Heber Valley Camp. I began my second experience as a temple worker in July 2010 and enjoy serving in that capacity. I feel that is where I am supposed to be. I like the association with other ordinance workers and the patrons who come and go each day. I witness a lot of sacrifice of time and effort by so many good and dedicated persons. I marvel at the willingness of so many who travel up to 2 ½ hours each way to work their shift. I can usually drive to the temple, park the car, and walk to the temple doors in 15 minutes. We are blessed to have a temple nearby. I hope we never take it for granted. Work for the Lord…the pay isn’t much, but the retirement plan is out of this world!
When I was born there were only eight temples. The Logan Temple was the second one dedicated when the saints came west. Now there are 134 operating temples with 23 more either announced or under construction. There are some decades in the history of the restored church in which there have been no new temples constructed. When Gordon B. Hinckley was President, he strived to take the temples to the people. There was a huge thrust of construction. There were 34 new temples dedicated in just two years (1999 & 2000). I don’t know the exact figure but something like 90% of all church members now live within 200 miles of a temple.
I have had the opportunity to have seen or have been inside 40 temples. I attended an Italian session in the Swiss (Bern) Temple and a Samoan session in the Hamilton New Zealand Temple. I have visited the Kona and Laie Hawaii temples, the Cardston Alberta Canada Temple and those in Papette, Tahiti and Frankfurt, Germany. The rest have been in each of the regions of the continental United States. There are some places we traveled through but did not stop and look for the temple. I could still kick myself for missing the San Jose, Costa Rica Temple when we were there.
I have served under three temple presidents: Vaughn J. Featherstone, Dennis Simmons and Rolfe Kerr. President Featherstone was released not long after we were set apart. I have framed a quote from him. It is as follows:
“I promise you that all who faithfully attend to temple work will be blessed beyond measure. Your families will draw closer to the Lord, unseen angels will watch over your loved ones when satanic forces tempt them, the veil will be thin, and great spiritual experiences will be distilled upon this people.” That is quite a promise!
So far, seven generations of my family have been blessed with being able to participate in ordinance work in the Logan Temple. All of my siblings and all of my children were married in the Logan Temple, excepting one sister and one daughter, both of whom married in the Salt Lake Temple. Our oldest four grandchildren have been able to do baptisms for those who have passed on.
My great grandfather, James Milligan, assisted in the building of the Logan Temple. When he left his native England, he brought a diamond glass cutter with him. He cut the glass and put the original panes of window in the bottom section of the temple. He also did some of the interior painting. The family members of my great-great grandparents, James and Rachel Hancey, contributed money to the temple building fund. From May 1877 to February 1885 they kept a family ledger where they listed the name of each donor and the amount contributed. I have a copy of one of the pages. The smallest donation shown was 5 cents, the largest was $66.95 (by Horace W.), and half of all contributions were under a dollar. The total amount of family donations amounted to $6,563.77. These donations came at a time that most valley saints were already paying .50 per month into the Salt Lake Temple building fund and were also helping to finance the Logan Tabernacle.
I was born in the Logan LDS Hospital kitty-corner to the northeast of the Logan Temple. The site of the hospital is now a temple parking lot. My parents and two older sisters had moved into a new home at 321 East Center Street about two months prior to my birth. Our home was located just beneath the temple. The back of our home had many large patio-type windows which gave us a clear shot of the temple.
I remember my mother opening the living room draperies each morning and having the temple come into view. Some days when Mother opened the drapes there would be a thick fog that hid the temple from our sight. She would say, “I guess the temple has gone to heaven today.” I never questioned her; I figured she was stating a fact. Mother must have said that several times because it made quite an impression on me. In my mind, Heavenly Father used fog to cover the temple so it could be lifted to heaven to do His work. After the needed work was done, He’d lower the temple and take the fog away. I suppose I believed that all things were possible with God. When I was older and knew the temple really didn’t ascend to heaven when it was foggy, I still thought it was plausible. After all, the City of Enoch was taken to heaven.
Whenever we went out of the valley and were coming back home through the canyon, Dad would say something like, “Who is going to be first to see the temple?” We always looked for the beacon on the hill and knew we weren’t far from home.
When I was in kindergarten I needed braces on my teeth to correct a cross-bite. There was not an orthodontist in Logan at the time so we drove to one in Brigham City. I remember ‘bragging’ that I knew my way from our house to my appointment in Brigham and home again. I said that I’d never be lost if I could see the temple because if I could find my way to the temple, I could find my way home. That statement had a deeper meaning and truth than I knew of at the age of six. In a larger sense, if we can find our way to one of God’s holy temples, receive the ordinances thereof and honor the covenants we’ve made, we can find our way back to our heavenly home.
During the daytime we used to see lots of pigeons flying around the temple. At night when the temple was illuminated we could often see bats flying around the spires. The temple used to be lit only until 11 p.m. I slept in a bedroom under windows on the north wall of our home. In my early years before the trees in the backyard got really large, the lights of the temple somewhat brightened my room. I could tell when the lights went out. I used to say that I couldn’t go to sleep until the temple went to sleep.
I remember playing on the temple grounds as a little kid. The temple was surrounded by a short, black, wrought-iron, picket-type fence. It certainly wasn’t a security fence. It was fun to roll down the grassy slopes west of the temple. On the south side of the temple there were lots of trees and grassy areas instead of the parking lot. There was a circular fishpond which was stocked with goldfish during the summer. I recall walking around and around the edging of the pond. One time I tripped and one of my legs got scraped on the concrete sidewall when I accidentally stepped into the water. There was a greenhouse at the temple. The grounds were pretty and park-like.
I recall coming home from school and finding Mother at the ironing board. Obviously it was before the day of permanent press fabric but it seemed Mother used to spend many hours painstakingly ironing temple clothing.
We were a one-car family. After Mother finally got her drivers license, there were times she’d drop Dad off at the temple and he’d walk home when he was finished. I am a little confused about this, because I didn’t think Mother had a driver’s license when I was so young, but one time I hurried home from Kindergarten or 1st grade as fast as I could because I needed to go to the bathroom. The front door was locked! I rang the doorbell banged on the door. Marsha was inside. I hollered for her to let me in. Through the door she said Mother just went to the temple to pick Dad up and she’d be back in a few minutes. I begged her to open up but she said Mother told her she wasn’t supposed to open the door for anyone. I danced around and ended up wetting my pants. I was furious with Marsha and embarrassed by my accident.
There was a woman in our ward who stood up in Fast and Testimony Meeting and related an experience she had in the temple when her deceased father appeared to her. That bothered me. I told my parents that I didn’t want them to come back to ‘haunt’ me after they died.
When I was a child, after we had our 8th birthday and had been baptized, we were able to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. We were either in the Co-pilot or Top-pilot class in Primary and our teacher, Lela Bindrup, would take a carload of us to the temple after school. After being in school from 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., it was hard to sit still. It seemed like we waited forever for our turn. When we would get a little squirmy, Sister Bindrup whispered to us that the persons for which we were being baptized might have been born in the 16, 17, or 1800’s. They had possibly been waiting for hundreds of years for the opportunity to be baptized. She told us that if they had waited that long, surely we could wait a couple of hours. That put things in perspective for us and for a while we quieted down. Back then, in rapid succession, we would be baptized for a person, then pulled up onto a seat at the edge of the font and confirmed, then practically pushed back into the water, being baptized and confirmed over and over again. There was not a chance to get the water from our eyes or take a deep breath. I felt like a drowned rat.
As a youth I enjoyed hearing the stories about the temple. Timbers and granite for the temple came from the local canyons and rock quarries. Many of the places up Logan Canyon were named in relation to the temple…Brown’s Roll-off Campground, Wood Camp, and Temple Fork. The road through the canyon was mostly a horse trail until road missionaries were called to build a road and bridges to assist in the retrieval of building supplies. The ‘long dug way’ that goes from Canyon Road at 600 East up the hill to about 300 East, was constructed to get the timbers and rock to the temple site. Sand came from the area that Kloepfer Sand and Gravel later occupied.
The first talk I gave in church that I remember preparing myself was taken from a book I read by the title of “Temples of the Most High.” I gave the story about Satan and his followers arriving on the temple grounds and asking the 1st temple president, Marriner W. Merrill to stop the work that goes on in the temple. When President Merrill said the work would continue, Satan said he and his people would whisper into the ears of those in the valley and discourage them from attending the temple. The story went on to say that for many years temple attendance declined dramatically. Another book I enjoyed reading at a later time was “Logan Temple – The First 100 Years.” It is very interesting reading.
In preparation for another talk I was assigned to give on temple work, I read many conference talks and books. One thing I read is that most children look forward to being baptized at the age of eight. Parents in the church recognize the importance of baptism and make every effort to have their children participate in this ordinance. When it comes to temple marriage, many look at it as ‘optional’ or something they might do someday. They don’t realize the importance of this necessary ordinance. I don’t know who made the statement, but it was said that civil marriage is no more the way of the Lord and His church any more than baptism by sprinkling is.
I received my endowments in the Logan Temple on January 22, 1971. Three days later, on the 25th, Reed and I were married. On my wedding day, the above-mentioned teacher, Lela Bindrup, and another ward member, Edna Crockett, were at the temple for an endowment session. When Mother saw them in the waiting room, she asked if it would be okay to invite them to see us get married. I consented. Besides Lela and Edna, those in attendance at the sealing ceremony were: my parents, Reed’s parents, my sister Jean, my sister Marilyn, brother-in-law Gary and one of Reed’s friends, Fred Hayes. I wore Marilyn’s wedding dress. It was so tight I could hardly breathe. It seemed the sealer, President Elvie Heaton, talked on and on and on. My mouth was so dry that when I tried to answer “yes” at the appropriate time, it came out as a squeak. Our long kiss over the altar brought laughter from those in the room. When we came out of the temple we were greeted by many other family members.
On May 26, 1968, when I was 17 ½ years old, I received my patriarchal blessing from our Stake Patriarch, Sylvannus J. Postma. There were many special blessings, promises and words of counsel pronounced upon my head. I have often reflected on the parts that made references to the temple…”You shall be privileged, dear sister, to go into the House of the Lord to be sealed to a good companion, who will become the father of your children, and they shall bring honor to your name.” Also, “The Lord has a mission for you to perform in His temples, performing vicarious labors. Avail yourself of this opportunity.” When our children were small, I was often frustrated that I was not able to attend the temple as often as I wished. I had to keep reminding myself that there was a time and season for all things.
Occasionally wards and stakes were assigned to clean the temple. Those who went to do the work were asked to take cleaning cloths. I always wanted to sign up but was never able to do it because of the scheduled times and with having small children. One time when Mother went to clean, she was assigned to dust and polish all the handrails and banisters. She said it was interesting to go anywhere and everywhere in the temple and see areas she had not been in before as she did the work.
The temple was closed in October of 1976 for a major remodeling job. Work was done on the grounds as well as the temple interior, which was totally gutted and rebuilt. We took Kimberly and Jill with us when we attended the temple open house in February of 1979. I was fortunate to get tickets for the re-dedication on March 14, 1979. I still have my ticket somewhere. I was able to be in the large assembly hall on the 4th floor when President Spencer W. Kimball offered the dedicatory prayer. I was surprised by President Kimball’s short stature. I remember looking at President Kimball and thinking that his whole being seemed to glow. It was nice to be in the presence of a Prophet of God. The dedication was my first experience with doing the ‘Hosanna Shout.’ I have a notation on my 1979 calendar that says the temple re-opened on April 3rd.
The logo or seal of Logan City used to have pictures of two Logan landmarks, one being the Logan Temple and the other of ‘Old Main’ on the campus of Utah State. Really, what else stands out or represents Logan than these two prominent icons? There were complaints that the city shouldn’t display an LDS building when it doesn’t represent everyone. There was also issue with separation of church and government. Now the City of Logan has a simple design with a sun coming up over the mountains. What is ironic to me is that the local newspaper, ‘The Herald Journal,’ which often seems to have an ‘anti-Mormon’ sentiment, has both the temple spires and the ‘A’ on old main in their heading.
Reed and I were called as temple ordinance workers in October 2005 and served for two years prior to serving as missionaries at Heber Valley Camp. I began my second experience as a temple worker in July 2010 and enjoy serving in that capacity. I feel that is where I am supposed to be. I like the association with other ordinance workers and the patrons who come and go each day. I witness a lot of sacrifice of time and effort by so many good and dedicated persons. I marvel at the willingness of so many who travel up to 2 ½ hours each way to work their shift. I can usually drive to the temple, park the car, and walk to the temple doors in 15 minutes. We are blessed to have a temple nearby. I hope we never take it for granted. Work for the Lord…the pay isn’t much, but the retirement plan is out of this world!
When I was born there were only eight temples. The Logan Temple was the second one dedicated when the saints came west. Now there are 134 operating temples with 23 more either announced or under construction. There are some decades in the history of the restored church in which there have been no new temples constructed. When Gordon B. Hinckley was President, he strived to take the temples to the people. There was a huge thrust of construction. There were 34 new temples dedicated in just two years (1999 & 2000). I don’t know the exact figure but something like 90% of all church members now live within 200 miles of a temple.
I have had the opportunity to have seen or have been inside 40 temples. I attended an Italian session in the Swiss (Bern) Temple and a Samoan session in the Hamilton New Zealand Temple. I have visited the Kona and Laie Hawaii temples, the Cardston Alberta Canada Temple and those in Papette, Tahiti and Frankfurt, Germany. The rest have been in each of the regions of the continental United States. There are some places we traveled through but did not stop and look for the temple. I could still kick myself for missing the San Jose, Costa Rica Temple when we were there.
I have served under three temple presidents: Vaughn J. Featherstone, Dennis Simmons and Rolfe Kerr. President Featherstone was released not long after we were set apart. I have framed a quote from him. It is as follows:
“I promise you that all who faithfully attend to temple work will be blessed beyond measure. Your families will draw closer to the Lord, unseen angels will watch over your loved ones when satanic forces tempt them, the veil will be thin, and great spiritual experiences will be distilled upon this people.” That is quite a promise!
Jory
