"I watched darkness fall and the lights come on in Old Jerusalem. A full moon rose and cast a glow over the city below, which is steeped in meaningful history. Words don't very well express the feelings that came to me, alone and in the quiet of the cool evening." =- Quoted in Howard W. Hunter, by Eleanor Knowles
If President Howard W. Hunter had one last wish, it was to return to the Holy Land "just one more time."
He almost did get to return to the land for which he had developed a special interest over the years. Before he was hospitalized last January, at which time it was announced he was seriously ill with cancer, he had scheduled a trip to Israel for this month.
"President Hunter first went over to the Holy Land many years ago," said Elder James E. Faust of the Council of the Twelve in an interview with the Church News. Elder Faust served with President Hunter in helping to establish the Brigham Young University Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies. "Somehow the magic of the Holy Land became something of a magnet to him; it kept drawing him back. I think of all the General Authorities, President Hunter went to the Holy Land more than anybody else.
"President Hunter always seemed to have a special interest in the Holy Land and in the Semitic peoples. Over the years, he made many longstanding friends, among both the Jews and the Palestinians. For instance, Teddy Kolleck, the mayor of Jerusalem, was one of his friends. Also, he was a friend of Elias Freij, the mayor of Bethlehem."
Elder Faust said President Hunter's associations in the Holy Land began many years before the BYU Jerusalem Center was built, or even planned.
"President Hunter was involved with Elder LeGrand Richards in connection with the Orson Hyde Memorial Garden, which was dedicated on the Mount of Olives in 1979," Elder Faust said. "They worked together and raised the money creating the park, which was part of a greenbelt Mayor Kolleck wanted to create around the city of Jerusalem.
"An intense fascination in archaeological matters led President Hunter to have a special interest in the Dead Sea Scrolls
the first of which were discovered in 1947T. He saw the Dead Sea Scrolls for the first time when they were in the hands of Jordan, before the Six-Day War in 1967.
"President Hunter and President Spencer W. Kimball and their wives went on a Christmas trip many years ago. They visited some of the cities of the Decapolis. President Hunter particularly enjoyed Jerash, an old Roman ruin up above Amman, Jordan. He and I went later, when a group of BYU students performed for Jordan's Queen Noor at the Jerash Festival. We had the opportunity to meet the queen.
"During the building of the BYU Jerusalem Center, President Hunter and I went to the Holy Land on a regular basis. President Hunter had the assignment under the First Presidency to make all the arrangements for building the center. That included finding a site to lease land for building the center
land could not be purchasedT, and to work with the architects and move forward with the building.
"Whenever we would run into difficulties, which would seem insurmountable, President Hunter always would say, `I think we should just go ahead.' That was characteristic of President Hunter - his great determination. He didn't get upset. He was able to keep his balance and his moorings all the time. He would just be his gracious, cordial, friendly personality with everybody he met. Of course, that was a great blessing to the Church, a great blessing to the project, providing that kind of leadership and that kind of direction."
Elder Faust spoke of being in the Holy Land with President Hunter. "He was a person who liked to listen more than to speak," Elder Faust said. "Mostly, he was guided by feelings. As we would visit places of some significance to the story of the Holy Land, he would just seem to relax and soak up his surroundings.
"He loved the Galilee, but I think the Garden Tomb was his favorite place in all of the Holy Land. Every time we would go over, even if we had only an hour to spare, he would say, `Let's go over to the Garden Tomb for old time's sake.' He liked to just sit in the Garden Tomb area. He would sit there and meditate and commune with the Spirit.
"Sometimes I felt like there had to be some kind of spiritual connection with the Holy Land that impelled him to always want to go back. It just drew him, like a giant magnet. He loved to be where the Savior walked, ministered and taught. Even after he became so ill, he would brighten right up and smile when anyone spoke to him of the Holy Land."
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Council of the Twelve was president of BYU during the construction phase of the BYU Jerusalem Center. He accompanied President Hunter and Elder Faust on many trips before and after the center was built and dedicated.
"It goes without saying that without President Howard W. Hunter - and back to the days when he was Elder Howard W. Hunter of the Council of the Twelve - there would have been no BYU Jerusalem Center," Elder Holland told the Church News. "He was the constant thread and the loving watchman on the tower over that project from the time it was only a dream, and from the time the Orson Hyde Memorial Garden was being planned.
"President Hunter led out in this whole matter. He was visionary and solid as a rock. He was always absolute, a valiant defender of the principles in which he believed and of the truths he loved. He believed in the BYU Jerusalem Center. He believed in our students having a spiritual experience in Israel. He always believed the university had a destiny there, and had a legitimate educational purpose in being there. He often said, `Of all the places in the world, what could be a more wonderful, spiritual learning experience for our students than to go where Christ had walked and talked, and where the prophets had lived?' He always believed that, and he always taught it."
Elder Holland said a genuine love of learning was one of the driving forces behind President Hunter's firm resolve to see the BYU Jerusalem Center become a reality.
"He loved learning," Elder Holland said. "He was an avid student. He loved learning about everything - about the Dead Sea Scrolls, about the history of Masada, about Middle Eastern geography, culture and politics. He loved going to the Galilee and contrasting the climate there with the more arid portions of the Negev and Sinai. He was a great learner. He was interested in everything, and he listened attentively to anyone who was lecturing. Sometimes he would have us read, usually from a scriptural account, and he would just close his eyes and take it all in. I think one of the reasons he loved travel is because he was such an avid student, a classic learner. I have a picture in my mind's eye that will stay with me forever of him just listening and learning, and loving the experience."
Elder Holland was one of those who was scheduled to go with President and Sister Hunter to the Holy Land this month. "After he became so ill, the trip had to be canceled," Elder Holland reflected. "He said to me, `I'd like to go one more time.' That longing in his eyes and in his voice almost broke my heart. He truly loved the Holy Land and the people there."
