More than 90 years ago, President Joseph F. Smith stood at the pulpit of the new Uintah Stake Tabernacle in Vernal, Utah, and declared he would not be surprised if "the day would come when a temple would be built in your midst here."
It was Aug. 25, 1907, the day after he had offered the dedicatory prayer for the new edifice. Sitting among those in the congregation were three children: Porter Merrill and Harold Workman, both 7 years old, and 5 1/2-month-old Delyle Jones, cradled in his mother's arms.Nearly a century later, those same three were present as the same building was dedicated earlier this month as the new Vernal Utah Temple. The old tabernacle had been gutted and reconstructed to become the Church's 51st operating temple - the only temple in Church history to be built from an existing structure. (Please see Nov. 8 Church News for articles on dedication.)
In Church News telephone interviews, Brothers Merrill, Workman and Jones expressed joy at being able to attend with family members the dedication of the new temple - a building that engenders many memories for these nonagenarians. Brother Merrill, 97, of the Duchesne 1st Ward, Duchesne Utah Stake, was present in one of the satellite dedicatory sessions Nov. 4 in a stake center in Vernal. Brother Workman, 97, of the Tustin 5th Ward, Orange California Stake, attended a session Nov. 2 in the temple. Brother Jones, 90, of the Bountiful 7th Ward, Bountiful Utah South Stake, was also present in the temple Nov. 2.
"It seems quite awesome to think of that tabernacle being made into a temple," Brother Merrill said. "It seemed like going home," he added, speaking of the dedication.
Brother Merrill vividly remembers meeting President Smith when the aging Church president came to dedicate the newly built tabernacle. "He was a large man with a long, flowing beard," he recalled. "He met with us in our Sunday School."
He said that he remembers President Smith speaking to the children in Sunday School, telling them that the spirit of the Lord would be poured out on the world and that they would see more progress, more inventions than there had been in the history of this earth.
Those words and the memory of sitting on loose hay in the bed of the family wagon as his father drove to the tabernacle dedication left indelible impressions on the boy. Now, nearly a century later, he shook the hand of President Gordon B. Hinckley on the first day of dedicatory services for the Vernal Utah Temple.
Brother Workman's own pioneer roots are in the foundation of the new temple. His grandfather, one of the first LDS settlers in eastern Utah, sold the land on which the building stands to the Church for $400, then donated the money toward the construction of the tabernacle. During construction, Brother Workman and his older brother would put cookies and drink from their mother in a "little red wagon" and haul the refreshments to the workers. At the end of the day, the two boys would help clean up the grounds.
At about the same time, Brother Workman was sitting one day on the steps of the tabernacle visiting with an older neighbor. The man told the boy, "Some day you young folks will be awful proud of this building. It will be something."
Some 90 years later, Brother Workman stood near those same steps and shook the hand of President Hinckley after a dedicatory service for the new temple.
Brother Jones probably slept through most of the tabernacle dedication 90 years ago - being just a baby at the time. But he well remembers attending conferences in the building with his family. "I remember the folks had a white-topped buggy. We'd hitch the horse to the hitching post and go in for conference, then go out and have a picnic by the buggy. It all comes back to memory," he recalled.
Born and reared on an 80-acre farm near Vernal, Brother Jones was delighted to attend the temple dedication. "It was a thrill, I'm telling you."
