President Gordon B. Hinckley rededicated a stake center on June 27, a meetinghouse that he, as a stake president 40 years ago, had responsibility for constructing. The rededicated edifice now houses the Salt Lake East Millcreek and Salt Lake East Millcreek North stakes.
The rededication of the building was as a homecoming for President Hinckley and his wife, Marjorie. He spent the summers of his boyhood on his family's farm in the area and, as a young married couple, he and Sister Hinckley made their home in the East Millcreek Stake and reared their children there. He served 10 years as a counselor in the stake presidency. In 1956, when the stake had more than 10,000 members, it was divided into three stakes, with President Hinckley called as president of the originally-named East Millcreek Stake. Although members of the stake had contributed to the building of several meetinghouses, the East Millcreek Stake retained in its boundaries just one building, and that was an old one.
"We had terrible financial worries," President Hinckley said of his years as a stake president. "This area was the fastest growing area in the state of Utah. People were moving in here. Ground was being subdivided, and we were growing tremendously. The stake was divided and Brother [Elder Harold B.] Lee and [Elder George Q.] Morris called me as stake president. Here we were with that one old building and five wards. We needed a lot of money — a million dollars. We needed to pay 50 percent of the cost of the ground and construction of a new stake center immediately. We needed [to pay] our share of the seminary building which was built [nearby]. We needed to buy out the other stake farm. The stake was comprised, for the most part, of young married people who had young families, big mortgages and high doctor bills. And we were faced with this tremendous financial obligation."
President Hinckley spoke of the members' dedication, faithfulness and commitment to raise the necessary funding. On April 6, 1958, President Hinckley was sustained as an Assistant to the Twelve. "I served simultaneously for five months as stake president and also as a General Authority. I just about ran myself ragged trying to keep up with those things," President Hinckley said.
A little more than a year after his calling as a General Authority, on May 17, 1959, he dedicated the stake center for which he, as stake president, had had responsibility of construction.
At the rededication ceremony, President Hinckley said: "The Church has moved a long way from what it was 40 years ago. We are spread across the earth. We have more people outside the United States than we have in the United States. We are in 160 nations. We are a family of [nearly] 11 million people and we are moving across the earth. We have to provide meetinghouses for people everywhere, and we are building about 400 new buildings a year. None of you, I think, can appreciate the magnitude of this program but it is happening and it is going forward and we are building temples. We are dedicating 12 new temples in the remainder of this year and about another 30 next year. Things are happening in a marvelous and wonderful way."
Of the growth of the Church, President Hinckley, who celebrated his 89th birthday on June 23, declared, "We have only begun. This is only the early time of the great expansion of this work. God is blessing His kingdom in the earth and we are spreading across the world with power and force, building faith in the hearts and lives of people everywhere. How wonderful it is! I have only one regret and that is that I am so very old that I just can't live too much longer. But to be a part of this great expansion is a wonderful and marvelous experience for me and for every one of you because you are a part of it. We are all one great family."
Presiding Bishop H. David Burton made brief remarks at the rededication. Also speaking were Kent H. Murdock, president of the East Millcreek North Stake, and Wesley B. Thompson, president of the East Millcreek Stake.
As they entered and departed, President and Sister Hinckley noticed many long-time friends and associates in the congregation. He shook hands with many. He paused to lay a friendly pat of the hand upon the shoulders of some who stood near the aisles.
