Sitting beside President Russell M. Nelson for four-plus decades together as senior leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Dallin H. Oaks benefited from the most personal associations with the late Church President this side of the Nelson family.
And in the Tuesday, Oct. 7, funeral for President Nelson, President Oaks described “how he became my best friend and most effective teacher.”
The president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles — currently the Church’s presiding officer — labeled Tuesday’s service at the Conference Center on Temple Square as “the funeral of gratitude for the teachings and leadership and example of father and doctor and President and Prophet and friend, Russell M. Nelson,” adding that “his influence and his example live on — and so does our grief at his passing.”
President Oaks was the concluding speaker, joined by three Church leaders — Elder Jeffrey R. Holland and Elder Henry B. Eyring of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson — and two of President Nelson’s children, Laurie N. Marsh and Russell M. Nelson Jr.
Acknowledging the 34 years together in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles when he and President Nelson were sustained as new quorum members in April 1984, President Oaks said: “I was not prepared for what happened in January 2018, when he became our President, with the mantle of the prophet settled upon him. Suddenly I saw Russell M. Nelson as a decisive Church decision-maker.”
Serving as the First Presidency’s first counselor to President Nelson for nearly eight years, President Oaks said the first such incident came in the presidency’s first meeting, as the Church President questioned — and promptly dismissed as unnecessary — the traditional task of penning the introductory message in the monthly Ensign (now Liahona) magazine.
Noting President Nelson’s somewhat reserved, thoughtful participation in quorum meetings, President Oaks saw an immediate transition in the new Church president — representative of his professional work as a surgeon that “assumed and required quick decision-makers, because those they served were sometimes immobilized on a gurney with no time for postponement for their surgeon to make further study and no opportunity to ask for a continuance.”
President Oaks said: “That approach was repeated again and again as I saw President Nelson as the decision-maker, rather than the wise and supportive member of the Quorum of the Twelve I had sat beside for 34 years. ... Figuratively speaking, I tightened my seatbelt a few more notches and said to myself, ‘Being a counselor in this First Presidency is going to be fun.’”
He spoke of First Presidency meetings with Church councils and committees, which came giving status reports, pursuing reviews or seeking counsel. He recalled the warm, by-name greetings the Church President always offered. “President Nelson received all these leaders wisely — not like a judge identifying soft spots in presentations but like a warm and loving father, glad to see their work and always ready to approve or counsel or encourage.”
President Oaks also recounted how President Nelson welcomed important leaders and ambassadors of nations and religious faiths. “They came to meet him. His smile, the warmth of his voice and the power of his presence melted hearts. … Very often these interactions moved beyond mere formalities to genuine friendliness and common interests.”
President Oaks described the Prophet’s great love for the Church and the Book of Mormon and how President Nelson would pick up the latter, hold it close, call it “the most precious gift he could share” and then — with eyes glistening with tears — read several verses in 3 Nephi 11, of Christ visiting and teaching on the American continent.
“All present could recognize the conviction and love he felt,” President Oaks said. “He always ended every visit with a sincere and burning testimony. In all of this, I recognized that I was seeing and hearing one of Israel’s most powerful missionaries in action.”
President Oaks lauded President Nelson’s wife, Sister Wendy Watson Nelson, for her commitment in caring for her husband and his late first wife, Sister Dantzel White Nelson, and their 10 children “for their faithfulness in family support and example of practicing what he preached and lived for.”
He ended his remarks with a representative tribute from an unnamed “wise and fervent” member of another faith: “President Nelson’s ministry was marked by bold reforms, including a renewed emphasis on the name of the Church, a restructuring of worship practices and the announcement of hundreds of new temples . …
“His teachings, travels and tireless service touched millions across continents and cultures. He will be remembered not only as a prophet but as a bridge-builder, a healer and a man whose life bore witness to the power of faith in action.”
President Oaks simply added: “His life also bore witness of his committed testimony as a prophet and servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. I join my testimony with his, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.”
