Fifty years ago Naomi Young Schettler's doctor told her she would live to be 100 and probably see the Second Coming of Christ.
On Dec. 30, the only living granddaughter of Brigham Young reach the first milestone and who knows if she might live to see the second."It's really wonderful to be 100," she said. "I never realized how wonderful it would be."
Many members of her Salt Lake Ensign 2nd Ward, led by two members of her bishopric, came to her home near downtown Salt Lake City on her birthday and gave her a dozen roses, said her daughter, Alice Counter. In the future, ward leaders hope to have her talk to the young people about her century of life.
The spry Sister Schettler has plenty of stories to tell. She has been associated with many of the leaders of the Church and her heritage as a granddaughter of the second president of the Church speaks for itself.
Included among her earliest memories is an experience of looking up at her father, Joseph Don Carlos Young, standing on a scaffold high up on the Salt Lake Temple. Though only 3 or 4, she remembers often wondering if he would ever come down. Her father helped to place the statue of the Angel Moroni atop the Salt Lake Temple.
Another experience that had a great impact on her life was her association with her grandmother, Emily Dow Partridge Young.
Her grandmother moved in after her father left on a mission. She recalls that her mother counseled her and the five other children to not bother their grandmother because she was no longer a "young woman." But, she said, she always looked forward to times when she could go into her grandmother's room to bring dinner or do some othe service.
"She would tell us stories of the Prophet Joseph and all the experiences her father, Edward Partridge [the first Presiding Bishop of the Church], had been through," Sister Schettler said.
Her grandmother lived in the home for nine years. "I had such a marvelous spiritual experience with my grandmother," Sister Schettler remembered.
The centenarian said she has always been a spiritual person. Service in the Church, she added, has been her first love. She has served in the Church auxiliaries except the Sunday School.
"I think the Lord has really blessed me," she said. "I have taken care of the sick, the poor, needy and destitute and that has been my mission. I wish I could see and hear better, but I love the beauty of this world. I don't mean the material things, but I love the nature that the Lord has provided - the sunset and the beautiful mountains."