Combine a stake president's challenge to do temple work for an ancestor, the enthusiasm of an 18-year-old anticipating a mission call and a remarkable 97-year-old woman, and you have the ingredients for an unusual conversion story.
The 18-year-old - James D. "Dee" Peterson - was tending to his duties as an orderly at a rest home here early this month when Gertrude Cotten's call light went on. Upon entering her room, he was astonished at the 97-year-old's request: "I just want to know if you'd baptize me?"
"It took my breath away," said Dee, who turns 19 Sept. 27 ad has submitted his mission paper. "I was shocked. I thought she was already a member."
Dee baptized Sister Cotten - "Gerty" to her friends and family - a member of the Church Sept 10 in West Valley City, a suburb of Salt Lake City. She was confirmed by her nephew, Robert L. Dea, of Magna, Utah. Sister Cotten is the oldest person to join the church in the Utah Salt Lake City South Mission since Pres. V. Dallas Merrell became president in July 1986. And at 97, she is sharp as a tack.
Gerty - born April 4, 1891 in Dever, Colo. - met Dee when she moved into the rest home during the summer and "kind of took an interest in him."
"Dee told me one day he was preparing to be a missionary," she explained. "I thought, 'That's just wonderful, a young man like that.' When I decided to get baptized, I asked him if he could baptize me. I thought I would be his first baptism and get him started out on his mission. It was an experience for both of us."
The baptism was performed flawlessly, though there were some nervous moments beforehand for Sister Cotten.
"I was terribly nervous the night before the baptism," Sister Cotten said. "All of my life, I have been afraid of large amounts of water. I told my niece, Ida Lee (Dea), and she said, 'Oh, Aunt Gerty, there's nothing to it.' And Dee did a wonderful job."
Though Gerty lived among members of the church for most of her 97 years (her parents were headed by train to California when she was seven months old, had a layover in Salt Lake City and never left), attended many LDS meetings and lent her voice to several ward choirs, it wasn't until the Deas approached her this summer about doing her late husband's temple work that a desire for baptism was sparked.
"Our stake president, Dean Henson of the Magna Utah Central Stake, earlier this year challenged us to do the temple work for a family member," explained Robert Dea. "I asked her if we could do Uncle Bill's (Gertrude's late husband, Willis,) work," Sister Dea added. "She said, yes. When we got it done, i went and told her. She looked at me funny and asked, 'What about me?'
"I told her it was up to her, that she had to decide what she wanted. she said, 'I want to be with Willis.'"
After Gerty decided to be baptized in August, Sister Dea explained she should meet iwth the full-time missionaries to prepare.
"We were about to leave for California and asked if we could make the arrangements when we got back," noted Sister Dea. "While we were gone, she talked with Dee, and they got the ball rolling. When we got back, they had everything ready and taken care of."
The day Sister Cotten asked Dee to baptize her, he contacted the full-time missionaries. Elder J. Clancy Fullenwider of Jacksonville, Fla., and elder William H. Bryan of West Lafayette, Ind., were only too happy to respond. they met Dee at the rest home, and then visited with Gerty.
"We heard about Gertrude in district training meeting," said Elder Fullenwider. "We got a call later that day telling us she was in our area. We got on our bikes, came down and met dee at the door. We asked Gertrude about Joseph Smith. She said,'He was a lovely prophet.' It was really an experience."
Because of her exposure to the church and attendance at meetings through the yers, it didn't take long to prepare Sister Cotten for her baptism.
"I enjoyed meeting with the missionaries," mused Sister Cotten. "It was good review. It brought everything back more distinct in my mind. In going to Church and Relief Society, I had the Book of Mormon and the bible. Every once in a while I would sit down and read quite a bit."
"It was a thrill talking with her," said Elder Bryan. "We asked her questions, and she told us all the answers. we didn't have to teach her much. she knew most everything."
Sister cotten attributes her longevity to "good, homemade food" and not smoking, or drinking alcoholic beverages.
"I was always really healthy," she said. "Once in a while I had an earache, or a toothache. but my only real hard sick spell was when I had pneumonia several years ago." Despite being surrounded by the Church for years, the time had to be right for Sister Cotten to join. She remembers going to Temple Square with her mother as a girl of 7 or 8 years.
"I thought it was wonderful," exclaimed sister cotten. "My mother took me to the organ recital at noon. I was just amazed. It was so big, I couldn't get over it. And I remember hearing a pin drop in the Tabernacle."
"Most of her friends thought she was LDS," Sister Dea pointed out. "She just needed someone to sit down and explain things to her. And she wanted to be with Uncle Willis.
"The afternoon following her baptism, we went to a family reunion. She had a ball and ate two chicken legs. We asked her how she felt about being baptized: 'I feel all light inside, all fluffy and light, like a cloud,' was her response. We told her that good feeling was the holy Ghost."
Sister Cotten said she appreciates the encouragement she received form her niece and nephew. "That kind of woke me up," she said. "I thought about it and decided, 'I guess it is time I was getting baptized.' It was kind of late, at 97."