Carolyn Tanner Irish recalled finding her father and mother, Obert C. and Grace Tanner, often relaxing at the end of the day underneath a plum tree on the north lawn of the Tanner's large, beautifully landscaped yard in Holladay.
"He would say, `Oh, come over and join us. We're counting our blessings,' " Irish said of her father. "He was a deeply thankful man. That thankfulness was the heart of his spiritual life."More than 1,500 people gathered Monday in Abravanel Hall at a memorial service for Tanner, during which Irish and other speakers expressed their gratitude and praise for Tanner.
"We are all the richer for his life among us. We are all the poorer for his leaving," said President Gordon B. Hinckley, first counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "But his legacy of goodness remains, and his life will be eternal."
Tanner, 89, died Thursday in a California hospital from head injuries suffered in a fall at his Palm Springs home more than a week ago. He was buried Saturday in Farmington, where he was born Sept. 20, 1904.
Some time before his death, Tanner said he wished his passing could be marked by a memorial service of music, at which some members of the Tabernacle Choir and the Utah Symphony would perform, Tanner's longtime business associate O. Don Ostler said.
Tanner's wish was granted, as 110 choir members and the full symphony performed a medley of Mormon hymns and classical selections by Mozart, Humperdinck, Beethoven and Wagner, during the 90-minute service.
Elder Dallin H. Oaks, a member of the LDS Church's Council of the Twelve, and Rex E. Lee, president of Brigham Young University, offered prayers at the service. Elder Oaks and Lee are directors of the O.C. Tanner Co.
In addition to his career teaching religion and philosophy at the University of Utah and Stanford, he wrote 10 books and founded the O.C. Tanner Co., a successful manufacturer and marketer of jewelry and awards.
Tanner was honored for all these accomplishments, but much of the praise Monday was for his generosity.
Dr. Chase N. Peterson, a former U. president and board member of the company, recalled Tanner's asking the firm's accountants, "What is our givability this month?"
He liberally distributed his wealth to the arts, education and the needy, Ostler and Peterson noted. "He died richer than the sum of all his earnings," Peterson said.
Ostler, chief executive officer of the company, said Tanner was an unremitting perfectionist who never imposed his standards on others.
But his teaching, writing and example of living influenced many. Tanner's book, "Christ's Ideals for Living," initially a Sunday School manual commissioned by the LDS Church, was mentioned several times during the service.
Reading excerpts on beauty, wealth and eternal life from the book, President Hinckley quoted Tanner as saying wealth should be carefully used as a trust and with humility.
"Those of us who have been the beneficiary of Obert's generosity - and I think that includes all of us," President Hinckley said, "know that in the getting of wealth, through its giving he emphasized the ideal of Jesus whom he loved so much."