Praised as a man of great courage and fortitude, Elder Victor Lee Brown, an emeritus general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a Deseret News board member, was laid to rest Saturday.
The services at the Salt Lake Eagle Gate Stake Center culminated the man's lifelong tenure of service and faith to his church and those he loved. Elder Brown, 81, passed away early Tuesday at his Salt Lake home following a lingering illness."He was a man of tremendous capacity and tremendous ability," said LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley, describing Elder Brown as someone who spent much of his life serving others.
Elder Brown was presiding bishop of the LDS Church for 13 years and was later a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. He was president of the Salt Lake Temple from June 1985 to August 1987 and named an emeritus general authority Oct. 1, 1989.
"We shed tears over separation. But to be free of pain, to be free of the suffering that he experienced - such a marvelous thing," President Hinckley said. "He knew so much of suffering, so much of pain, so much of loneliness. And now freedom and peace and reunion. He has been blessed," he said.
President Hinckley praised Elder Brown for remembering his humble upbringing as a child in Cardston, Alberta, Canada, and for incorporating that grace into a successful tenure as a faithful representative of the church and a distinguished businessman.
"You think of the journey that this man has made from little Cardston to become a citizen of the world . . .," President Hinckley said. "It's a long, long journey from Cardston to today and a journey filled with challenging, wonderful experiences."
That path included his work with the church's youth, its distribution, printing and translations arms and as chairman of its Welfare Department and Church Health Services Corp.
To those tasks, and in business, Elder Brown was a man of vision, said President Thomas S. Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency of the church.
"At his level, decisions are not easy decisions. And it takes courage to take a stand on an issue. But he never hesitated in taking a stand," President Monson said. "Victor Brown was right down the line. Dead center on the right side.
"He knew what he should do and he had the courage to do it," he said.
That courage, manifested in sound judgment and wisdom, helped Victor Lee Brown through the years following the death of his wife, Lois Ashton Kjar Brown, in 1989. And also during his own fight with failing health, according to his son, Victor L. Brown Jr.
Such integrity also allowed him to attain respect and admiration as a visionary in the business world.
"He had extraordinary administrative skills. He had great vision. And his spirituality enhanced those skills throughout his long and productive life," said President James E. Faust, second counselor in the First Presidency.
Elder Brown started what would become a pioneering career in the aviation industry in 1940 as reservations clerk for United Airlines in Salt Lake City. He rose through the ranks to become one of the carrier's top executives and a respected contributor to the airline industry, earning recognition as recently as last month with a "Utah Pioneer of Flight" award.
His work with United Airlines moved Elder Brown and his family to Washington D.C., Chicago and Denver, where he also was the first bishop of the Denver 4th Ward and a counselor in the Denver Stake presidency from 1954 to 1960.
He served as a member of the Western Airlines board of directors for 11 years, was elected a director emeritus in 1985, and was also instrumental in the transition when the airline was purchased by Delta Air Lines.
"He never lost sight of what it means to be an employee, to do the more menial things of life," President Hinckley said.
"And that becomes the test of greatness when all is said and done. . . . He never lost sight of the feelings of those who work and get little if any recognition."
His son, Victor Jr., recalled an example of Elder Brown's empathy while the family lived in Washington D.C.
"We were walking down a street and a woman dropped her groceries," he said, directing his remarks Saturday to his father's 26 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.
"Your grandpa stopped and helped pick them all up," he recalled. "And the rest of my life, I must have been maybe 6 or 7 . . . I understood, that's what we do with people we don't even know. "
The temple was among the things his father loved most, Victor Jr. said. When his parents were named patron and matron of the Salt Lake Temple, the event "capped their entire life and blessed our family," he said.
Above all, he said, "Their entire life was guided by the covenants they made at baptism and the greater covenants they made in the temple.
"And those covenants took them through thick and thin and . . . when they struggled with the things that we all struggle with, they stayed true to those sacred covenants," he said.
Elder Brown was interred Saturday morning at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park.