OREM — It's not uncommon for President Gordon B. Hinckley of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to offer bits of heartfelt advice at a college graduation each spring in Utah Valley.
But President Hinckley, chairman of the trustees board at Brigham Young University, this year stepped away from a familiar stage at the church-owned private school to address graduates at neighboring, state-funded Utah Valley State College.
On Friday UVSC bestowed honorary doctorate degrees on President Hinckley and his wife, Marjorie. Commencement was held at UVSC's McKay Events Center.
Some 2,638 graduates gave the Hinckleys a standing ovation when they were introduced at the morning commencement exercises by President Kerry D. Romesburg.
UVSC, which has grown from a small vocational-training school to a college-accredited institution offering four-year degrees, this year awarded 541 bachelor's degrees.
Also, 151 students earned associate of arts degrees, 1,411 received associate of science degrees, 74 earned associate of nursing degrees, 305 were given applied-science associate degrees, 140 were awarded one-year program completion certificates and four were given diplomas.
"We've come quite a way. We still train people for work and cherish our mission and have progressed far more than people thought we would," Romesburg said.
Marjorie Hinckley said, in an impromptu address, that her heart was "filled with gratitude" for the honor of receiving the honorary doctorate of humane letters. President Hinckley received the honorary doctorate of religion and humanity.
"Sometimes I have to pinch myself to know my life is really real," she said. She added that "looking at (the students) assures me there is a great future for our world."
President Hinckley, who announced with pride that his 65th wedding anniversary will be celebrated Sunday, said he wished the graduates would "become great and famous leaders" — the men and women who will lead the country in politics, business, education, science and philanthropy.
"I hope for you the very best that life has to offer, but I hope even more for a few simple things — things that come of the heart, things that come of the spirit, things that come of the divine within each of us," said President Hinckley, who has led the worldwide church since 1995.
He urged graduates to be kind, loving, decent and honest.
"My dear friends, these things are so simple that they scarcely seem worthy of mention," he said.
"And yet they are the very fabric of life," President Hinckley said. "When all is said and done, when you have lived your life and grown as old as I am, you recognize that it is the simple virtues that count, that make the great difference in our lives."
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