25 years ago
"More than 'oratorical hat-tipping' is necessary if we are to truly honor the Utah pioneers and other pioneers who have shared the same religious values, Elder Neal A. Maxwell of the Council of the Twelve said in a July 24 sunrise service," reported an article in the July 31, 1982, Church News.
The article continued: "'Since the only real veneration of the pioneers is expressed by emulation, nostalgia by itself is not enough,' the Church leader told some 2,000 persons who attended the service in the Salt Lake Tabernacle....
"Elder Maxwell explained the pioneers 'understood what a tutoring God they worshipped, a Father who helped and watched His Son, Jesus Christ, grow from "grace to grace" and from experience to experience.
"'The pioneers were submissive to the same tutoring and loving God; they did not misread mortality's purposes,' he said.
"Many people commendably concern themselves with the preservation of historic buildings and artifacts, but 'while we need to be cautious about demolishing historic buildings, we should be even more cautious about demolishing traditional values,' Elder Maxwell warned.
"'How well off will we be, for instance, if we preserve beautiful historic sites but witness the dismantling of the structure of the traditional family?' he asked.
"'If we would honor the pioneers, we must honor the values which gave rise to their achievements,' he said."
The truths cherished by the pioneers have not vanished article stated.
"'These truths are more everlasting than the everlasting hills which sheltered the pioneers.'"