August
23, 1965:
The key interview was held with
respect to the consideration of my candidacy for the position as professor and
head of the Department of Surgery at the university of Utah College of
Medicine. Earlier in the year, Dr. Walter J. Burdette had been released. He was
the one who redirected the Markle Scholarship funds given for my use. Although
I had had many interviews with many of the faculty, it was on this day that I was
interviewed by the key member of the faculty, Dr. W. He leveled with me right
away, telling me frankly that he was standing in the way of my appointment
there simply because I was a “labeled Mormon.” He said that if I would resign
as stake president he would support my candidacy; otherwise, he could not
because some of the key financial supporters of the university would be
offended by a high-ranking official in the Mormon Church having an appointment
as head of a major department. I could scarcely believe his forthrightness, but
I knew that what I was hearing was true. Of course I told him that I would not design
as stake president. I had been called by the Lord’s anointed apostles to serve
in that position, and nothing in my career could equal that in importance. (Russell
M. Nelson, From Heart to Heart: An Autobiography [Salt Lake City:
Quality Press, Inc., 1979], 327)
October
5, 1965:
Dean Castleton told me I would not
become chairman of the Department of Surgery. So that was over with. I did not
seek the position, but would have served if they had wanted me. In fact, as the
idea became more prevalent in the minds of many, I began to pray that the opposition
to me as a Mormon might be softened and that I might be allowed to serve in
that position. My prayers were answered negatively. In retrospect, the fact
that my prayers were answered negatively seems to have been one of the greatest
favors the Lord could have done for me. I think it would have been impossible
for me to have been considered or to be able to serve as general president of
the Sunday School if I had been a salaried employee of the state government at
its University of Utah. (Ibid., 327-28)
December
28, 1975:
Mingling with the Saints in Czechoslovakia
was a choice experience. We were met by the branch president and his wife in
Prague under the cover of night. (their names are engraven in our hearts, but
won’t be mentioned here, for reasons of security.) We went to a darkened
apartment building and climbed dimly lit stairs to an upper-story flat. There,
a secret knock on the door admitted us to the presence of thirteen wonderful
Latter-day Saints, one of whom was a fifteen-year old girl whose father told us
that this was the first meeting of the Saints she had been permitted to attend.
He said, “We have to be careful not to let our children know we’re Mormons, or
that we attend church. We are only permitted by law to meet in the homes of
friends and associates; we cannot have church meetings as such. But tonight we
wanted her to have the privilege of meeting the general president of the Sunday
School of the Church.” (Ibid., 371)
