ON LIFE BEYOND THE VEIL A number of books have recently been published purporting to explicate life beyond the veil through the accounts of individuals who've had a "near death" experience. Medical doctors who have studied this phenomenon tell us it is far more common than believed. The sacred nature of the event (and fear of the derision of skeptics) seems to make people reluctant to share such experiences. There are four events which have occurred in my family which may contribute some understanding of life beyond the veil. I have myself decided to include these accounts in this volume only because I am persuaded that only a serious student of religion would take the trouble to wade through the volume, and because I would not wish to deprive such serious readers of some of the more powerful elements which underlie my own faith in an afterlife. _ My great grandmother was the first woman pioneer in the second settlement in Cache Valley--Summit Creek (now Smithfield), fifteen miles south of the Idaho border. She crossed the plains in the Israel Evans handcart company (the fist one following the ill-fated Willie company which was caught in an early snow the previous autumn). After a long and fruitful life during which she brought ten children into the world, and which entailed lengthy separations from her husband who returned to England on a lengthy mission, and who when at home spent his summers in the canyon where he operated a saw mill from which were built many, if not most churches, houses, and barns in the surrounding communities, age and deteriorating health made it evident she wouldn't be much longer with her children and many grandchildren. About this time, a favorite grandson (the author's father) was called up for service in the First World War. They were particularly close, and both she and the grandson were concerned about the separation. Great grandmother promised her grandson she'd hold on at least until he returned. She held out against all odds, but stepping off the boat from France, he was met with a telegram from Senator Smoot saying he'd been authorized by Army authorities to travel straight home without normal discharge staging because his grandmother was near death. The family was gathered around great grandmother's bed as she approached the end of a worthily-lived Second Estate. Among those present was another beloved grandchild, dad's sister Annie. Great grandmother was heard to say, "Oh Annie, you've come. How are you?" Aunt Annie replied, "Why grandmother, I've been here all the time. I'm fine." Great grandmother responded, "Not you Annie. I meant my daughter Annie (who had predeceased great grandmother by a couple of years). She's come for me." And (turning to my mother, who would be married to my father in a few weeks) she said, Mary, your daughter-to-be is here, too. She's a bright and beautiful young woman." Wherewith great grandmother departed this life -- escorted by her sister Annie and an as yet unborn great granddaughter Margaret. _ The second experience relates to a brother-in-law who died at a relatively young age of cancer. As his end neared, he was in an upper level room at the University of Utah Medical Center. There was a window, but not directly in his line of sight. The family was gathered, and as he looked past them he said, "Aren't the mountains beautiful?" (It seemed as if he were looking directly through the brick wall at the Wasatch Mountains arrayed in all the beauty just beyond.) Next he said, "Why they've come for me." And he departed. (While he didn't identify any of the visitors by name, everyone understood that he was speaking about family members from the Other Side). _ The third experience relates to a family member who had just gone through a shattering divorce and was deeply troubled about future relations with his children, the youngest of whom was still in high school. His career had also taken a whopping as a result of the psychological stress during the months preceding the final decree. Visiting his mother in the home in which he'd grown up, and sleeping in his childhood bedroom, he rose in agony of spirit one night and went into the back garden. Like others who've felt closer to God in the great outdoors than under a roof, he pled with the Lord for comfort and a knowledge that his children would understand and accept what was happening. After a lengthy period on his knees, without apparent response, he returned to his room. No sooner had he regained his bed, than a light began to gather near the foot of the bed. He reports shaking his head, wondering if he were seeing the only colored "pineapple slices" one sometimes sees after rubbing one's eyes. But the light got more and more brilliant (though soft and not eye-blinding in intensity), finally gathering into a indistinctly-edged globe about a foot or slightly more in diameter. He reports seeing no face, though he knew almost at once that his father had come to comfort him. And he heard no voice, though, as other have reported in recounting similar experiences, there was no need for this, since they communicated clearly and fully, mind-to-mind, intellect-to-intellect. He was filled with peace and comfort and, in the course of events, became closer to his children than ever before. In time he and his former wife reconciled their bitterness of feelings, and he eventually remarried another choice woman, going on to experience some of the most fulfilling career developments of his life. _ The final experience relates to a third family member with whom the author had parallel academic interests, and with whom he had the good fortune to attend graduate school at Harvard. In vigorous mid-life this individual found that he had bone cancer, with probably less than a year to live. Many of his friends and family tried to buck him up, telling him that if he "fought it" he had every chance of recovering. In a sacred moment, however, he told the author that the Lord had made it known to him that He had important work for him to do and that there would be no point in trying to delay his departure from this life. The Lord gave him more time than the doctors did to put his affairs in order. He taught his university classes until the pain made it impossible to carry on. He saw two books he was working on into print, and got three or four papers he was in process of completing through the pre-publication process. As the family was gathered about his bed, he partially sat up, saying, "Why they've all come. The whole family is here to get me." And he was gone. Again, while no names were mentioned, it was understood that his Father, Mother, and probably his grandparents were there to escort him home. It would also be nice to think that his Pioneer Great Grandparents might have been present. Tale is not finished: Couple of years later as this individual's oldest daughter was in the Salt Lake Temple to be married, the author and his wife, arriving at the last minute, found no room on the bride's side of the Sealing Room. So we took place on the groom's side, where fewer family members had found it possible to take the long trip to Salt Lake City. As is customary, all except the bride and groom and Sealer were in street clothes. As the sealing proceeded, the author looked across the room and saw a man in the Robes of the Priesthood standing behind and slightly to the left of the bride's mother. Wondering who he could be, the author adjusted his eyeglasses, and then adjusted them a second and third time. It was inappropriate to talk, being in the midst of one of the most solemn ceremonies of life, but the author nudged his wife and gestured. There was no doubt: it was the bride's deceased father come to witness the marriage of his oldest daughter. Immediately following the ceremony, the author crossed the room to verify what he'd seen. But the visitor was gone. None of the groom's family (who had never met the bride's father in life) could confirm his presence. And, of course, since he was standing behind his own family and relatives who might otherwise have recognized him, no one else observed his presence. Suppose one shouldn't have been so astonished as one was to witness this. Temples are the most holy sanctuaries on earth, specifically designed for the interchange of spiritual knowledge between this world and the next. President Lorenzo Snow is reported by his son LeRoy to have met the Savior while mounting the stairway leading to the Holy of Holies. The book Jesus the Christ was written in the temple. And the Revelation on Priesthood was given in the temple. The bride's father was evidently authorized to attend his daughter's wedding as recompense for his willingness to accept without fuss a pressing assignment on the Other Side which had prevented him from participating, in the normal course of events, in this important event in the life of his family.