Remembering Uncle Golden; Part 2

<v Narrator 1>Local production of Remembering Uncle Golden was made possible by generous grants from the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation and the C. Comstock Clayton Foundation. <v James Kimball>I went with Melvin Ballard, Melvin J. Ballard, one of the great speakers of the church. We were supposed to speak together up in Logan, and so I went up there with him and he stood up. I mean, I don't mean to be funny. I don't try to be funny. But here's a classic example. He stood up and he says, brothers and sisters, the Lord alone knows what I'm going to say. The words you hear from me this night are spoken by direct inspiration from the Lord. And he then he went on and gave a wonderful talk and I thought, I can do that. So I stood up and I said, brothers and sisters, God only knows what I'm going to say. [laughter] And they all laughed. <v Narrator 2>[music plays] In Mormon history, few have captured the hearts and imaginations of church members quite like J. Golden Kimball. This former mule skinner who rose to become a general authority spoke plainly and honestly and people loved him for it. But it was his gift of wit and spontaneity, combined with his colorful language that made his stories part of Mormon folklore today. Jonathan Golden Kimball was born into prominence in June 1853. His father was none other than Heber C. Kimball, a possible prophet and first counselor to Brigham Young. His mother, Christine Golden, a convert to the Mormon Church, left a substantial farm to become one of Heber C. Kimball's 43 wives. When his father died in 1868, Golden supported his mother, younger brother, and sister by becoming a mule driver, cellar digger, rock hauler, anything to make ends meet. In the mid 1870s, the family relocated in Meadowvale near Bear Lake, Utah, where he and his brother Elias took up ranching and logging. It was a hard, rugged life with long hours of work. Despite his father's legacy, Golden had little involvement in the Mormon Church. It was only after hearing an inspirational speech by the great pioneer educator Carl ?Mazur? that Golden Kimball experienced an intellectual and spiritual awakening. He attended Brigham Young Academy, served as missionary and mission president in the southern states and ultimately as a general authority. In his 85 years, J. Golden Kimball witnessed the church's transformation from frontier Mormonism to modern Mormonism. Yet through it all, he remained an authentic remnant of the rugged West. His unique personality was a mixture of unvarnished spontaneity, candor, and a rare, remarkable gift for wit. Many have compared him to Mark Twain and Will Rogers, but author Wallace Stegner was probably more accurate when he wrote J. Golden should never have been compared to anyone because J. Golden was an original. Like all originals, he defies transcription. He was himself. No less, no more and nobody knew it better than he. <v J. Golden Kimball>God, save the people and God ?inaudile? they do need salvation. I don't know whether any of you will be saved. If there is any of you saved, I'll be more surprised than anybody else. [laughter] ?inaudible?

<v James Kimball>[applause] Thank you. Thank you very much. It's nice of you to be with me tonight, to be in out of the heat and to be cool and to experience something of uh my great uncle J. Golden Kimball. Um J. Golden Kimball was a unique and extraordinary personality in the hierarchy of the Mormon Church. And over the years, I've gathered several stories about him. Uncle Golden was probably one of the most beloved personalities that um the church has ever produced. There are still people today who still say to me, oh yes, I I remember your great uncle. He he was that swearing elder who told jokes. Well, to the best of my knowledge, J. Golden Kimball never told a joke in all of his life. He made amusing observations about himself or about life or about others or about the church. But he didn't tell jokes. Uh if I were about 40 pounds lighter and um more bald and about an inch taller, I could be a dead ringer for him. But um I'm moving in that direction, I have to admit, but uh [laughter] but what um what there was about his persona that was the most distinctive thing was his high pitched voice. Uncle Golden had a voice that [high pitched] was way up here, most peculiar voice. When my sister and I first heard it, she suggested we wake him up in the middle of the night and see if he just didn't talk like everybody else. [laughter] And so we did. And he reared up in bed in ?Parolin? when my father was a seminary teacher, and he says, what the hell do you want [laughter]? He wore glasses uh similar to these. His son, Max, gave me a pair of his glasses. And I used them for years um until after one performance, a woman of Scandinavian extraction picked me up off the floor and gave me a big hug um and crushed the glasses and broke a, as I recall, several of my ribs in the process. But [laughter] uh so I had to uh get a duplicate pair made. So what we're going to do tonight is um I will essentially tell you a remembrance of J. Golden Kimball from his own life and from his own words uh collected over the years. And and I hope you find it as amusing as I do and others have. This, then is Golden Kimball. Well, it's awfully nice to be with you tonight, brothers and sisters. I'm I'm J. Golden Kimball. I'm president of the First Council, 70 of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. And I'm grateful for the seniority system. I never would have amounted to anything on the first quarter of 70. My father was he received Kimball. Wonderful man, great church leader. I found out from the church historian's office that he had he had forty three wives, forty five sons and 20 daughters. He never mentioned any of these figures to mother, but I found out nevertheless remarkable man. And he taught me a great deal. He died when I was 14. I was just a young boy and. The family then took what little we had has they divided up the estate and we moved up to Round Valley just south of Bear Lake and we bought a ranch up there. My mother, my brother Elias, and my sister Mary Margaret and me, they were just three of us. And that was a tough, tough living up there. I'm telling you, it was hard scrabble existence. And I don't know how we made it. I really don't. I think back on it. I mean, it has a peculiar growing season up there. It has one month of late summer and 11 months of dead. <v Speaker 4>Winter really does.

<v Speaker 2>The snow doesn't melt in the spring. They just kind of wears out as it reluctantly waits for spring to approach. But we love to go back there, love to go back to Bear Lake. And so whenever an assignment came up to go to Randolph, Utah, he would take it to be among his friends. And and he kept his old ranch up there for years. This state president that was introducing gold and at this particular state conference got carried away as sometimes state presidents are wont to do and talked about how wonderful the state was went on and on about these statistical superlatives, about the state of the largest, the most this that he said. We have more tithing payers in the state than all of the states in northern Utah. And our youth program is unparalleled. Brother Kimball will have, you know, and we have we have more missionaries in the field, the more temple marriages, and we have the highest attendance at second in the church. We have a ninety five percent attendance of sacrament meeting. And that, as we all know, who are members of the Mormon Church, is a rather hard percentage to achieve consistently because there's too many people offended every Sunday by something somebody else says to get ninety five percent. I've stayed away from church many times myself for that very reason, so. So he said now the next speaker is his brother, Jay Golden Kimbal from the first Council of Seventy and and the Golden set up, and he said, Well, it's awfully nice to be here with you today. I was here a year ago, if you'll recall, and I was about to go to a welfare meeting. And my old friend from Round Valley, Harry Hutchison, called me up and said, Let's go fishing Golden. I said, Oh, I can't go. I've got to go to welfare meeting. He says, Oh, you know how boring welfare meetings are. And I said, Yeah, I know they are. And he said, I've got the bait, the tackle, the it's going to be a beautiful day out on Bear Lake. Why don't you come in and they won't miss you. And I said, OK, let's go. Let's go fishing. And everyone in the audience was going, where's this story going? You know? And he said, So we went out on bearlike and we fished and started to get dark. We landed in the front of the boat because Harvey said, now the fish will bite. And boy, we were really the man. We're having a good time out in the lake and it was getting dark. And then finally, one of those winds came up on Bear Lake and the white caps. And I said, we'd better get to the shore how we were going to drown. And so we rode to the shore and 50 yards from the dock, the boat sank and we lost everything, lost everything. And I damn near drowned brothers and sisters. Well, I was here yesterday ready to go to welfare meeting, and Harvey called me up again. He's let's go fishing. I said, I'm not going fishing with you. You almost killed me last year. He said, Oh, come on, I got a new vote. It's got a ten bottom bait tackle. Everything's ready to go. It's just a welfare meeting again. You know how they go. Nothing's ever going to change. And welfare, Uncle Gordon says, yeah, you're right. Let's go. So we went out brothers and sisters, and we had everything we needed was a beautiful boat. And we were about fifty yards from the dock. And I looked down the lake and I said, ha, right down there. There's the boat from last year and I'll be down there. It was. And he was surprised and we locked it there. It was in the grass, fifty feet down, twenty five feet down and and there was the tackle and the fish and there in the front of the boat was the ladder. Then it was still lit. Brothers and sisters. One year after it sank, it was still lit. Everyone just was. And they call that the state president says, now, come here, brother, do you believe that story? They. No, I do not believe that a lantern can be green lit in a bottom of a lake for one year. Listen, I'll make you a deal. You take 15 percent off. Chakram in attendance now down the ladder. <v Unidentified>I love that

<v Speaker 4>story. <v Speaker 2>I'll have to admit to you, I got in a pretty with a pretty rough crowd up there. I mean, my friends were <v Speaker 4>were <v Speaker 2>cigar chewing, swearing, no good horse thieves. I have to admit to it. I was well on my way to hell. I was a matter of fact, halfway there when my mother approached me one night and said, Golden, I'd like to have you go on a mission. I said, Oh, mother, I'm 30 years old. That's too old for that. She's no, I want you to go, son. It's a mother's wish. I wish you'd do it. Respect my request. So I said, all right, mom, my mother was an angel. You see, she was an angel. I wish I could love my wife like I love my mother. But so I went down to see President Taylor wrote down the Salt Lake. My mother wrote him a letter and said I'd be coming. And I went in to see him. And I guess I was a sight to behold. I had on the cowboy boots and chaps and a pistol on my side and it was sure to know my horse. Best horse I ever had this damn horse I ever had. I really love that horse. And President Taylor, I thought he'd take one look at me and send me home. But he said your father was a great missionary, one of the great missionaries the church has ever had. So we want you to to go and serve. And I said, well, what do you want me to go? And he said, the southern states. And I said, well, I can't go looking like this. You don't want me to go out like, oh, he no, go sell your horse. You bridle in your saddle and we'll go buy a suit or my and and the Book of Mormon and get you to the temple and I'll see you off on the train tonight. That's exactly what he did. I mean, that was the preparation I had. I can't believe it. I mean, I was a complete ignoramus, honestly, honest. I tell you, this is the truth. I thought epistles were wives of apostles when I left on that train that. Really did. I mean, the gospel must be true or ignoramus missionaries like me would have ruined it a long time ago. You have to understand that they sent us out. We didn't know anything. It was a tough experience. I mean, they sent us out without a script. I didn't know what that meant. When I left from that train depot bid farewell to President Taylor, I found out in the mission field that without a script means you're penniless, you sleep on the ground all the time, and you have to depend on the generosity of people to feed you. If I have known that, I wouldn't have gone. That's what it came down to. It was a tough life. I mean, we were running all the time. States, if you stayed, put that kitchen equipment tar and feather and throw you in jail and happened to me. All those things, they ignored me. They mocked me. They chased me. They caught me. They hit me. They threw me in jail. I caught yellow fever, almost died. Bitch Roberts, who is the acting mission president, he came to me at a conference one time with his brother, Kimball. You look real. You got to go home. I says, well, I've always look this way. It's know you look really ill now. I'd lost about twenty two very precious pounds. And he said to me, Well, Brother Campbell, I tell you, it's a economic consideration. I said, What do you mean? He says, if we can send you home live, it costs us fifty three dollars and 18 cents. If you die on us, it's one hundred and twelve dollars and forty two cents. Now, how would you feel if your mission president told you that? But I'll tell you this, I'll tell you, it was the refiner's fire for me, the mission field taught me to deal with fear, taught me that the gospel was true. I mean, there's nothing to compare with the thrill and the flame of the Holy Spirit in missionary work. I had men put rifles at my back and against my chest and threaten my life. And I never denied what I was doing or the validity of it. And I grew up out there and I came home a better man. I'll never forget that experience. There was ministers of religion out there. They were all worked up that we were going to take some of their forks away. And so they were telling everybody, the Mormon missionaries are here for one reason. They're here to steal your wives and your daughters and take them back to live in polygamy. That's what they were saying. I couldn't believe it. I mean, all you had to do is look at those women and know that thought never would have crossed our minds. I mean, they were pretty rough looking bunch. I mean, it was only 18 years after the Civil War when I arrived, there was one one minister and his name was Reverend Wetherbee. He had a great deal to say about the Mormon Church. He would go around the south and give lectures titled Mr Smith's Magic Spectacles, that's what it was title. And they would pay him to bring him in. And we couldn't do missionary work in those areas for months afterwards. Mr whether it be Reverend, whether he was quite a guy. As a matter of fact, I, I encountered him once and in Nashville I went in to see a doctor because I was getting sicker all the time and losing weight and the doctor told me I was going to die if I didn't get well, which was an interesting observation. But I I came out of that doctor's office with my companion and we were walking down the streets of Nashville and up the street came this Reverend Wetherbee right at the same side of St.. We were on and I said to my companion, isn't that the man? We saw his picture on the posters in the news? Yeah, that's him. Well, as he got nearer to us, he could see we were too ragtag Mormon elders, ill fitting suits with valises and hats on. And and he looked at us and he stared at us and he said, Good morning, you Sons of the Devil. I took off my hat and I said, Good morning, Father. You know, I think that was the first funny thing I ever said in my life, my companion laughed so hard he had to sit down on the grass for several minutes. I had a chance to meet Reverend Wetherbee. He got up and he spoke one night with me and he went on and on about how all the Mormons are going to go to hell. If they don't change their ways, they don't have the truth. They're going to go to hell straight to hell. This is a good man, he pointed to me. But in the next life, he'll go straight to hell. He spoke for forty two minutes. Finally, it was my turn to speak and I got up and I said, I only have one thing to say. I'd rather be a Mormon going to hell and not be a Mormon and not know where the hell I'm going. But we survived it all. Got an honorable release. I came home, came home and and moved to northern Utah again where I left. I got into the farm implement business with my brother Elias. We had a little money in our pocket for the first time in our lives. I married Jenny Gold and we started a family and life was going along reasonably well. And then I got a letter from President Woodroofe one day and he said, I want you to come down and see me. And I didn't know what he wanted. I was working in the Young Man's Mutual Improvement Association up there. So I went down to see him and he was very nice. And he started asking me some questions about what I was doing with my life. And and pretty soon he got around to missionary work. He says, How would you like to serve on a mission? I said, well, I've I've served I've been out have served in the southern states. It was a wonderful experience. Thank you very much. And he said, well, I'm thinking of sending you to the southern states. It's funny you should mention that. And I said, well, isn't that interesting? I've already been there. And he said, well, I'm calling you as a mission president to the southern states. Well, he had me there. I had been mission president. So I said, OK, you're the prophet. I'll do whatever you want. So twice in one lifetime, I was off to the southern states. That's a hell of a deal, you know, brothers and sisters. So down I went with two weeks later, Jenny and I and the children. We were at the train station once again and Woodruff came down to the train station to see us off. I thought that was very nice of him. And friends were there and family. Yeah, he came up to me and he put his arm around me, short little fella, and he said, Brother Kimball, I've never been to Southern states. What's it like? You've been there now twice. Tell me a little bit about it. Well, I couldn't lie to him. It was the prophet, so I thought I'd just tell him what I thought. And I said, well, I'll tell you, President, if I had my way, I'd ground them all. New baptismal work for the dead. He gave me the strangest look I have ever seen. <v Speaker 5>Now, Mormons in the South may not have been very popular. He was there at the height of some of the Ku Klux Klan activities, and he had some confrontations that I'm sure strengthened him as you defend. Your beliefs and as you fight for them, whether you don't believe them very strongly at first or not, the fighting for them, I think that strengthens the cause for which we're fighting.

<v Speaker 2>But off we went a second time Southern states, things have improved in the southern states. However, as far as the church was concerned in my absence. Well, I don't mean it that way. But we had a lot more members come in and we had some chapels and it was growing. And it wasn't so much the ministers of religion that that made it so difficult for us the second time as it was the Klu Klux Klan. I mean, the Ku Klux Klan. Can you imagine that they thought we were a threat to their way of life. And it was a peculiar experience. I mean, we would encounter them in certain sections of the South. I mean, you never know who they were. They could be the town leaders, their lawyers, the doctors, the town council, because they had this damn sheet on. You never know who they were. I mean, to me, that's the waste of a good sheet. And but. I don't know why I didn't really worry about it until one of the elders, Elder Jenkins, wrote me a letter and I received it and opened it up and he said the Klan has said he was down in Rome, Georgia. He said, Dear President, the Klan has said that if we hold one more meeting in and around this area, they're going to tar and feather every one of us. Well, I took that very seriously, brother and sister, because I didn't want any of the elders to be tarred and feathered that I witnessed and that I have somewhat experienced. But it kills the spirit. I mean, an elder is no good. After that, you have to send him home. What they do is they tear off your clothes, they scratch all over your body, they pour hot tar on you, that it's your skin, and then they put chicken feathers on you and take you out of town. It's a very humiliating experience. So I wrote to a elder and I said, I'll be down in ten days. You meet me just outside Rome, Georgia, at the crossroads. I knew the country well. I've been there myself. And so I went over to the bank and borrowed what little money I could to go that far. The Lord wasn't too generous to us in those days. I'll have you know, I said goodbye to Jenny. I told her I might not be back and she didn't say goodbye to me. And I left and I walked along and road where and when I could and hitchhiked on a wagon on a bike. But ten days I got there, I was there and they were waiting for me outside Rome, Georgia. And it was good to see I had thirty six elders in that conference and the conference president Ellen Jenkins was there and I said, OK, what's the plan? They said, well, we have a place up in the Georgia pine. It's a wonderful spot. We'll go up there. And I said, good, I don't want to be anyplace around the town. And so we went around Rome, Georgia, and we went into the hills and walked up into a wonderful spot. It was a beautiful night. The moon was out the full moon and there was not a breeze the summer night. And there was a big stream of water next to us and it cut into a bank and then went out down behind us. And they had a big fire. And I talked with all the elders and then we had a fast and testimony meeting and the spirit was there. And it was wonderful. It really was. I was the last to speak and I was burying my testimony and we heard men on horses coming up behind us through the trees. And by the light of the moon, you could see the white sheets and they had a wagon with a big cauldron on it. They went behind us, crossed that stream on up on that bank over just beyond us to the right. And I just kept talking to the elders. I did not notice them or pay any attention to them. And I could hear them all whooping it up and building a fire. And pretty soon you could smell that pungent smell of tar. I could see the fear on the other faces. I said, Elders, don't you worry about a thing. You're here because I've had you appointed to be here. It's my responsibility. I was raised around scum like that. I know how to talk your language. So we're going to have a closing prayer and then I want you to leave and go back to your quarters. Don't you worry about me. If anything happens to you, to me, you just ship my body home. So I gave them all a big hug and a pat on the back and they went off into the darkness. When I thought they'd gone, I went over to the edge of the stream and I yelled, We're all finished over here. You know who we are. And they all came and they stood there and there were about 50 of them. Fifty five. They said, yeah, we know who you are, you those blankety blank Mormons. And we're here to teach you a lesson. Run out of town. I said, yeah, we're all Mormons, every one of us. And let me tell you something. Mormons have horns. You cross that stream, we'll go to <v Speaker 4>hell right out of you.

<v Speaker 2>Well, they stood there and looked at me like I was crazed, I guess I was a little bit, but I just stood right there and stood my ground and I looked behind me and the elders had come up and they were standing by the light of that and they couldn't tell whether we had horns or not. And and finally they blinked. First they backed off and I went back one by one. They got on the horses and rode off and they dumped the tar on the ground. But they called me back on the wagon and left us alone. Jenkins told me later that that one grand wizard told another that by the light of a full moon, the Mormons grew horns and become vicious. We should leave them alone. <v Speaker 4>Well. <v Speaker 2>We encountered some good times and some bad times, you just had to stand up to them, I learned, but things got better. <v Speaker 6>There will never be another uncle called, and he was completely dedicated to the church and all that he did.

<v Speaker 7>Well, he was a he was a very sweet man in the full scope of what that means. He was he was a dear soul. He was he was a spiritual man. And that spirituality was combined with an irrepressible sense of humor. <v Speaker 8>You talked to some people today, and all they know is when you ask him about Jeggle and Kimbal, they scratch your head and say he was a general authority that cust. But very few people have read his talks and and seen that behind this folksy image that he had. He was a very intelligent human being and very connected with the doctrine of the church and his heavenly father. <v Speaker 2>I'm telling you, I love the mission, both experiences. I was willing to stay my full four or five years, but I got a letter from president. He says, I'd like to have you come home and be on the first council 70. We have an opening. So I went home and my brother Elias came out and finished my mission for me. And so a whole new experience opened up for me. I became a general authority. That's quite an experience. I mean, people expect you to have all the answers. They expect you to perform miracles. I didn't know what I was doing most of the time. I mean, one sister down in Ridgefield, she said after the meeting, could you come with me back to my farm? I got a problem. She said, you know, the soil and, you know cattle. And, you know, I said, well, what is it? We wrote out there in her buggy? And she says, would you would you say a prayer on my farm? Nothing will grow. And I went out and kicked the dirt around for a little while. I came back and I said, Sister, I'm not going to say a prayer and find what you need on your farm is manure. She looked so shocked at me, but that was the truth, just some manure, no blessings were necessary. <v Speaker 6>My father asked him, uh, how he decided what to talk about. And Uncle Goldman said, well, I feed them like you do your sick cows. I give them two or three apples and then I throw in an onion and that gets their attention, huh?

<v James Kimball>It was my impression during my first year as a general authority that they would send me out as a gunslinger. I mean, they had problems and they felt that I could handle them. I don't know that that was necessarily true. But I took those assignments faithfully. I did what they asked me to do. I was young. I was inexperienced. I remember one time we had a state president up in up in Montana and he said he'd like to have a general authority come up and talk to the young people because they were going around with pistols and their hip pockets and shooting them off after basketball games and dances. And somebody was going to be killed if they didn't send somebody up to talk to them. So President Grant called me and he says this sounds like an assignment for you by the Kimbal. And I said, why me? And he says, well, you're the only cowboy that's a general authority. So I said, OK, so I went up. To Montana and I wrote the state person told him I'd be coming together all the youth together and put them in an assembly hall or a conference hall or some public building, bring them all together. And so he did just that. When I got up there, there they were. They had the doors locked. They couldn't get out and they had to the stage. And I was to speak to them. Well, they were Yahoo! In and firing off pistols inside the building and throwing paper airplanes and showing no respect for me whatsoever. So my approach was very simple. I walked out onto the stage, I stood there. They didn't calm down or quiet themselves at all. And I said, go to hell. They thought, What did he say? I said, go to hell. And they all stopped. And I said, That's where you're all going to go if you don't change your ways. I hear that some of you've been walking around town with pistols in your hip pockets. Better be careful. Might go off, blow your brains out. When I left, that's all I said with the state president, he wrote me a letter and said, you helped his brother Kimball. It took the machismo out of the whole thing. It became absurd that they might blow their brains out and their brains being on their backside. So I felt I had accomplished my mission. [laughter] But I- you know what I learned, brother and sisters, I learned over the passing of years that there were certain people that liked to hear me speak. I don't know what it was about them, but sometimes they even followed me from conference to conference. I think that there were certain people in the church that couldn't relate to some of the general authorities and they could relate to me. I mean, I thought all the educated and and well-to-do members could relate to Heber J. Grant because that's what he was. I mean, he was a fine man. And all of the sodbusters and cowboys and nuts in the church could relate to me. [laughter] And so I was quite happy to divide it up that way. I had a lot more interesting conversations. I was down in uh Kanab. I remember it was a beautiful night in the summer. You know, how the sun goes down and those cliffs turn that vermillion color. And and uh I looked at that audience. I gave the best speech I could. And I watched one man on the back row and I thought, he's my kind of guy. He's gonna come up and talk to me. I know he is. And sure enough, when the meeting was over, he came up. I know he was my kind of man because all head on was a loincloth and moccasins and a long beard. [laughter] And he waited and waited. And finally he stepped to the front of the crowd and put his hand out and he said, Brother Kimball, I'm happy to meet you. Um I'm not active in the church. I said well, I gathered that and I said, what's your problem? And he says, well, it's very simple. My problem is I don't believe the Old Testament to be the word of God. And I said, well, why not? And he says, well, I don't believe Jonah can live in the belly of a whale for three days. I said, that's one hell of a reason for not being active. [laughter] That's enough to take me out of activity, I tell ya. But he was very serious. I said so you don't believe the Old Testament is the word of God? I said, well, I'm prepared to testify that it is. I've read it. It was difficult to read, but I read it. And I can tell you it's the word of God. And he says, well, then we have an impasse. I didn't think he knew what that word meant, but we had one. And I said, look, I'll make a deal. He says, what is it? I said, I'm soon gonna die and I'll get over on the other side. I'll look up Jonah and find out how the hell he did it. You stay active till I get back. [snaps] [laughter] He says it's a deal. We shook hands right there. <v Speaker 5>I suppose Jay Golden Kimball would have a story about him and nearly every town in Utah because as he traveled, he would stand in front of a congregation and give them his Sunday talk, but he would do it in such a way that it became memorable. He would make reference to things that were humorous, that were irreverent, in which he used some profanity. And it just became something that everyone loved to hear. And then retail and then retail and then retail. And two or three generations later, that becomes legend. The folklore is just rich with Jay Gold and Kimbal isms.

<v Speaker 7>Well, the fact that I remember after some 60 years the talk and that he gave in the university award would show that, uh, I was very impressed with Jay Gordon Campbell. And I know that that applied to other people to, uh, as he would travel around throughout Nevada. He was well known, uh, through in Idaho. He was well known Salt Lake City, Main Street in Salt Lake City with Jay Gold. And Kimball was a treat. <v Speaker 2>You know, you have to know how to treat these people. You have to kid with them just a little bit. Anybody here from Delta by any chance? Good. I can tell you the story as far as I'm concerned. Brothers, sisters, God's creative juices ran out on him when he got to Delta. Delta is not the end of the earth, but it's just slightly beyond Delta, about over by the Nevada border. Every time I go down there, I tell them the same thing and they all laugh. I say, brother and sisters, you do not have to fear hell. You are living in it. Well, the sister came up to me after the meeting, and she was no, not she was a sweet sister to Brother Kimball. I've got a real problem. You've got to help me. And I said, well, what is it? She's let's sit down here on the front row. And I said, OK, what is it? And she said, oh, she said, I feel so terrible about this. She says, I have two older brothers and the older of the two was out hanging last August was hit by lightning, the wagon running back in horses to the corral and it's dead. And he was just as fine a man has got ever created Brother Kimball. I mean, he was the bishop and he taught at school and he was a great father and active in the community and the whole town that came to his funeral. And I said, oh, I'm sorry, sister. She says, well, that's not my problem. I miss him, but I know I'll see him again. But she says it's my younger brother. He's no good at all. He smokes, he drinks, he gambles. He cheats on his wife. He's a terrible father and husband and he's still alive. I can't figure it out. That's a terrible thing to say, but I can't figure it out. And she started to cry. I put my arm around and I said, Oh, sister, now there's got to be an answer here. And I prayed for an answer, but I didn't have one. And I prayed very hard and finally came to me and I said, Sister, do you know what it is? It's God's will. And she says, What does that mean? I says, It's God's will. God doesn't want that jackass brother of yours any more than you do. And she said, Brother Kimball, that's the best answer I have ever received. Well, anybody here from St. George, OK? St. George is not the end of the earth, St. George is lovely, except for the heat, the Indians, the flooding, Virgin River and the Scorpions. That's the only thing wrong with St. George. And I get assigned to St. George every July and August. Hebrew grand goes down in January and February. But that's because he's the prophet. I don't have any seniority. You see, you want to get ahead in the church, brothers and sisters. I'll tell you about this. It's a very simple process. It's inspiration, revelation or revelation. I mean, if I had been the son of Richard Kimble, I never would've amounted to a damn thing

<v Speaker 4>in this church

<v Speaker 2>who we can, you know, believe that where was I or was back in St. George? Well, in St George, they finally called on me to speak. I thought they were going to forget about me. It's a hot day. It was one hundred eighteen degrees. It wasn't a breeze. They finally called on me. I got up to speak and I looked at those poor people out there, those women in those full skirts and that bonnets and the men, you know, tan from their hats down, brown black suits. I don't know how I stood up and told them. I said, I do not know how you do it, brother and sisters. I mean, if this insufferable heat, the Indians, the Scorpions, the flooding, Virgin River, I don't know how you do it. I said, listen, if I had a house in St. George and I had a house in hell, I'd rent out the one in St George. I'd move straight to hell. I really would. Well, I shouldn't be saying things like that now that they've invented that damn contraption. The telephone people call people back on the phone, tell him what I've said. I used to be able to get back in town and deny it. But he's waiting at the train station for me, I arrive and he said, did you say this? And I said, Yes, he's back on the train. Go apologize. So I've been doing a lot of train travel lately. <v Speaker 7>Church brethren had criticized him for his salty language and had apologized for it. But under the circumstances of the talk that he was giving, the salty language came too quickly to his mind. And I'm sorry.

<v Speaker 8>He said the good he that he caused didn't come from the fact that he was a general authority of the cost. The good that he caused was that he was accomplished because he was a general authority who could relate to people. Cussing was incidental to it. Could he have done it without the cussing? Probably. But that was that was golden. <v Speaker 4>Well. <v Speaker 2>I should probably give a little more thought before I say things, but they just come out and then I can't call those words back. People say I shouldn't swear. I don't mean to brother and sisters. It just comes out there left over from my cowboy days. That experience made me as tough as a pie, not which can't drive mules. If you can't swear there's only language they understand. I do swear a little, but they're just small leftovers from a far larger vocabulary. You've got. Sister Clarissa Williams came up to me on the street. She's Brother Kimball. She says you're you're an embarrassment to the church. She's the president of the Relief Society, said this to me. And I said, well, so I am. She says, but all you'd have to do is stop swearing and act more like another one of the Lord's anointed. I said, Well, I'll give it some thought. She says, You are one of the Lord's anointed, aren't you? And I said, Well, yes, she says, you've certainly received some revelation, haven't you? And I said, no, but I've had some damn good nightmares. Wasn't what she wanted to hear. Turned around, walked away from me, <v Speaker 4>the

<v Speaker 2>state president took me aside down in Salina and he said, Brother Kim, we got to talk to the youth. And I said, what's the problem? He says, I can't send them on missions or swearing too much. I said, You want me to talk to them? He says, yes, that listen to you. So I gathered them all together and I said, I understand you brethren are not going to be called on missions unless you can give up your swearing. And they said, well, it's awfully hard. I said, you can do it. Hell, I <v Speaker 4>did. <v Speaker 2>People one woman said to me, I remember she said to me, Why do you swear so much? She says, President Grant doesn't swear. She says, Now, President Grant, have you ever heard President Grant swearing all your life? And I said, well, I wouldn't say that, sister. She says, What do you mean? I says, Well, we were down in St. George. And as we drove out of St. George on her way up to Cedar City, we paused in our carriage and looked over the valley, the searing heat and the dying cattle and those poor people. And I said, look at that, Heber. And he says, Yeah, look at it. And I says, It's a damn shame, isn't it? He said, Yes, it is. She didn't get it either. Well, you know, I listen to the other gentleman authorities and I think, why can't I get get into that that mood? I mean, why can't I mean, I went with Melvin Ballard, Melvin Jr. Ballard, one of the great speakers of the church. We were supposed to speak together up in Logan. And so I went up there with him and he stood up. I mean, I don't mean to be funny. I don't try to be funny. But here's a classic example. He stood up and he says, brothers and sisters, the Lord alone knows what I'm going to say. The words you hear from me this night are spoken by direct inspiration from the Lord. And then he went on and gave a wonderful talk and I thought, I can do that. So I stood up and I said, brothers and sisters, God only knows what I'm going to say. And they <v Unidentified>all laughed. That's.

<v Speaker 2>No, I don't get it. <v Speaker 4>I don't get it. <v Speaker 2>I got an invitation to speak at a funeral, I didn't know it was coming when I got back from a church assignment in Southern California. There it was waiting for me and said there is a member of the stake presidency up in Coleville passed away. His family has requested that you come and speak at his funeral. And I said, Jenny, the funeral's today. It's one hour from now. We'll never make it. It's a long drive up. The call will take us a couple hours to get up there. She's well, we better leave. Maybe we'll catch the end of the funeral. I said, OK, so we got in our Model T drove as fast as we could up to Coleville. When we got there, the funeral was just about over and they saw me come in and they said, Brother Kimball, come forward, we'd like to hear from you. So I went up and and I, I stood there and I said, I'm very happy to be here. I'm sorry I'm late. I want to tell you what a wonderful man this man was. I knew him. I'd stayed in his home. He was an inspiration to me. He was a good father. He was a good husband. He goes to a great reward. And then as I went on, I looked out in the audience and about the eighth row back for Helsing's there, said the man I thought was dead. Well. I thought my my eyesight was going, so I went on, yes, he'll go to a great reward, he will he'll be one of the chosen in the next world. And then I recognize his wife and all of these children, all of them were there. So I looked down in the casket. I did not recognize the man sitting in the line there in the casket. I said, say, Bishop, who the hell is dead around here anyway? Shouldn't have done it, those kinds of stories follow me around the church, there's so many stories about me now. My nephew said to me the other day, you heard the latest Golden Kimbal story says, no, I don't want to hear it. He says, well, it's very funny. I'd like to tell it to you. And I said, no. I said to him, things that happen nowadays are either blamed on me or my worst. <v Speaker 7>There were some people in the church that got the idea he was critical of the brethren. Now, that's not true. He wasn't critical. He loved his brethren. And sometimes those who wanted to be critical of the church would ask him to speak at a fireside because they knew that he would say some funny things about the brethren. But when they came to him and wanted him to criticize the Brethren, he'd get after them and tell them now that he was a he was one of them.

<v Speaker 2>You know, I wouldn't have missed the experience being a general authority. It was very rewarding. I think back on it now. I met some good men, met some lovely people. The brother were kind to me. I love mall some hell of a lot more than I do others, but <v Unidentified>I love them all. <v Speaker 2>But I got to tell you one story that really confused me, I was supposed to go over to the Tabernacle. I was asked by Rudyard Clawson to take his place at a meeting over there. I went over to the Tabernacle, but I couldn't remember whether he said the assembly hall or the tabernacle. And so I went to the assembly hall and I was confused, there was a big meeting in the assembly hall of all the Republicans from the state of Utah meeting there for a state conference, a state election conference. And I walked in and thought I was at a church meeting and Senator Smoot was conducting and he knew that I wasn't a Republican. He knew I was a good Democrat. So he thought he'd have a little fun with me. And he brought the gavel down and he said, well, we're very happy to welcome all of you here to this Republican state convention. And we're happy to see brother Jay Gould and Kimmel of the first council 70. This represents a change in his political affiliation. We're happy to have him here. Would you give the opening prayer, Brother Kimball? I jumped up and I said, I'll pass on that read. I just knew the Lord didn't know I was here. Roger Closson, I feel so sorry for poor Roger because he gets assigned to go with me often now running class is president of the Quong the Twelve. He's going to be the next profit. And he's a very reserved and quiet and dignified man and somebody in the church office building who has a really strange sense of humor puts us together to travel. It's the strangest combination of personalities you've ever seen. One pundit from the Salt Lake Tribune said they go together because Redgrave puts them to sleep and Golden wakes them up. Well, that didn't help our relationship one day in bed. And so my wife was showing me the schedule that had arrived in the mail. And she says, Oh, poor Rutger, he's got to go with you to California. She said, Please, Golden, don't hurt his feelings. Don't offend him, don't swear. I said, OK, I'll do my very best. But it's not you know what I'm like when I get worked up. You know what? You know what it's like when I say things. I don't mean to say she's. But please, you're going to kill him. And so we went to California and the first conference went just fine. Just fine. There was no problems. The second conference, though, the people weren't living the gospel. They weren't paying their tithing. They were doing temple work. They were doing nothing. It was during the Depression, I understand. And I got worked up and I started swearing at him. I started cussing and I told him they're all going to go to hell. And I went through the whole thing and I could hear Rutger behind me shifting nervously in his throat. When the meeting was over, he got up and he walked right out of the meeting, didn't say anything to anybody. And I followed him because I knew I'd hurt his feelings. And he went right back to the hotel. He packed his suitcase and I walked in his bedroom. I said, What are you doing? He says, I'm going home. I can't take it anymore. Golden, you're swearing. Just just takes it out of me. And I said, Oh, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I don't know what to do. I didn't know what to do. So I helped him pack. Well, we walked down the train station and we stood there on the platform and I didn't know what to say. We just stood there in silence and here came the train down the track and I said, Oh, I've got to say something quickly. So I said, You listen to me, listen to me. I don't mean to offend you. I mean, these are just leftovers from my cowboy days. I mean, they come from a far larger vocabulary. You've got to understand that. And I'm struggling with it. And please don't leave Rutger. I mean, regular. I mean, if I didn't put some hands and arms in my talk, they would listen to me anymore. They listen to you. Well, he laughed, you know, he threw his head back and laugh, he says, you know, Golden, there's something about you I just like, you know, I really just like. So let's go finish this conference off. So we did bless his heart, but he died. He never made it to be profit that he, Richard Grant, became the next prophet. I'm sure I would have killed Rutger. I almost killed him.

<v Speaker 7>Jay, I think it was the policy at that time did not advertise that Jay Gordon Campbell was going to be talking at a meeting. If they did, they would be overwhelmed with visitors from other wards who would come to the ward. Just hear Jay Gordon Campbell talk. He was a storyteller. I could relate to what he was saying. And so I and I'm sure the my contemporaries look forward to attending the state conference meeting when we knew that he was the visiting general authority.

<v Speaker 2>I'm reminded of going out one time to a conference in the Cottonwood area. And they as was the tradition when we had the ironic Melchizedek Priesthood meeting, they would set apart all the 70s, the very first thing after the opening song, the opening prayer, we set apart all the 70s. We had a chair that we set up and the 70s were lined up along the wall. And as soon as that was over with, I would set them apart as the visiting general authority. That was fine. That was the tradition and I respected it. There's only one problem. The last 70 to be set apart had a problem that didn't he didn't even know about. He told me later that Saturday night at his office, somebody had come into the office and said, I'm a new father. And he passed out a box of Cuban cigars to everyone. And I just took it, he said, and put it in my upper left hand pocket and forgot about it, put on my suit to come to this meeting the next day. And so when he came up, the last man, I leaned over to ask him his name and I saw the cigar in his pocket. And I thought that was rather unusual for a 70. But I set him apart and I said, well, the power vested in me, I ordained you a 70 in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, cigar and all. The crowd was dumbfounded. We had him stand up and take the cigar out and explain to all of them what happened, I don't think he'll ever forget that. Set it apart. Well, I'll tell you, I know s.. Brothers and sisters, I want you to know that I mean, by the time he program got serious about the word of wisdom, <v Speaker 4>I

<v Speaker 2>had been drinking coffee for some years. I went in to him and I said, Heber, what you're doing? And he says, well, we've got to tighten things up here on the word of wisdom. I says, humor. That's going to be awfully hard for me. I've been drinking coffee since my frontier days. That's all we had for breakfast. I've been roundly. And he says, well, do the best you can and I've almost got it licked. Brother and sisters, I'm eighty five and I've just about got it licked. But I had an unusual experience. I went up to I went up to Brigham City, I got a note from Hebrew. He says, Would you take the new dessert Sunday school president up with you Hebrew. I said What's his name? And he says Oh his name is David Ormoc. Just got back from Scottishness. And I said, Okay, I'll take him with me, break him in. Seems like a nice young fellow. It was in the winter the church had a sled and horses and we'd go as far as we could take it and then we'd stop and members would give us hot stones from the fireplace, keep us warm. It would go on. Finally, we got there. The meeting started at nine. We got there at eight. I thought I was going to die. I mean, it was cold and I needed some fuel to steam up my system. And I said, do you mind if we go over to the Idol oil restaurant there and have some breakfast? And he says, That's no problem with me, brother. Come on, it's not fair. Sunday, let's go have some breakfast. So we went over there. We went in and sat down. Everything was just fine. And the waitress came up and she said, what would you two gentlemen like? Brother McKay said, I would like some ham and eggs and two cups of hot chocolate, please. Well, that wasn't exactly what I had in mind. And so I excuse myself. I said, would you excuse me? I've got to go to the men's room. So I went back and I talked to that waitress and I said, Would you mind putting a little coffee in my hot chocolate, please? And she says, That's all right. We do it all the time up here. So I went back and I sat down and I waited and we talked about the gospel and what we were going to do at this conference, and the waitress came up and she got to the table and she says, Now, which one of you wanted coffee and your hot chocolate? I said, all hell put it in both of them, but, you know, the bad thing about that is McKay walked across the street and when he got up to speak at that conference, he told everybody that story and he keeps on doing it every time he speaks. We should keep his mouth shut. Maybe he will release him. We won't hear any more about it. <v Speaker 5>He was a character, he was a character because he was in a high position in the LDS church. He was recognized as one of the leaders, and yet he was still a fairly common every day stop and visit on the streets, swear a little bit, maybe drink a little coffee, maybe challenge some of the doctrines by which other Mormon people were rather strictly judged.

<v Speaker 2>One time at the old rotisserie restaurant on Main Street, they had a day honoring Golden Kimball. He was it was about a year before he died. And and all the people downtown, the downtown, businessmen and Jews and Gentiles, everybody gathered for this big celebration, Golden Kimbal Day, and they met at the rotisserie restaurant. And he was sitting at the head table and the waiter came to him and said, What would you like to drink, Brother Kimball? And he said, Water, I'd like to drink water. And he went to the next man and he says, Oh, you big brother Kimball, a cup of coffee. He likes coffee. And Golden said, The Lord heard me say water. The other great story that everyone knows is when he was crossing ASML, going over to the temple from the corner of Hotel Utah, going to a Thursday meeting at the temple, and some kids came by in a jalopy and just whipped right around the corner and almost hit him. And he just stood there in the street and he says, your sons are British. And can't you tell the difference between a common gentile and one of the Lord's anointed? He went into Zimmy one time to get a suit. You have to appreciate how thin he was, just frail and he walked towards you. He was very dapper dresser. Golden was always on the cutting edge of fashion. And he walked into Zimmy and looked around at some suits. And salesmen came up and said, May I help you, sir? And he says, Yes, I'd like to see the suit that would fit me. The salesman said, Helsel, would I? Another story, he went in to buy a new Stetson hat, he loved Stetson hat, and he walked up to the counter and says, I like to look at that Stetson hat right over there, have been looking at it for several weeks, brought it off and dusted off. And he said, this is our very best Stetson of gold and says, well, how much is that? He's a sixty five dollars of gold and looked at it and he says, where's the holes in it? Says Holes, there's no holes and Stetson hats. Why should we have holes. Well holes for the ears for the jackass who would pay sixty five dollars for. Uncle Golden had retained this ranch in Round Valley and he loved to go up there and my father and ranch and his sons did all take turns. Nephews and sons and cousins would take him up, drive him up, and he'd love to be at the ranch, the old frontier days. And my dad went up with him on one occasion, and the big problem was getting the mules hitched up some stake and giving him a pair of mules that refused to work together. They hated each other and wouldn't work together, stubborn. And and so Dad said sometimes it would take most of the morning to get the mules hitched up. And that's it. They were out there working. My dad's name was Noble Kimble, and they were out there working, getting the mules up. And Golden was standing there in his mid 80s just before his death. And he always got back in his old cowboy outfit and he enjoyed it all. They were going to go out and run the fence line and and they got one mule out of the barn, got him hitched up and the other mule could see what was coming down. And so as they led the other mule out the mule butt and kicked the fence and knocked the fence down and rip the cord away from my dad and took off in a run down the road. And the first mule seen that the second mule had gotten away, took off too. And the wagon tipped over and the tongue broke off. And he went down this way and the other mule went that way. And they had this trail of dust behind each one of them. And they both stood there and dad said, I'm going to happen to it on the ground. He says, you know, Noble, there's something I'll never be able to figure out. And that says, what's that? And he says, Oh, no, I've got two of those sons of bitches on the ark. <v Speaker 7>Oh. I've met him on the street when I was a young adult, probably in my 20s, and he would speak to me and he would he spoke to almost everybody on the street. It blew up Main Street in Salt Lake City and take him 20 minutes to go block because he would speak to almost everybody and stop and talk to a goodly number.

<v Speaker 8>And there's countless stories about his interaction with people where he'd go down the street and talk to people. And invariably he'd show up late for appointments because he couldn't get from one place to the other without people stopping to talk to him. And he wasn't in the habit of brushing people off. He was connected with with people. And I think he viewed that as his mission in life to be more important than making his meetings <v Speaker 2>one of the most unusual things that ever happened to me. I have to tell you this story, because it's getting out of control. People are embellishing it an awful lot. I'll just tell you the basic facts. I don't think you'll find it very funny if you're just acquainted with the basic facts of the story. But I went to it was about two weeks before Christmas and I wanted to go over at noon time to see my to the different room and have some some lunch. And it just started snowing all day long

<v Speaker 4>from <v Speaker 2>6:00 a.m. and it started to snow. And by noon it was piled up on the streets. Everything was very slippery. And and I said to my secretary, I'll go over myself. I want to get out of here. And she said, OK, so she helped me down to the front door with my galoshes and and and gloves and hat on. And and I walked. I was doing just fine. I went down the street and then I saw that pedestrian lane was to the north door of see my I waited across the street. There was no light in those days. And I looked up to my left and finally there was a clearing and I got to the middle of the street. I was doing just fine. I didn't need any help. And look down to my right, waited and waited. Snow was coming down. And finally there was a clearing to my right and I started the second half of that street. Unbeknownst to me, a woman came out of the north door, as you see me, with all these packages in her hands. And she saw the same open and she looked to her left and she was in a hurry and she had to get home to the kids. And she just ran ahead with <v Speaker 4>looking

<v Speaker 2>to her left, not at me. She couldn't even see me. And she hit me right in the middle of the street and knocked me down. And it was embarrassing because she dropped all of her packages and fell on top of me. And then we began to slide south towards Zemi and all the traffic stopped and and everyone it was just a frozen moment in time. I was embarrassed to death. And finally, when we hit the curb, she cleared the snow away and she said, Who are it's Brother Kimball, the president of the first quorum of seven, to speak to me. She grabbed me by the lapels. His brother Kimball speech me. Are you all right? I didn't. I didn't see you. It's my fault. And say something. And so I finally let him. I said, Oh, it's all right, sister, but you'll have to get off here. This is as far as I go. <v Speaker 7>Jay Gold and Campbell stories live because there is a sense of truth in what he says, there's nothing artificial and part of our culture is a uniqueness. And he wasn't afraid to talk about the funny uniqueness as a consequence of this. Those of us who are Mormons like to smile of ourselves. We don't like to be criticized. But if somebody says something that's critical about us, who loves us, then that's really kind of true. And it's a living thing. <v James Kimball>People have asked me what story best summarizes Uncle Gordon's life or best gives us the insight into what made him tick or what kind of a person he was. I think it has to be a couple of lines that he wrote in his diary and he said in those lines, I may not walk the straight and narrow, but I try to cross it just as often as I can. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.

<v Narrator 2>In 1938, J. Golden Kimball died instantly in a car accident. In announcing his death, the Salt Lake Tribune for the first time wrote a favorable editorial on the passing of a general authority. It read J. Golden Kimball's death takes from the LDS church an extraordinary personality, one which to a large degree has achieved the stature of an institution. During his 85 years of life, he made J. Golden says a common attention getting phrase. For when J. Golden had something to say, he said it wittily, bluntly and with a sometimes startling disregard for the conventions. [music plays] <v Narrator 3>Local production of Remembering Uncle Golden was made possible by generous grants from the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation and the C. Comstock Clayton Foundation. [BWE theme plays]