My family of six joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1977 (December 31st, actually–those missionaries met their goals that month!). At the time, Spencer W. Kimball was the much-beloved prophet, with a raspy, Yoda-like voice, and a cheerful countenance all of the time. Ezra Taft Benson followed, and had a more stern style, but loving nonetheless. There was a brief period with Howard W. Hunter as our prophet (less than a year), and then President Gordon B. Hinckley became the prophet in March 1995, serving for 13 years, or nearly half of the time that the Rupard Family has been members of the church. He passed away last night, at around 7 PM.

President Hinckley was a remarkable man. Under his leadership, the Church made a smooth (even ahead-of-the-curve) transition to the 21st century and the “new media” which has so greatly enabled us to spread our message. He appeared numerous times on national television programs and as a result of these appearance, he became close friends with Mr. King and 60 Minutes’ Mike Wallace. President Hinckley was a genuinely kind and charitable man, who managed to put even contentious people quickly at ease, without ever appearing “soft.”

Perhaps most significant to me personally, he bore more than a passing resemblance (both physically and in attributes of character) to a particular Grandpa who occasionally reads these pages.

He was beloved by members and non-members alike, and he will be missed.