The Story of a Song

It was such a special opportunity I had to watch the funeral services of our dear prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley. I have received, via email, so many dear remembrances of our prophet. Yesterday, though, was an email that I will not soon forget. During the funeral, a song was sung by the Tabernacle Choir that President Hinckley had written. It was beautiful, though I was surprised that I had not heard of it before. Then, the story...

Here is a copy, as shared by Janice Kapp Perry:

"About two months before my niece Kathy Blacker died, on January 11, 2008, she found a three-verse poem by President Hinckley among her files. Although she was resigned to dying, she had some fears about the dying process and his words greatly comforted her—especially the second verse which described exactly what she was feeling. She wrote to Pres. Hinckley ’s office to ask permission to have the poem printed on her funeral program, and she received a very nice letter from his secretary, Don H. Staheli, saying that President Hinckley gave his permission for her to do so. The letter also conveyed some very comforting words from Pres. Hinckley which were helpful to helpful to Kathy in her final weeks, and he said he would remember Kathy in his prayers.

Then Kathy suggested that I write and ask permission to give the poem a hymn setting. I did so, and Brother Staheli conveyed President Hinckley’s permission for me to write the hymn. After offering some heartfelt prayers that I might be able to write appropriate music for his profoundly beautiful and moving text, I wrote the hymn setting and sent a copy to President Hinckley’s office for approval at the end of December. I received no immediate response.

Kathy passed away January 11 and after her funeral I sent a copy of her funeral program to President Hinckley’s office so he could see how nicely his poem was displayed along side my brother Gary Kapp’s painting of Christ. When I heard President Hinckley had passed away last Sunday night I was feeling a little sad to think I hadn’t received a letter with his official approval. But the very next day after his passing, the hoped-for letter arrived with his approval, his permission for me to publish it in a future volume of my series Inspirational New Hymns for Choir and Home, and leaving it to my discretion as to whether to submit it to the Church Music Division. The timing was so unusual and I was extremely grateful to receive the letter as a tender mercy in my life.

Then on Monday afternoon Craig Jessop, Tabernacle Choir Director, heard about the hymn and had his office call me to obtain a copy of the hymn for consideration for President Hinckley’s funeral. On Tuesday, while traveling in California , I learned that the hymn would be performed by The Tabernacle Choir at President Hinckley’s funeral on Saturday. Having seen the great comfort this hymn brought to my niece who died just two weeks before President Hinckley passed away, my great desire is for people throughout the world to have a free copy of these magnificent words of President Hinckley to comfort them in times of the loss of loved ones.

This is just one more way his influence could be felt down through time.
--Janice Kapp Perry

You, too, can get a copy of this beautiful song. Simply send an email to PrimeRec@aol.com, and put in the subject line "funeral hymn". You can print it and share it with anyone.