SALT LAKE CITY — Tens of thousands passed his casket and attended his funeral. After an emotional week, it was fitting Saturday to describe Gordon B. Hinckley, president of the Mormon Church, as “prophet to the people.”
“He was our prophet, seer and revelator. He was an island of calm in a sea of storm,” said Thomas S. Monson, likely the successor as head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“He was a lighthouse to the lost mariner. . . . He comforted and calmed us when conditions in the world were frightening,” Monson said.
Hinckley, who died Jan. 27 at age 97, was laid to rest Saturday after a 90-minute funeral in the church’s nearly full 21,000-seat conference center.
The service included fond remembrances from Hinckley’s children and closest advisers, who chronicled a lifetime of service to the rapidly growing worldwide church.
The eulogies were mixed with hymns from the famed Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Hinckley’s presidency, which began in 1995, was marked by unprecedented growth. The church expanded from 9 million to 13 million members in 160 countries. He established an education fund to help returned missionaries, expanded the church’s humanitarian work and built more than 75 temples around the world.
“Disciplined and courageous, with an unbelievable capacity for work, he believed in growth,” said his daughter Virginia H. Pearce. “He was a marvel to watch.”
Hinckley was born in Salt Lake City — the grandson of Mormon pioneers — and spent much of his youth on a family farm.
He had his eye on a career in journalism but instead went to work for the church in 1935 to establish a public-relations department.
He was credited with seeing the potential of media and technology to spread the church’s message.
“Gordon B. Hinckley was the great communicator,” said church elder Earl C. Tingey, adding to the long list of the late president’s attributes celebrated Saturday.
Starting Thursday, Mormons came in droves to pay their respects. The church said 57,443 people attended two days of a public viewing.
Among the mourners Saturday were politicians from Utah, Idaho, California, Arizona, Nevada and Oregon, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, both Mormons.
In a final gesture, mourners waved white handkerchiefs as Hinckley’s coffin left the conference center, repeating a gesture he often used to greet the crowds wherever he appeared.
Many said they were sad for themselves but comforted in their belief that the church president had been reunited with his wife, Marjorie, who died in 2004.
