Gordon Bitner Hinckley was a religious leader who was the fifteenth president of “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” (LDS Church). He was also the oldest president of the LDS Church. As the leader of the church, its members thought of him as a prophet. During his time in office, he built temples and rebuilt the historic Nauvoo Illinois Temple. He also built the 21,000-seat Conference Center and issued the Proclamation on the Family. He also started the church’s Perpetual Education Fund. Hinckley has dedicated more LDS Church temples than anyone else, which is more than half of all the temples that are currently open. By the time he died, it was thought that about a third of the members of the church had joined under Hinckley’s leadership. As president of the church, he was also head of the Church Boards of Trustees/Education. Hinckley was smart, creative, and brave in his approach. He also knew how technology and the media could help spread the message of Jesus Christ. He spent a lot of time traveling the world and making friends with people from other churches and faiths. He told young men and women to be better people, and he thought that marriage and family were sacred. Many awards were given to him for his work helping people.
Early years and childhood
Hinckley was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on June 23, 1910. His parents, Ada Bitner and Bryant Hinckley were well-known LDS writers and teachers. In 1928, he got his diploma from LDS High School and then went to the University of Utah to get his first degree.
Gordon Hinckley’s Career
Hinckley became a missionary for the LDS Church. From 1933 to 1935, he worked in the British Mission, which was based in London. After preaching in Berlin and Paris, he went back to the United States.
In 1935, he became the executive secretary of the church’s Radio, Publicity, and Missionary Literature Committee. As executive secretary, he was in charge of improving the church’s radio broadcasts and using new ways to communicate.
He was on the Sunday School General Board beginning in 1937. After WWII, he worked as the executive secretary for the church’s Missionary Committee, which was the church’s link to Deseret Book, the biggest LDS book publisher.
In the early 1950s, it was decided that the ordinances at the Swiss Temple would be presented in ten different languages through the media. This is where Hinckley’s background in journalism and public relations came in handy.
He became an assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the church’s general authority. In 1961, he was ordained as an apostle in the Quorum, which is one of the governing bodies in the church’s hierarchy.
In 1981, he was made a counselor in the First Presidency. As the church president and his other counselors got older and sicker, he took on more of the day-to-day tasks of running the church.
Between 1985 and 1995, he was the first counselor to Ezra Taft Benson and Howard W. Hunter, who were both presidents of the quorum. This helped him get ready for his own presidency.
When Hunter died in 1995, he took over as president of the Church at the age of 85, making him the oldest president in church history. He was older than David O. McKay.
During his time as president, he pushed for more temples to be built. When he died, there were 124 temples in use in the church, and 14 had been announced or were being built.
In 1996, the number of church members in countries other than the U.S. surpassed those in the U.S., and Mike Wallace interviewed Hinckley for a 60 Minutes segment about the LDS Church.
In 2000, he spoke to the church’s young people and told them to work on what he called the “Six Be’s”: be grateful, smart, clean, true, humble, and prayerful.
Under his direction, the historic Nauvoo Illinois Temple was put back together. On the site of the old temple, the building itself was made using limestone blocks in the Greek Revival style.
In 2006, he went to Iowa City for the 150th anniversary of the Mormon handcart companies and to Brigham Young University for a ceremony to name a new building after him.
After a lot of work, he rededicated the Salt Lake Tabernacle in 2007. His last public appearance was to pray at the rededication of the Utah State Capitol early the following year.
Works of note
Hinckley published “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” in September 1995. It was a statement of beliefs about the sanctity of the family and marriage and said that the family is at the center of God’s plan.
In 2001, he announced the Perpetual Education Fund, which is a big fund that helps students in poor countries get loans. Most of the money for this program comes from donations from people in the Church.
Awards & Achievements
Hinckley was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President George W. Bush at a White House ceremony in 2004 for his work to improve funding for humanitarian aid and education around the world.
He got a lot of awards for his education, like the Distinguished Citizen Award from Southern Utah University and the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Utah. He also got ten honorary doctorates from different colleges.
He got the Silver Buffalo Award from the Boy Scouts of America, which is their highest honor. The National Conference for Community and Justice also gave him an award for his work in the world.
Personal History and Legacies
Hinckley married Marjorie Pay in 1937, and they had five children. His sons Richard and Clark have been leaders in the church, and his daughter Virginia was a part of the Young Women group in the church.
Hinckley died in his Salt Lake City apartment on January 27, 2008, at the age of 97. He is buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery next to his wife, Marjorie Pay. The grave is just south of 10th Avenue, between Main and Hillside streets in the cemetery.
Estimated Net worth
Gordon is on the list of the most popular and one of the wealthiest Religious Leaders. Based on what we found on Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider, Gordon B. Hinckley has a net worth of about $68 million.
Trivia
“True love is not so much about romance as it is about being worried about the well-being of your partner,” said this religious leader.