In his opening address at the 89th Semiannual General
Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on October 4, 1918, President Joseph F. Smith
declared that he had received several divine communications during the previous
months. His account of these visions became Section 138 of
the Doctrine and Covenants. Verses 53 and 54 of that section speak of choice spirits :
My Great, Great
Grandfather, Frederick William Hurst, Sr. and his namesake, his son, Frederick William
Hurst, Jr., are among those choice spirits.
Both very talented master craftsmen, they consecrated their skills and
great artistic talents in finish work, painting and carving in temples of the
Lord, including the Logan Utah, Salt Lake City Utah, Cardston Alberta Canada, and Mesa Arizona
Temples.
To prepare for this work, Frederick William Hurst Jr. was called as a temple missionary in 1878, at the age
of 18, to go to Boston to study portrait and decorative painting. This he did
without purse or script and upon completion of his studies, he returned home to Logan to work on
the temple until its completion and later in its renovation.
Left: John P. Holmgren and Frederick William Hurst Jr. painting gold leaf
in the Logan Temple in the renovation of 1915.
A
Logan City newspaper article also recognized Brother Hurst
for his “ceiling decorations.” Other contributions of the Hurst’s were the large ornate carved hardwood
chairs which were placed in the very sacred sealing rooms of the temple.
Frederick
Jr. had a great interest and talent in math and calculus, which qualified him
to design and construct the four corner spiral stairways in the Logan Temple
and he later envisioned and created spiral stairways of black walnut in the Salt Lake City Utah Temple.
Frederick
Sr. wrote of a motivating experience during their time working within the
sacred walls of the Salt Lake Temple:
“In the fall and winter of 1892-93, I worked at painting in the Salt Lake Temple. Although sick, I felt strongly impressed to go and do my very best.
Wilford Woodruff At noon the third day after beginning, President Wilford Woodruff called all of the of the workmen together. He said he had been told that some of the workmen had stated that it would be impossible to have the temple completed by April 6th. He said when he looked at this body of men, he didn’t believe a word of it. “Some of you may be sick and weak” (I thought he was talking to me). He continued, “Some of you may be give out at night, but you will be here in the morning if you are faithful. You are not here by accident, you were ordained in the Eternal World to perform this work. Brethren, I will be here April 6th to dedicate this building. I know what I am talking about for this was shown me in a vision 50 years ago in the city of Boston.”
Great, Great, Grandpa Hurst penned the profound impact this experience had upon him: “At times during that winter I was so sick with vomiting I dare not ride on a street car. I had two miles to walk to my lodging … often the brethren would say to me, “You can’t go to work tomorrow.” I thought of President Woodruff’s promise and didn’t miss a day all winter but was constant until the work was finished.”
The Temple was completed and dedicated, as foreseen, on April 6, 1893, by
Wilford Woodruff.
Besides
being artisans of the highest quality, father and son were also sincere
believers in temple worship and ordinance work. Frederick Sr. served as an ordinance
worker in the Logan Temple. Due to his profound hearing loss, Frederick Jr.'s service
was as a dedicated patron for many years.
I
feel very privileged to belong to the family of these choice men.
