Sunday afternoon speakers, session notes
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With its main floor and balconies completely occupied and thousands more, all in their Sunday clothing, attending on the surrounding lawns, the Tabernacle seemed very small on this, the last session of general conference to originate from its pulpit in the venerable pioneer building.
An air of nostalgia pervaded the Tabernacle during the Sunday afternoon session. With few exceptions, general conferences have been held twice a year in the building for 132 years, since 1867.
The invocation for this historic session was offered by Elder Earl C. Tingey of the Presidency of the Seventy and the benediction by Elder Cecil O. Samuelson of the Seventy. Retiring conductor Jerold D. Ottley, in a fitting finish to an illustrious career of conferences, conducted the final selections of the Tabernacle Choir. Mack Wilberg, associate conductor, also lead the choir. Included in the selections were "Guide Us, O Thou Great Jehovah," "Lead Kindly Light," "Abide With Me," and the joyfully sung congregational hymn, "We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet."
After the conference, Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve, first speaker in the session, gathered up some of his young grandchildren to stand at the podium, as if to symbolically link the promises of the future with the heritage of the past.
