The First Presidency extended the following greetings to Elder David B. Haight on his 97th birthday, Tuesday, Sept. 2.

President Gordon B. Hinckley: "We love you. We respect you. We honor you. We look to you for wisdom and understanding. What a tremendous example you have been to the entire Church.

"You know of our very deep affection for you. Our prayers are with you, and we will continue to pray for you because we love you and we want you around. We invoke the blessings of heaven upon you with our great love and appreciation and respect in the name of Him whom you have honored so marvelously and so wonderfully wherever you have gone, even the Lord Jesus Christ."

President Thomas S. Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency: "What a privilege to extend congratulations to you on your birthday, a milestone in the history of the Church.

"As far as I have known you, you have followed the Lord of whom it was said, 'He went about doing good … for God was with him' (Acts 10:38). That is your ministry. Your activities and your contributions are legendary.

"Many happy returns and God bless you."

President James E. Faust, second counselor in the First Presidency: "We cannot tell you how much we love you, how much we appreciate you. What an influence you have been upon each of us. How you have inspired us and instructed us, and what we have learned from you. I am so grateful to have been seated next to you in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for so many years. That was a special delight and blessing."

President Boyd K. Packer, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve, delivered the following tribute:

"Elder David B. Haight, the senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles by virtue of age, has been described as indestructible. In the Quorum of the Twelve, he has provided experience and wisdom that go literally back to the early part of the last century. He has that wisdom which comes with age and experience. He served as a mission president, stake president, mayor of Palo Alto, Calif.; executive assistant at BYU, in the military, and on and on. He has a very alert sense of humor.

"The best part of David, and he will quickly agree to this, is Ruby Olson Haight. They have been married for 73 years. Ruby is a charmer — dignified, pleasant, and a well-matched companion to this beloved apostle. He is revered by his associates in the Quorum of the Twelve, as he is by the members of the Church."