PROVO, Utah — Surrounded by his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, President Gordon B. Hinckley blew out the candles on a cake decorated in honor of his 96th birthday.

Photo by Mark Philbrick/BYU

With President Gordon B. Hinckley on his 96th birthday are family members, including Elder Richard Hinckley, in background, and Kathleen Walker; Elder Cecil O. Samuelson, president of BYU, is next to Sister Walker.

The act marked the end of a ceremony at BYU June 23, staged to start construction on the new Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni and Visitors Center on campus. (Please see page 3.)

"Thank you for a great day," said President Hinckley. "Really, what more could anyone ask for than what I had today."

Speakers at the groundbreaking ceremony had lauded the Church leader and the hundreds gathered for the event had spontaneously broken into a rendition of "Happy Birthday."

After the groundbreaking ceremony, university officials sponsored a luncheon for donors, Hinckley family members and others. "We are so grateful for the honor that you have paid our father," said one of President Hinckley's daughters, Virginia H. Pearce, at the luncheon. "We are so happy to be with you on his 96th birthday."

Sister Pearce's remarks followed a video presentation paying tribute to President Hinckley and his late wife, Marjorie Pay Hinckley.

One of President Hinckley's sons, Elder Richard G. Hinckley of the Seventy, said as he thought about his father's birthday he reminisced a little about his own childhood. "We have wonderful memories," he said of his youth, noting that at the Hinckley home there was always a lot of work to be done, but there was also time to ponder life and explore.

Referring to a poem, "Birches," by Robert Frost, Elder Hinckley said it is nice for people to reflect on "happy, simpler times of the past," when they might have been "a swinger of birches."

The alumni house, bearing his father's name, he said, will be an opportunity for visitors to leave their considerations at the doorstep and remember the simpler times of their own childhood.

Then, as President Hinckley's large family gathered around him, BYU President Cecil O. Samuelson, presented him with a birthday present — a brick like the ones that will make up the strong foundation of the building that will bear his name.

Before leading the group in singing "Happy Birthday" another of President Hinckley's daughters, Kathleen H. Walker, said, "Happy birthday, Dad. Thank you for teaching us that quitting is never an option. Thank you for just getting up every morning and putting on your clothes and going about your work. We just feel that we have been tutored by the best."

Opting to blow out his birthday candles himself — instead of letting a grandchild do it — President Hinckley said, "I still have enough breath to do this."

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