Robert I. Eaton - I Will Lead You Along: The Life of Henry B. Eyring

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

(CIP data on file)

ISBN 978-1-60907-783-9

Printed in the United States of America

Publishers Printing, Salt Lake City, UT

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Photo Credits

Chapter 3 Special Collections Dept., J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah

Chapter 4 U.S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation/Public Domain; Jorge Salcedo/Shutterstock.com; Romakoma/Shutterstock.com

Chapter 8 Bettmann/Corbis /AP Images

Chapter 17 courtesy of John Gibby

Chapters 18, 21 courtesy of Brigham Young University

Chapters 10, 11, 14 courtesy of Brigham Young UniversityIdaho

Chapters 2, 3, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 Intellectual Reserve, Inc.

Chapter 23 by Jeffrey D. Allred/Deseret News

Artifacts and paintings photographed by John Luke

All other photos courtesy of the Eyring Family

When Hal Eyring was a small boy living in Princeton, New Jersey, he had a sweet, unforgettable dream. He found himself walking through a field of lush grass, bathed in sunshine. He didnt know where he was going, but he felt great peace and confidence. The feeling came from a light, silken rope around his neck and shoulders. He couldnt see the figure holding the other end of the rope, walking to his side and slightly behind him. But he sensed that it was the Savior.

Behold, I will go before you and be your rearward; and I will be in your midst, and you shall not be confounded.

Doctrine and Covenants 49:27

That feeling of being lovingly guided toward happiness has stayed with Hal, buoying him in the face of uncertainty and trials. For the past fifty years, the feeling has been embodied in his eternal companion, Kathleen Johnson Eyring. She has walked with him, hewing to the Saviors path. Both of them have looked to Him as their guide.

This book provides glimpses of Hal and Kathys walk through life. Much of the story is told in Hals own words, written as he went along. Beginning with an impression received in 1970, when he and Kathy were the parents of three young boys, he made a daily record of his activities. Most entries comprise just a paragraph. But some are much longer, and all are written in a succinct, candid style. He describes both what he and his family did and also how he felt about his personal performance. His journal is a window not only into his past but also into his struggle to be a better man.

Throughout this book, these journal entries are reproduced in a typeface similar to the one on the typewriter Hal used when he originally recorded the journals. Heres a sample entry, which describes a day devoted to sons Henry, Stuart, and Matthew, and their cousin Mark Johnson.

I hope a day spent with boys somehow matters more eternally than it seems to at the end of it. My bones and head ache. And as nearly as an outsider could tell the sum total of the day is Matthews wooden steam engine, two pieces of wood he glued together and which he calls his airplane, an amphibian airplane model Henry and I built, a racing car I made with Stuart, and a speedboat created by Mark and me. Thats it. No spiritual study. No physical recreation. No professional development. Just me and boys and scraps of wood. And Ive got a feeling thats the best of days. Maybe thats what eternal life is about: Boys creating themselves by shaping some wood into a vision, and making a Dad happy while they do it. (July 15, 1972)

The discovery of such candidly introspective passages is both inspiring and encouraging. Heres a fellow, you think, destined for Churchwide leadership responsibilities, who is apparently being prepared by routine fatherhood. And sometimes it makes his head ache, just like it does mine. The journal shows how a good-but-imperfect man works each day to win divine approval.

Another aspect of the journal that features prominently in this book is an artistic one. From his childhood, Hal had an interest inand a talent fordrawing. A sketchbook from those childhood years shows his fascination with the sort of things that were interesting to a young boy of his era: cowboys and soldiers and the like.

Hal rediscovered and honed the talent as an adult, when in the early 1970s he began to include sketches in his journal. As he explained in 1975: I carry a sketch pad around and illustrate things that I see. My sketches are not lovely, but the work is interesting to my family. At the end of the year, I paste these sketches in my daily journal, Xerox it, have it bound, and give copies to my children. I didnt put any sketches in the journal in 1973, and one of my little sons asked, Where are the pictures? When I said there werent any, just words, he said, Oh. The disappointment was there. The pictures grab him now; later, I hope the words will.

Just as they appeared in the margins of Hals journals, a number of those sketches are reproduced in the margins of this book. The ghosted-back sketch that accompanies the chapter openings is typical, depicting the tennis facility where Hal and Kathy played during a business-sponsored trip to the exclusive (and out of his personal price range) Greenbrier resort in West Virginia.

Our walk with Hal generally proceeds chronologically, though each chapter focuses on a main theme. For instance, the first chapter, Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother, introduces his parents, Henry and Mildred. The chapter does about what youd expect, describing their upbringings, courtship, and early married years, including Hals birth. But the chapter also explores his parents influence on Hal. Though his father is much better known to the world, Hal was particularly close to Mildred. The closeness can be seen especially in their final days together, which he documented in tender detail. Following that thread takes us all the way to 1969, when Hal was thirty-six. But then, in the succeeding chapter, we go back to his youth and begin moving forward in time again.