Lucile C. Tate - Boyd K. Packer: A Watchman on the Tower

Preface

The imagery of watchman is fitting for those fifteen men who have been called by the Lord as prophets, seers, and revelators, who have been sustained as such by the Church, who have been anointed of the Lord, and who serve as His special witnesses.

They have been so designated by the Lord in the various dispensations of time. They are found in the Old Testament, the Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants, identified as those who are to watch over His Church.

The term watch helps to define their roles which, in part, are: to be attentive to trends, drifts, and conditions within and without the Church; to be vigilant and alert to dangers from the archenemy, Satan; to guard, tend, heed, and warn as in the following scripture passages.

Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman;

If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;

Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.

He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.

But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.

So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. (Ezek. 33:1-7.)

And now I say unto you that the time shall come that the salvation of the Lord shall be declared to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.

Yea, Lord, thy watchmen shall lift up their voice; with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion. (Mosiah 15:28-29.)

And set watchmen round about them, and build a tower, that one may overlook the land round about, to be a watchman upon the tower, that mine olive-trees may not be broken down when the enemy shall come to spoil and take upon themselves the fruit of my vineyard (D&C 101:45).

Boyd K. Packer is one of those fifteen watchmen who have been called, sustained, and anointed, and is a witness to the world. These men are of varying backgrounds, abilities, and temperaments. Their individual stories are unique to themselves. But in some things they are alike. Each has been trained, tested, and tempered over many years. Each has a sure witness that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. And each is committed for life to be obedient to His will-no retirement because of illness, infirmity, or personal burden. They simply carry on.

As with the others, Boyd K. Packer's life is unique to himself. This book tells his story.

Of his reason for its writing, President Packer has said: "On several occasions Elder LeGrand Richards expressed his desire to me that Lucile Tate, who had written his biography, LeGrand Richards: Beloved Apostle, also write mine. Several years after Elder Richards died, I began to admit to myself, with some nudging from my wife, Donna, that we could no longer ignore the wish of that venerable and senior Apostle and friend who had had such a profound influence upon us. Except for my responsibility to be obedient to Elder Richards I would not have agreed to have my life's story written for publication. But an equal influence was the complete trust that Donna and I had developed in Lucile Tate, now in her eighties. In her we could confide our deep personal feelings, our experiences with our family, and the events relating to the sacred calling which had come to us."

As noted in the text, he has not kept a journal, but has stated that, collectively, his talks are his journal. Many of these have not been published. In lieu of journals as a source of information for the writing of this book he made available all of his published and unpublished talks, his books and booklets, and his pertinent personal papers, letters, and memorabilia. He also gave generous time for personal interviews over a period of several years, and he arranged interviews with family, friends, and members of the Quorum of the Twelve. Further, he approved author visits to all local and British sites pertaining to his life and lineage.

These extensive source materials and the author's long-standing association with him have made possible a careful assessment and a faithful portrayal of his and his companion's many-faceted lives and his public and private ministry.

The Lily and the Rose

The Tudor rose from the family coat of arms represents the English Packers. The sego lily symbolizes the American family branches that, like Joseph in the Old Testament, was "a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall" (Gen. 49:22), for they crossed the sea and took root in the New World.

When the Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 it was late in July, too late to sow and reap. In those hungry days they found that the bulb of the sego lily was edible. This beautiful white flower with a yellow center and deep red markings grew among the sagebrush. The pioneers dug the small bulbs to stave off their hunger. The flower became the symbol of triumph over adversity.

About the time the Packers arrived in the West, one young pioneer took his wife to settle in southern Utah. She was a woman of refinement and could not bear the hardships of pioneering in that semi-desert country. One day she announced to him that she was going back. The distraught young husband pleaded with her to stay. Finally she set a condition. "If you can show me one beautiful thing about this country, I will stay."

That night when he came from the fields he thrust into her hand a small bouquet of sego lilies. She stayed. (From On Footings from the Past: The Packers in England, by Donna Smith packer.)

Chapter One His Time and Place

Boyd Kenneth Packer was born on 10 September 1924 in Brigham City, Utah, the tenth child and fifth son of Ira Wight Packer, a thirty-nine-year-old garage mechanic, and Emma Jensen Packer, a homemaker, aged thirty-six.

The year of Boyd's birth was one of portent. On a world scale, seeds of unrest were germinating in turbulent soil and they would flower into World War II just as Boyd reached manhood.

Abroad, 1924 began with the death of Lenin, architect of Russia's revolution and its first communist head of state. Stalin survived and forced all opposition leaders to surrender. Thus he became the undisputed master of the Soviet Union.

In Italy in 1924 Mussolini abolished non-Fascist trade unions and annexed Adriatic lands.