The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, with President Gordon B. Hinckley, honored Utah's heritage in the Pioneer Day Commemoration held July 21 in the Conference Center.

President Thomas S. Monson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles conducted the commemoration.

The celebration included musical arrangements by Craig Jessop, Mack Wilberg and Barlow Bradford. Most of the arrangements were sung at the Nauvoo Temple dedication earlier in July.

Between the musical numbers, Lloyd Newell, professor of religion, provided quotations about the Nauvoo Temple by the Prophet Joseph Smith.

The Conference Center was decorated with the city of Nauvoo in mind as a sunstone replica from the Nauvoo Temple laid in a handcart.

The three soloists for "The Spirit of God" wore realistic attire that paralleled the time of the early saints.

Marianne Andrews, 20, a senior from Ridgecrest, Calif., majoring in psychology attended the celebration.

"It made me remember my pioneer heritage and the wonderful blessing that I have because of my ancestors," Andrews said.

Though Andrews is from California, she still has a connection to the pioneers that journeyed to the Salt Lake Valley in the mid 1840s.

"Enos Curtis, one of my ancestors, was the bodyguard of Joseph Smith," Andrews said.

After an hour of music and the spoken word, President Hinckley gave a short speech expressing his gratitude.

"From my childhood I had an appreciation for the pioneers," President Hinckley said. "And that initial respect has enhanced tremendously far beyond my own expectations."

President Hinckley's appreciation for the early saints was articulated in the description of both the 2002 Winter Olympic Games and the recent Nauvoo Temple dedication.

"As I thought of what was happening I was wont to repeat the familiar words 'what hath God wrought,'" President Hinckley said.

He illustrated how important the "courage, tenacity and faith" of the citizens of Nauvoo were in the building up of Salt Lake City.

"I sensed in a new and wonderful way the magnitude of the thing they did in building the community and then leaving it," President Hinckley said of Nauvoo.

"I came to believe that there is not another episode in the history of this great land to compare with the movement of the Mormon pioneers from Nauvoo to the valley of the Great Salt Lake."

Andrews' favorite part of the celebration came after the speech of the prophet at the closing song, "Come, Come Ye Saints."

"I loved the five bells tolling at the beginning reminding us that Joseph Smith was martyred at 5 o'clock," Andrews said. "It reminded me of the Nauvoo Temple dedication."

President Hinckley closed his remarks with a blessing on the heads of all those in attendance.

"May God bless us all with remembrance of the past and a resolution for the future," President Hinckley said.

Copyright Brigham Young University 22 Jul 2002