50 years ago today - Nov 30, 1967

[Mark Garff]
I asked the President to listen me out and see if I was foolish in what I was suggesting. He said he would be glad to listen and I told him I had just returned from the Far East; this is about the only time I have left my desk for the two and [a] half years I have been working for President [David O.] McKay and in my mind I tried to conceive a plan whereby we could bring Temple work to our people. I said cautiously to President McKay: "If you think I am out of bounds I want you to tell me, but I am proposing to you now, that The Church obtain or build a ship sufficient in size to run the oceans and we equip 1939. ... this ship as a temple ship; that we take the ship and outfit it as a temple, then take the ship into the ports and harbors where our people live. We could do this around the entire continent of South America, Europe, along the coast of China, Japan, Australia and even Africa if we wanted to.["] I was sure the cost would not amount to any more than what the cost of some of our temples has been.... After I explained to the President my thinking he said to me: "That is not foolish thinking and I want you to pursue this thought and pursue the feasibility of it and make a report to me." He seemed to be greatly intrigued with the idea, he seemed to grasp it very quickly and thought it would be a good idea, so I am going to pursue it a little further as fast as my time will allow.

[Source: Minutes of a Meeting, Nov. 30, 1967; included in the David O. McKay diary on the same date, in Anderson, Devery; The Development of LDS Temple Worship, 1846-2000: A Documentary History, http://amzn.to/TempleWorship]

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