Dear Brother Hinckley,
Sometime during the fall of 1961, you visited with the military group on the Island of Okinawa. We believe that you were an Assistant to the Twelve at the time. We are sure that you will remember the visit.
During your visit you gave a blessing to our four year old daughter, Robyn, who was an acute juvenile diabetic and was having considerable difficulty with the disease. In your blessing, you said that she would grow up to become a mother in Zion. Although she still has diabetes and always will, she has managed it considerably well over the years. However, she became very discouraged about meeting a suitable mate and becoming a mother. Her desire since she was little girl was to become a nurse. She studied and worked at this profession after graduating from high school. She earned an associate degree from Utah Technical College and went to work for the VA Hospital in Salt Lake. While so employed she was awarded a scholarship and, with student loans, she graduated from Westminster College with a BA degree in nursing and became a registered nurse. The VA transferred her employment to the VA Hospital in Grand Island, Nebraska in 1992. Upon her arrival in Grand Island, the LDS ward there helped her move into an apartment. One of the movers was an elder, a little older than herself, who had become a convert to the Church a few years earlier. Needless to say, they fell in love and were married a few months later. Finally, at the age of 38, she became a mother.
Her pregnancy was extremely difficult. She was hospitalized in the Methodist Hospital in Omaha for nearly six weeks, but they were able to deliver a normal, nearly full-term boy. We consider this to be a "miracle" child. He is a healthy child and will be a year old on January 11, 1996. She (and we) feels that your blessing brought this child into the world. Perhaps she could have become a mother sooner but our daughter refused to lower her moral standards just for the sake of finding a husband. She has been active in the Church all of her life and I am certain that she will remain so. Her husband is now a High Priest and is the only member of his family who is a member of the Church. His parents are Methodist and are fine people.
We are sending you a picture of her son and we wish that you could hold him in your arms
1995 Robyn, Benjamin and Tim
Reverently,
Owen and Zelda Kline
Kearns 39th Ward
P.S. We also remember the District Conference at the Machinato Chapel in Naha with President Paul C. Andrus of the Southern Far East Mission. It was the most spiritual meeting that we have ever attended. We sang the Spirit of God like a fire is burning. We are certain that the Lord was in the chapel that evening. We felt the presence of angels. Do you recall that meeting?
Also, we would like you to know that you have been to us on many occasions. Our eldest son, Michael, served a mission to Taiwan and then to Hong Kong from 1966-69. He felt so close to you in those years.
Later, you married him to his Christine in the Salt Lake Temple on December 5, 1969. Our youngest son, Jonathan, also served a mission in southern Japan from 1976-78. He was in Okinawa during his mission.
We are so very grateful that you are the head of this great church. We knew in that little military chapel so long ago that you would one-day hold this position. Though you could not be aware of it, your influence in the lives of this family has been deeply felt throughout the years. This week, for Christmas, we will all gather. Michael from Arkansas, Evan from Missouri, Robyn from Nebraska, Jonathan from Washington state and Amanda, our once wandering daughter, the only one now in Utah. We want you to know as we kneel together for Christmas Eve, that we will remember your wonderful, if unknown, influence in our lives.
1996 Gordon B. Hinckley's Reply
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