Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes at stake conference? I walked into something very beautiful in the high council room when I arrived before the Saturday night session to take a scheduled photo of Elder Holland with President Cook and Elder Trythall. The room had been transformed into an elegant dining room, complete with fresh flower arrangements, beautiful place settings, and delicious food.I knew at once that this was for Elder Holland and other church dignitaries, but how did it all happen? My nose for news couldn't resist getting "the rest of the story," as Paul Harvey would say.
President Cook had asked Relief Society President Andrea Gessell to have some food in the high council room for Elder Holland and other visiting speakers so that they could relax and enjoy a quiet meal between the Priesthood session and the adult session . She had used her place settings at the last such dinner and wanted something different. Vickie Kidd came to mind. Someone had told her that Vickie had a lot of dinnerware.
"This was a great blessing," Andrea recounted, as Vickie didn't just set a table. "What would be just right for a meal in a dark brown room?" Vickie thought. She wanted something manly, yet elegant and simple. She choose black leather placements, and beautiful white dishes that she already had at home.
She spotted some brown material at a fabric store and thought it would be perfect for napkins, so she purchased three different weaves, all in brown, and started making napkins on her Serger sewing machine. She made 18, six each of three different designs. Nine were used for the dinner--three of each design.
Beautiful white flower arrangements ran the length of the table. Vickie chose lilies as the dominant flower and traveled to Modesto to get them from a wholesale flower store a week before the dinner. "It takes lilies several days to open up," Vickie informed me. Then she made another trip the day before the dinner, to get the rest of the white flowers.
"I was thrilled to be asked," Vickie said, "I was totally honored and excited. I wanted to do something special for an apostle of the church." Elder Holland appreciated it too. He gave Vickie a big hug.
All the time I was there, Chrissy Marriott kept coming in with rolls. Some were in ice chests. Some were in pans. Some were covered with a towel. She just wanted to make sure that at least some of the 96 rolls she made arrived perfectly, so she used different methods of transportation.Elder Holland loved the rolls. Mission President James Jardine said they were excellent. As it turned out, his mom was a gourmet cook who wrote a food column and taught her son to cook. President Jardine is a cook in his own right and his specialty is rolls, so getting a compliment from him was very meaningful.
A&W Root beer floats were the hit of the evening. I was in the room when Elder Holland walked in and saw two metal tanks with the A&W logo on the outside. A big smile came on his face and he exclaimed, "A&W Root beer!!"This is how it happened: When Brother and Sister Jim Duncan (Ione) were on a mission in England in the 1980's, Elder Holland was a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy and an Area President there. The Duncans lived in London, and the Hollands lived in a London suburb. They met through the mission office where Elder Holland came on church business from time to time.
There was always some A&W root beer in the office refrigerator. Elder Holland loved it, but it is not for sale in England so the mission office was the only place he could get it. Brother Duncan was retired from the army and was able to get it at the PX in London to keep the mission office stocked.
Brother Duncan often gave Elder Holland some to take home. When the Duncans finished their mission, the last thing Brother Duncan did was to go to the PX and buy six cases of A&W root beer which he secretly put in Elder Holland's car to be discovered after they were gone.
Sister Gessell happened to be at a meeting where Brother Duncan mentioned this story. She assigned a member of the RS presidency to go to A&W and see if they could use their stainless steel canisters and glass mugs. The lady working at A&W said "Absolutely NOT. This is not allowed." So someone in the RS talked to Aaron Van Nortwick, who suggested that the Cook brothers, who are in also in the food business, could perhaps make a contact. The manager of A&W was approached and said the church members could have anything they wanted. He was glad to do it.
Happy ending: The Duncans were reunited with their friend Elder Holland, and it gave Elder Holland just one more reason to tell us that this was the best stake conference he has ever been to. (P.S. Elder Holland shared that he proposed to his wife at an A&W root beer restaurant!)
Sister Juanita Duncan sent me this after she read the above story: "The first time I met Elder Holland in London was when he came into the mission office in the Hyde Park Building in London. I was sitting at my desk. It was an outer office of the mission president's office. He came into my office and took my hands and kissed them! I was a bit taken aback as I expected to shake his hand instead. This was his way of telling me that he appreciated all the senior missionaries."
