--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Willard Done collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 7 number: 10 published: 1904-08 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Willard Done, "A Tribute," *Improvement Era* 7, no. 10 (August 1904): 745–746.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0710unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0710unse start_page: 745 end_page: 746 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1904-08) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0710unse publication_year: 1904 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1904, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # A Tribute IN MEMORIAM. 745 Returning from this mission, he became intimately acquainted with the affairs of his father, President Wilford Woodruff, and was his closest confidant and friend during his latter days. Under his father's hand, and to the infinite delight of his father's heart, he was ordained, on the 7th day of October, 1896, one of the Twelve Apostles of the Church. In his zealous discharge of the various and important duties of this high office he gave his whole life, in constant devotion and untiring ac- tivity. He became associated with the General Board of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations December 22, 1897, and he was a most active and energetic officer, and an inspiration of activity and energy in others. In contemplating the almost faultless life, the devotion to honor and duty, the energetic, intelligent industry, the cheerfulness and sin- cerity of his friendship, the purity and friendship of his domestic life, the perfect faith in and devoted love of God and his fellow men, which were his characteristics It is Resolved, by the Superintendency and General Board, in behalf of themselves and the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Associations throughout the world; That we recognize and commend the life of Elder Abraham Owen Woodruff as the perfect example of what a young man's life should be; That we mourn his absence, but submit in sadness to the Divine Providence that has bereft his family of a father and mother, in so short a time, and under such unusual and trying circumstances; That we weep with his aged mother and little children, and all his kindred, and appeal to the Author of our being for solace and comfort unto them; That we mourn with the Church in the departure of one whose labors were incessant, exemplary, most zealous and useful; That we seek to know the mind and will of the Lord in our sorrow, and to acknowledge his wisdom in our bereavement. I first became acquainted with Abraham Owen Woodruff when he entered the Latter-day Saints' College as a student, at about the age of fifteen years. From that time until his death I had the pleasure of being intimately associated with him in different capacities, and of becoming thoroughly familiar with his traits of character. If I were asked to name the most prominent of these traits, I should say it was his thorough sincerity. Neither in his student days, nor in later life, did he display the fascinating but often disappointing quality known as brilliance. This fact seemed to be a source of regret to him in the latter part of his life; for whenever he met me and we entered into conversation, he almost invariably apologized for the trouble he must have caused me by his slowness as a student. The apology was needless, but he was always sincere in making it. manhood, Brother Woodruff mani- In his boyhood and in his fested the qualities of integrity, diligence and faithfulness, all of which were the direct outgrowth of his sincerity. In the absence of these, brilliance, the lack of which he so much deplored, counts for very little. Indeed, it acts as a foil against which defects of character become painfully conspicuous. It has been said that sincere friendship is one of the most precious gifts vouchsafed to mortal man, because it is disinter- ested. In the other relationships of life, self-interest is a prom- inent element. But friendship, if it is pure and sincere, is based not upon self-interest, but on unselfish love. Therein, sincerity is the strongest element. This quality made Brother Woodruff the most faithful of friends. His was an affectionate disposition. He was loving and lov- able. The ice of reserve always melted before the warmth of his nature. He was like a brother to all his associates. In whatever relationship of business or social life he stood to them, they knew him first and foremost as a friend. In the Big Horn colony, that feeling of love for him was most intense. Not only because he was their leader and temporal and spiritual adviser did the •people of the Big Horn Basin love him, but also and chiefly because he was to each one of them a friend and counselor. Steadfastness and sincerity characterized his work in those colonies, as in all other fields in which he labored. In the home, in the mission field, in the councils of the Church, and in his social life, he was wise, industrious, an able executive, a moral, upright, honest man. We recognized these traits in him, and admired and loved him for them. But each one who knew him will think of him most from another standpoint, and in another capacity: and will say with tears of joy that temper the grief felt at his departure, "He was my friend!" Willard Done.