--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Morton, William A. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 22 number: 5 published: 1919-03 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Morton, William A., "Bishop Edwin S. Sheets as I Knew Him," *Improvement Era* 22, no. 5 (March 1919): 405–407.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2205unse 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: improvementera2205unse start_page: 405 end_page: 407 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1919-03) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2205unse publication_year: 1919 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 1919, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Bishop Edwin S. Sheets as I Knew Him Bishop Edwin S. Sheets as I Knew Him* By William A. Morton I can scarcely realize that Bishop Sheets is dead. A little more than a week ago he and I were working in the office to- gether. We did not think at that time that in a few days one of us would be taken. His death is a great loss to the Church, to the community, and especially to his family. Yet I am one of those who acknowledges the hand of God in it. Had it been the will of the Lord that he should have remained with us longer, it would have been a very easy thing for Him to have answered the earnest, fervent prayers that were offered up for his recovery; for no man was more worthy of having prayers answered in his behalf than was Bishop Sheets. The fact that the Lord did not grant us the desire of our heart the pro- — — longation of our brother's life when he could have done so *Address delivered nt the grave of the late Bishop Edwin S. Sheets, in "Wasatch Lawn cemetery, Sunday, January 12, 1919. 406 IMPROVEMENT ERA so easily, is evidence to me that the bishop had filled his earthly mission. One morning last summer he told me a dream he had dreamed the night before, and which seemed to have made a deep impression on his mind. He said he dreamed that he was wanted on the other side of the vail, that there was a certain work for him to do there. I asked him what his feelings were concerning death, and he answered that he had as little dread of it as he had of going into the other room. This because of the godly, righteous, sober life he had lived. The bishop and I have been team-mates in Church work for the past six years, and I say in all sincerity and truth that not once during all that time did I hear an unclean word escape his lips. He was a scrupulously clean man, clean inside and outside. He was the most thorough, painstaking man I have ever known. He had a place for everything and everything in its place. He never put off till the morrow work that needed his attention that day. When he closed his desk for the last time there was not a single bit of business left undone, not one letter remained unanswered. The bishop was a strictly honest man. I know of instances when the mere scratch of his pen would have brought him money, but he absolutely refused to attach his name to docu- ments which he felt were not above suspicion. His word was as good as his bond. He kept his promises to the letter, and expected others to do the same. He had very little respect for people who break their promises. I sometimes thought he ex- pected too much from human nature. He certainly expected perfection, as far as the keeping of promises is concerned, and in this he was often doomed to disappointment. He was an ideal husband, an exemplary father. No man ever loved his family with a more dear and holy affection than did Bishop Sheets, and no man was ever more beloved by his family than he. He was what too few men are a companion— to his children. That was a glowing tribute his son paid him when he said: "I would rather be in the company of my father than in the company of any boy of my acquaintance." The bishop was not only a husband, he was also a lover. He never allowed his love policy to lapse; he never lost his first love for the woman God gave him. He was one of those men to whom the poet referred when he said: "Happy is he whose sweetheart Is wife and sweetheart still, Whose voice, as of old, can charm, Whose kiss, as of old, can thrill. BISHOP EDWIN S. SHEETS 407 "Who has plucked the rose to find ever Its beauty and fragrance increase, As the flush of passion is mellowed In love's unmeasured peace." My life has been enriched by Bishop Sheets. I am a better man because of my association with him. God bless his mem- ory, God bless his family, God bless us all, and help us to so live that when our time comes we may dread the grave as little as the man did in whose honor we have met today.