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Last September we talked about an 1937-38 incident of a missionary elder making unwanted advances to a sister missionary, and how mission leaders correctly handled that situation. Incidents in that elder’s later life suggested that he – we called him “Elder J.” – had had a difficult social/emotional life.

While Elder J.’s actions toward that sister missionary absolutely could not be countenanced, for her safety and emotional comfort, it is still possible, I think, to extend sympathy to a troubled man, especially one who was one of “us.” Elder John A. Widtsoe certainly showed compassion toward Elder J. in his responses to Elder J.’s distressed and distressing correspondence years later.

The compassion took an active form today when Keepa’ninny LauraN took the time to track down Elder J.’s grave in a town near her own, but not the one reported on his Family Search record. She has also taken steps to correct that record, and to add a photo to Elder J.’s Memories page there … this photo ((I’ve altered the photo to preserve Elder J.’s privacy because of the nature of the earlier story posted here; Laura posted the unaltered photo on Family Search, of course.)) , taken by LauraF when she visited and took flowers to Elder J.’s grave. “ I said hello,” she writes, “and that I hoped he had gotten things sorted out better in the next life.”

Thanks, Laura.