The poem “A Freshman's Prayer on Thursday Night,” published in the Harkness Hoot in 1934, sums up the ambivalence felt by Yale undergraduates towards the societies:
Hear the clumping of their feet
As they go marching down the street.
Perhaps some day, if I am good,
I may be of that brotherhood.
There is something grand about a club
So few can join it, there's the rub.
And those outside are filled with awe;
What prompts such awe can have no flaw.
Oh, Lord, I pray Thee, let me be
A God in that Society.
For though I know not what they do
I greatly want to do it, too."
Gentle Reader,
In last week’s installment, Russell allowed us a bird’s eye view of his terrestrial activities in his 1979 Curriculum Vitae. By any metric, his accomplishments are manifold. Among them, we learned that he was able to get both his Bachelor’s and Medical degrees in an intense, six-year period of study in which he passed with flying colours. Even more impressive is that he was able to do so while remaining one of the most socially ubiquitous figures on campus. Indeed, with the exception of one brief row with his beloved, it was a happy time.
All of Russell’s quotes are from his autobiography, From Heart to Heart (Quality Press, Inc: Russell M. Nelson. 1979) (All bolding mine.)
From his chapter: University Life and Courtship Days, p. 44
Since Russell’s other activities at the University of Utah are well-documented in the Utonian yearbooks online, as well as in his other biographies, I won’t list them here. Suffice it to say that Russell was a very busy young man.”Russell M. Nelson” wrote:In my first year at the University of Utah I joined the Sigma Chi fraternity, which proved to be a very interesting and pleasant experience. I ultimately became president of the fraternity and guided it through some interesting years. I also served as director of the group that usually won first place in the homecoming songfests competition. In retrospect, I have somewhat ambivalent feelings about fraternity life; there were some things that weren't ideal, yet many things that were very pleasant.
That year I had a leading role in the freshman play, Excursion which I enjoyed doing very much.
From his chapter University Life and Courtship Days, p. 48
We will briefly touch on the Skull and Bones theme in a bit. But first I want to first share an interesting insight into Russell’s mind from the section of his book, entitled President Nathan Eldon Tanner, on p. 191”Russell M. Nelson” wrote:University life was wonderful and successful. On April 3.1944 I was elected president of the Sigma Chi fraternity. I was also later elected to the honorary societies of Skull and Bones in the junior year, Owl and Key in the senior year, the Beehive Honorary Society in the senior year, and at graduation time to the honorary scholastic societies of Phi Kappa Phi and Phi Beta Kappa. I was awarded my B.A. degree in June commencement of 1945, and there on hand was Dantzel, along with our dear parents, brothers, sisters, and other relatives who always did so much to encourage me. Dantzel got her bachelor's degree a year later in 1946.
When things go along swimmingly, I can see how the Tanner-Nelson-Jedi mind trick can work quite well. When things take a deep dive south, however…”Russell M. Nelson” wrote:Through my associations with President Tanner, I have learned a great deal about how he carries as many heavy responsibilities as he does. I have observed that once a decision has been prayerfully reached, he doesn't look back on it. He doesn't waste precious time reliving those moments, wondering what might have happened had the decision been made the other way. Always looking ahead and never backward, he has confidence that the decisions he made were the best he could make at the time, and he adheres to them.
Another lesson I have learned is that he devotes his entire energy to the matter on his mind at a particular time, and when it is time to switch his attention from that matter, he diverts it completely. When the First Presidency was in the midst of their search for a new president for Brigham Young University, he asked me to get some information and report back to him. On the Saturday morning when I was to report back, Sister Tanner said that he was out playing golf. I thought to myself, "How in the world could he be out playing golf at a time like this when he has such an important decision facing him?" Upon thinking about it a little more, though, I realized that this is typically the way President Tanner organizes his time. When it is time to think about a crucial decision, he thinks about it. When it's time to play golf, he thinks about that. I've tried to emulate his great example and learn to do things once and then move on to the next thing that needs to be done and try to do that well, never reliving or wondering what might have been.
The leaders of Salt Lake City honored President Tanner with a banquet on March 29, 1978. They presented him with the "Giant in Our City" award. It was an outstanding affair. My father had been given the assignment to produce a commemorative booklet for the occasion. Daddy did an outstanding job of publishing an attractive, brief, yet comprehensive pictorial and narrative review of the life of this great man. I was so proud of both of them. In a way I felt some degree of reciprocation for President Tanner's many kindnesses as the efforts of my father contributed significantly to the success of this important event.
But moving on...
Of the 19 professional societies listed in Russell’s CV to which he either chaired or belonged there was one that intrigued me: Timpanogos Club. First, because like many things in Russell's book, it isn't covered in his later biographies, and secondly is that he was able to do it concurrently with all his other duties as father, surgeon, traveling public speaker, flying-opening-prayer person for college presidential inaugerals in St. George, general president of the Sunday school, member and chairman of medical societies etc., etc., etc. Russell was the Timpanogos Club's president from 1977 to the end of 1978. From what little that can be gleaned online, Timpanogos Club appears to be a by-invitation-only conglomerate of “Movers and Shakers” who meet together for talks and socials. With the exception of the club’s officers, its membership also appears to be confidential -- at least online. (However, for bragging rights, they did post a historical list of its members up until the year 1965. And among a number of GA’s who joined since its inception, who but Our Hero happened to hop on board in 1957?)
According to the Historical Summary on its website:
That’s a rather fuzzy mission statement if you ask me. The club’s by-laws and revised by-laws and later revised by-laws aren’t posted online. Was it a whites-only club? Is it still a male-only club? What about membership dues? Who knows?The Timpanogos Club began on a winter day early in 1913. Samuel Russell Jr. and Preston Nibley sat in a McCormick Building office discussing the need for closer friendship with some of the men in the community, men whom they considered were accomplishing things in the city and state. They jotted down a tentative list of those to invite and Preston Nibley went up and down the street delivering those invitations….
In a talk given in 1979, Harlan Y. Hammon said about the progress of the club, “Well, we have been operating continuously for sixty-six years or two-thirds of a century. Two hundred eighty men have been admitted to membership during this time…From the old Wilson Hotel we have moved to the posh Hotel Utah Presidents Room. The quality of our membership is still surprisingly high…What amazes me is that [after] sixty-six years we are as strong and active and vital as we are.”…
When the Hotel Utah was closed in 1987, the Timpanogos Club moved the meeting place from there to the Alta Club, on the corner of State Street and South Temple, where it continues to meet monthly, except during the summer months and December.
The purposes of this club as stated in the First Quadrennial are that, “We propose to give the name Timpanogos a significance of its own. It is our purpose that it shall denote a high quality of intellect and moral strength and become a name of distinction and honor in this region.”
It’s only for the VIPs inside to know.
Now, do I really believe that there is something sinister going at Timpanogos? No. It’s probably, at worst, just a glorified rotary club for self-important people in pursuit of mammon. And despite the "tapping" and initiation and silly rituals of Skull and Bones, with its internal network of members and alumni -- in practice, it’s the same mammon machine. And thanks, to Jeffrey Holland, we now know that man of erstwhile "fraud and deceit" belongs to the Second-Anointed Club. (Just like Our Buddy from whom we've all learned also joined on June 9th, 1974).
Twenty-four-hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.For those with further interest in the history of the Timpanogos Club, there are some very interesting documents available in the Archives of the University of Utah, “Timpanogos Club records, 1913-1979.”here.You may also be able to go the Marriott Library on the University of Utah campus and see the records in person.
Gentle Reader, I have one last question/rant.
In Russell’s CV under the section entitled Public Service, we learn here and nowhere else that Russell had joined the Board of Directors of Zion’s First National Bank. Was he paid a stipend for this? Or did he just do it out of the kindness of his loving heart? And, coincidentally, he joined the board just as he was being promoted to an area authority for the church. If paid, would he have had to resign from the board less than four years later when he became an apostle?
Until next week,”Russell M. Nelson” wrote:
General President, Sunday School, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1971 -
Board of Governors, LDS Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1970 -
Board of Directors, Deseret Gymnasium, 1971-75
Board of Directors, Promised Valley Playhouse, 1972 -
Board of Directors, Utah Blue Shield, 1969 -72
Board of Directors, Utah Blue Cross, 1969 -72
Member, National Advisory Board of Utah Symphony, 1976 -
Board of Directors, Zions First National Bank, Salt Lake City, 1979 –
Do zobaczenia później! Gentle Reader!
Stańczyk
ETA: Fixed broken links, corrected a spelling error, and replaced "seven-year period of study" with "six-year period of study". (Russell attended the U. of U. from 1941-1947).