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She passed away on October 2, 2008, leaving Tom broken-hearted. But with a unique outlook on life, Tom grieved and then pressed forward, trusting the Lord’s unseen plan for him.

The next year, Tom reached out to an old friend, Robin Temple (whose first spouse had also passed years earlier) and invited her to lunch. Robin agreed to meet him so long as he understood that she was never getting married again. Tom accepted the challenge. They met for lunch. He was charming and friendly; she was intelligent and quick-witted, plus she had a strong educational background in Latin (with a smattering of Greek). They were married on November 3, 2009

Everybody Wang Chung wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 08, 2026 9:59 pm

Folks, you really can't make this stuff up. The Afore's latest is a masterclass in the humblebrag. The Afore claims to mourn Professor Thomas Mackay's passing, while primarily documenting in detail, his own status as Mackay's Golden Boy and the chosen one of the BYU Classics department.

The Afore explains that while Mackay was very intimidating to everyone, he was a real softie when dealing with the Afore. The Afore gushes that Mackay offered him a private exam at his own convenience, a perk not available to other students. The Afore claims he didn't deserve such treatment, yet he recounts it with such detailed clarity and relish that you would think he was recounting his first experience with beef pizza.

The crowning achievement of their special bond? Professor Mackay gave him an "A" for a final exam he never even graded. Most students get a grade based on their hard work, but the Afore suggests the actual grading of his Greek exam was a mere formality that Professor Mackay couldn't be bothered with.

While as a missionary, the Afore describes how Mackay personally reached out and asked if they could meet while he was in the area. Of course, the Afore received a spiritual prompting that he needed to leave at 6:00 am (earlier than originally planned) if he was going to meet Mackay at the airport. And, of course if the Afore hadn't received that spiritual prompting he would have completely missed Mackay. The Afore then asks his gentle readers, "What was the point of it?" The answer he implies is crystal clear, the universe itself is concerned with the Afore's social calendar. It wasn't just a meeting, it was a cosmic appointment to prove that even the Spirit knows the Afore was Mackay’s favorite student.

The Afore's blog concludes (and I kid you not) by comparing his relationship with Professor Mackay to the friendship between C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams. The Afore isn't just a student mourning a professor. The message is clear that the world lost a great scholar when Mackay died, but luckily, the world still has the Afore, a student who was so brilliant he didn't even need to take Mackay's final to get an A.

Doctor Steuss wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 08, 2026 10:27 pm

I dunno, when people I love and admire have passed, I often dwell on and will sometimes share how they made me feel special. I don't think that's particularly strange. Then again, maybe I'm strange? (Ok, there's probably not a "maybe" there.)

Mourning is such a personal experience... there's not exactly a guidebook that we all have to follow on how we're specifically allowed to process the loss. I'm sorry that Dr. Peterson is currently having to process the loss of someone that was special to him.

Everybody Wang Chung wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 08, 2026 9:59 pm

While as a missionary, the Afore describes how Mackay personally reached out and asked if they could meet while he was in the area. Of course, the Afore received a spiritual prompting that he needed to leave at 6:00 am (earlier than originally planned) if he was going to meet Mackay at the airport. And, of course if the Afore hadn't received that spiritual prompting he would have completely missed Mackay. The Afore then asks his gentle readers, "What was the point of it?" The answer he implies is crystal clear, the universe itself is concerned with the Afore's social calendar. It wasn't just a meeting, it was a cosmic appointment to prove that even the Spirit knows the Afore was Mackay’s favorite student.

At one point during my mission in Switzerland, I was stationed in the town of Kloten, which is where the Zürich International Airport is located. I was serving as a zone leader at the time. One day, I received a letter from Tom indicating that he would be arriving in Zürich in a few weeks and then continuing on to eastern Swtizerland, where he would be doing some research in the monastic library in St. Gallen. Could we meet up? He knew the date of his arrival but not yet the flight number, its point of origin, or its landing time. He would send that information shortly, in the hope that we could briefly touch base. As it happened, my companion at the time had also been in a class with Professor Mackay, so we were excited to see him.

But his follow-up letter never came.

On the day of his arrival, though, I woke up at 6 AM, somehow knowing for a certainty that he would be arriving shortly and that we needed to get to the airport as soon as possible if we were to have any hope of meeting him there. Our regulation wake-up time was 6:30 AM. To put this in perspective, you need to understand that I am not now and have never been an early-morning person – except from the other side. I’m a living, walking, breathing violation of Doctrine and Covenants 88:124, despite lifelong efforts at reformation and repentance. In other words, waking up early is not something that I generally or willingly do.

We met him as he was coming off the plane and were able to spend part of the day with him.

I Have Questions wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 09, 2026 7:15 am

I thought that particular anecdote sounded generically familiar, in that you will hear many similar type tales of spiritual promptings leading to rather mundane and easily explainable outcomes. Here’s Peterson’s actual anecdote.

At one point during my mission in Switzerland, I was stationed in the town of Kloten, which is where the Zürich International Airport is located. I was serving as a zone leader at the time. One day, I received a letter from Tom indicating that he would be arriving in Zürich in a few weeks and then continuing on to eastern Swtizerland, where he would be doing some research in the monastic library in St. Gallen. Could we meet up? He knew the date of his arrival but not yet the flight number, its point of origin, or its landing time. He would send that information shortly, in the hope that we could briefly touch base. As it happened, my companion at the time had also been in a class with Professor Mackay, so we were excited to see him.

But his follow-up letter never came.

On the day of his arrival, though, I woke up at 6 AM, somehow knowing for a certainty that he would be arriving shortly and that we needed to get to the airport as soon as possible if we were to have any hope of meeting him there. Our regulation wake-up time was 6:30 AM. To put this in perspective, you need to understand that I am not now and have never been an early-morning person – except from the other side. I’m a living, walking, breathing violation of Doctrine and Covenants 88:124, despite lifelong efforts at reformation and repentance. In other words, waking up early is not something that I generally or willingly do.

We met him as he was coming off the plane and were able to spend part of the day with him.

Some observations: Arrivals into Zurich Airport in the early 1970’s didn’t handle as many arrivals as it does today, especially international arrivals. Once knowing the day of arrival it would be a fairly easy task to identify the likely flight that Mackay would be on.

Despite being on “active service” as a missionary, Peterson dropped his missionary duties, and coerced his companion into playing truant for the day in order to go hang out at Zurich airport so that the young Jedi Peterson could spend time with an unauthorised personal visit from his Yoda. What did Peterson’s Mission President think? Was he told?

This is another example of a story about a spiritual promoting that is ultimately self-serving. The gist of Peterson’s angle in the story is false modesty. He is saying that God felt that young Peterson meeting an older man at Zurich airport was SO important that He, God, would prompt Peterson to get up half an hour early. When that same God fails to send promptings that prevent child abuse etc.

It is, of course, retrospective fantasy. You can walk into any Fast & Testimony meeting and hear the exact same thing. It’s a “found car keys due to Holy Ghost’ tale. Who was Peterson’s companion on the day and how do they recall events? What did Mackay say about such a miraculous experience? How does Peterson rationalise the lack of spiritual promptings on other matters? Everybody Wang Chung is correct in that the whole blog post is much more about Peterson seeing himself as very special, rather than an effort at speaking highly of someone else, in this case Mackay.

Mackay deserved to be more than an excuse for a self-aggrandising blog post.

I Have Questions wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 09, 2026 7:28 pm

Peterson awoke half an hour earlier than his daily alarm, and assigns that as being a spiritual prompting. However, waking up earlier than usual, earlier than an alarm, when you have an important event or exciting prospect, or meeting etc is an entirely natural and common occurrence. The brain and body prioritise the anticipated exciting event over the normal sleep cycle, causing you to wake up full of energy and ready for the day. It’s a common and normal physiological response to significant positive anticipation, such as Christmas morning.

I would imagine all of you have experienced that phenomenon of waking a little before your alarm was set, when needing to be up early for something important. You probably didn’t leap to the conclusion that it was God prompting you.