Special Event In Nauvoo

Lori and Rob with Elder Oaks at the Smith Family Cemetery

Our daughter Lori and her husband Robert came yesterday afternoon. They had come last June with their family and our daughter Carrie and her family as part of a Church history tour prior to Carrie's son Kaylor leaving on his mission.

This time they came alone. They flew out to watch their daughter Kelsey play a couple of soccer games in Council Bluffs, Iowa where she is attending college at Iowa Western Community College on a soccer scholarship.

They rented a car and drove from Council Bluffs to Nauvoo to see us and to attend some of the activities of an event put on by The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum along with the Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission. Each year they do a retrial or hearing of some historic trial or proceeding to see if the out come should have been different. Some of the activities were held here in Nauvoo this afternoon and evening. This year they are looking at "Habeas Corpus and the Courts." As part of that they will be holding a dramatization in the Illinois state capital (Springfield) of the Prophet's legal contests to resist extradition from Illinois to Missouri. There were some short vignettes presented and repeated all afternoon about Joseph Smith and the Church so that the organization and those participating in the hearings could get a better understanding of Joseph Smith Jr and his beliefs and motivations.. We were able to attend several of them.

Fred with Elder Oaks at Smith Family Cemetery

Ann had managed to get four tickets for this evenings presentation from Springfield, Illinois several weeks ago so that we could be first hand observers of Elder Oaks (former Utah State Supreme Court justice) presentation entitled "Behind the Extraditions: Joseph, the Man and the Prophet" in the Nauvoo Visitors Center. He noted, "This evenings program combines two important topics: habeas corpus and Joseph Smith." It was quite the experience. Some of the attendees were Illinois Supreme Court Justices, Utah's Governor Herburt and his wife, former Governor Olene Wallker and her husband and lots of other dignitaries from the courts and Church. Following the presentation a receptions was held so we got to visit with some of those guests. Lori and Rob got to attend with us.