Western Montana Early Church History

Below is a portion of the Missoula Montana Temple Groundbreaking Historical Report compiled by Mark and Lori Holyoak and submitted to headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in June 2026. I felt it was both important and would provide good historical context if we also included this section in the report that highlighted when the church first came to western Montana.

Western Montana Early Church History

Montana became a U.S. territory in 1864 and America’s 41st state on November 8, 1889. However, the history of Missoula started taking shape some 12,000 years earlier. At that time, Glacial Lake Missoula covered the entire valley including much of current-day northwest Montana and into Idaho. When floodwaters eventually receded, it revealed a central geographic point of five mountain ranges as well as the confluence of today’s Bitterroot, Blackfoot and Clark Fork Rivers. Missoula Valley is also known as Five Valleys since five valleys flow from it - the Clark Fork Valley to the West, Flathead Valley to the north, Blackfoot Valley to the northeast, Deerlodge Valley to the East and the Bitterroot Valley to the South. 

Prior to its settlement, Missoula was the ancestral home of the Salish and Kalispell peoples. The Lewis and Clark Exhibition passed through the area in 1805 and 1806. European settlers entered the valley in 1858 and Hellgate Trading Post, as it was called, was founded two years later in 1860 as part of the Washington Territory. By 1866, it was renamed to Missoula Mills and later shortened to Missoula. 

Early Native American camp in what is now downtown Missoula (Photo credit: Mansfield Library) 

The Early Church Comes to Montana

The first members of the Church traveled from Idaho to the Bitterroot Valley in 1855 to negotiate for a possible purchase of Fort Hall (located in Idaho) by the Church. The following year, a Church member began hauling freight between Salt Lake City and mining and logging camps in Montana. That same year, a female member along with her husband moved to Jocko (later renamed Dixon) to help manage the Indian Agency located there. After the discovery of gold in Montana in 1862, the demand grew for food and supplies along the “Montana Trail” between what would become the Montana Territory and Utah. During that time, small numbers of Church members moved to Montana seeking work in the mines and on the ranches. 

In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln signed a bill creating the Montana Territory. About that same time came the establishment of the Western Union telegraph between Salt Lake City and Virginia City, Montana, as well as the Utah and Northern Railroad Line that ran from northern Utah through southeast Idaho and into western Montana, which the Church founded and built. Some Church members that had been trading with the Flathead Indians began trade with Montana’s mining towns. Many of the traders, known as “Jack Mormons” along with converts from England, Wales, Scandinavia and other parts of the United States, stayed as miners in Montana, later becoming farmers and ranchers who contributed greatly to establish the territory’s stable agricultural economy. 

It is reported that one of the first Church members to enter western Montana was a woman named Martha Morrill, who walked across the plains with a handcart company at the age of 13. She planted roots in the Flathead Valley some time around 1880, maintaining her lonely faith until others arrived later. 

Missionaries visited the Bitterroot Valley as early as 1890. They traveled without purse or script and were often met with hard feelings against them. They tried to hold meetings in Corvallis, but were met with resistance so they decided to go house-to-house. About that time, a woman named Aquila O’Dell Dye had a dream that two young men would bring something of great value to her. One evening after the family retired, there was a knock at the door. Her husband, George Dye answered, talked for a few minutes and returned to bed. “Who was it?” asked Aquila. “It was two young men that called themselves the elders. I sent them to the neighbors.” She said, “Oh George, call them back! My dream!” He called them back and going forward the elders made the Dye ranch their headquarters, supported by the Dyes and other families. A few years later, George Dye became superintendent of the Corvallis Sunday School. 

In 1896, the church created the Montana Mission to create communication ties with these early Church members and to spread the gospel. As part of that effort, it sent five missionaries (see photo below) to Montana with a main purpose of constructing church houses. They also helped form the first Montana branch of the Church in Lima and conducted proselyting in Anaconda, Deer Lodge and Helena. Success came in Butte with the establishment of Montana’s second branch there. 

It is believed that early pioneers passed through the Flathead Valley en route to settlements like Cardston, Alberta. Recorded history shows that one of them, John Foy, did not want to take the arduous trip to Oregon so he turned north instead of west at Fort Missoula, and settled in what would later be known as Kalispell. It is there that he founded the first water-powered sawmill near what is known today as Foy’s Lake, where some early baptisms took place. 

Missionary activity continued into other towns including Missoula, Beaverhead and Silver Bow. In 1898, the Montana Mission was absorbed into the Northwest States Mission, with its headquarters first in Anaconda and then moved to Portland, Oregon. From 1896 to 1898, church membership grew from six to 71 newly baptized members in 1898 alone. 

Drummond Valley was settled by a few LDS families in the early 1900s, with 24 more families relocating from Wellsville, Utah, in 1916, where the Allendale Branch became the third Church branch in Montana on July 16, 1917. It was organized by Melvin J. Ballard, president of the Northwest States Mission and grandfather of Elder M. Russell Ballard, a late member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. (Allendale was the name of the land company that owned properties the families purchased when they moved from Utah. The town, at first called New Chicago and later renamed Drummond, moved to its present-day location when the railroad came through.) Meetings were held in members’ homes until a new brick building was built on March 2, 1919, expanded in 1951 and used until destroyed by fire in 1977.

A Sunday School gathering in Ronan in August 1919 (Photo Credit: Gerald Niels Christiansen)

The first official Church organization in Missoula came around 1911 with the formation of the Missoula Sunday School. At the time, the average attendance was 12. It was reorganized and restarted several times due to fluctuating numbers. On May 8, 1928, the Missoula Branch was organized. Early meeting locations changed from the old Worden Hall to the VFW Hall to renting, purchasing and remodeling the South Side Methodist Church (301 S. Sixth St. W - see photo below). 

Membership grew with the coming of the Amalgamated Sugar Company, which brought with it members of the Church from Idaho and Utah to build and help operate the plant. Missionary work also fueled early church membership growth. Over time, the area grew, which was under the stewardship of the Northwestern States Mission and organized the Missoula District with branches in Libby, Kalispell, Polson. St. Ignatius, Charlo, Hamilton, Missoula and Allendale. 

Early church members in front of the Missoula Courthouse 

In July 1926, members of the Church from the Charlo area joined others at a picnic at McDonald Lake with a goal to make contact with the mission president to see if there was enough participation to organize a Sunday School. Three months later, the Flathead Prairie Sunday School was officially organized with the first meeting taking place in a Northern Pacific Railroad car in Charlo. (At the time, the railroad company supplied a car for special gatherings, when requested.) Early the following year, membership grew, so the Charlo Branch was organized on April 17, 1927. In need of a chapel, a pre-cut building was ordered and shipped from Washington. Members of the community, excited about having the influence of a church in their midst, donated time, horses and a wagon to move the lumber from rail cars to the building site. By May 1929, construction was completed and Joseph F. Smith of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated the building, which later added a gym that hosted dinners, Relief Society and Primary activities, dances, basketball games and roller skating. (The building still stands in Charlo today but is under private ownership.) 

By 1934, there were several Church member families living in the Flathead Valley. They made contact with Martha Morrill, now an old-timer, and desired to form an organization. They reached out to the mission president, received permission to meet and held the first-ever meeting in Kalispell in December. In February 1935, two members of the Charlo Branch, under direction of the mission president, visited and organized the first official Sunday School in Martha Morrill’s home. After half a century of waiting, she was finally surrounded by members in an officially sanctioned Church organization. One member wrote: “Of our good sister, Martha Morrill, I can’t say enough for her and her faith and courage. It was the greatest day of her life when the Church came to Kalispell. She had lived in the Flathead Valley about 50 years, never faltering in her faith. She was mother to all people in the valley.” Meetings rotated among members’ homes. They received permission to meet above the old Anyd Hundahl tin stop known as the McKnight Building (131 1st Ave. East). Members bought paint and used soap, water and muscles to transform it into a worthy meeting location. Later, members negotiated to acquire an old Lutheran Church (on 5th Ave. West), which became the first building they owned. They 51 renovated it, removed the high tower, reshingled the roof, and painted inside and out. Preston Nibley of the Northwestern States Mission then dedicated it. 

For three decades, members in the Bitterroot Valley had no church of their own. In 1941, a man who bought an old Baptist church with intentions of turning it into an apartment, instead “sold” it to church members for $1. Two years of hard work, coupled with financial donations from members, resulted in the Saints’ first permanent home. Elder Ezra Taft Benson, a newly called member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, dedicated the building in 1944. 

First Hamilton Church House (South Third & Madison) 

In 1951, the West Central States Mission was organized with headquarters in Billings and the Missoula District was divided into the Missoula and Flathead Districts. This new district comprised the branches of Hamilton, Stevensville, Allendale and Missoula, with later branches organized in Superior, Darby and Corvallis. On June 8, 1954, groundbreaking took place for a new chapel (1001 Cleveland St.). Volunteer labor contributed toward the building’s completion on August 19, 1956. 

The Missoula Montana Stake 

Elders Spencer W. Kimball and Mark E. Peterson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles created and organized the Missoula Montana Stake on June 16, 1957, from the Northwestern States Mission. On that day, the following branches became wards: Allendale, Charlo, Corvallis, Hamilton, Missoula 1st, Missoula 2nd, Polson, Stevensville and St. Ignatius. Darby, Superior and Thompson Falls remained as independent branches. 

Today’s Missoula Stake: Clinton Ward, Drummond Branch, Missoula 1st Ward, Missoula 2nd Ward, Missoula 3rd Ward, Missoula 4th Ward, Missoula 5th Ward, Missoula YSA Ward and Seeley Lake Branch 

The Kalispell Montana Stake 

On December 20, 1970, Elder LeGrand Richards of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles officially organized the Kalispell Stake, comprising most of the Missoula Stake’s northern units with wards in Columbia Falls, Kalispell (1st and 2nd), Libby, Polson and branches in Eureka, Thompson Falls, Troy and Whitefish. At the time, there were 1,940 members in the stake. However, membership ballooned to 2,247 just one year later. 

Today’s Kalispell Stake: Batavia Ward, Bigfork Ward, Columbia Falls Ward, Creston Ward, Eureka Ward, Flathead Valley YSA Branch, Kalispell 1st Ward, Kalispell 2nd Ward, Kalispell 3rd Ward,  Lakeside Ward, West Valley Ward and Whitefish Ward.

The Stevensville Montana Stake 

The Stevensville Montana Stake was organized on October 21, 1979, by Elder Jack H. Goaslind Jr, a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. The new stake consisted of wards in Corvallis, Hamilton, Lolo, Stevensville 1st and 2nd, and the Darby Branch. 

Today’s Stevensville Stake: Bitterroot Valley YSA Branch, Blodgett Canyon Ward, Corvallis Ward, Darby Ward, Hamilton Ward, Lolo Ward, Stevensville 1st Ward, Stevensville 2nd Ward and Willow Mountain Ward 

The Ronan Montana Stake 

Created from portions of the Kalispell and Missoula Stakes, the Ronan Montana Stake (originally called the Frenchtown Stake) was the first organized in Montana in 20 years. Elders J. Devon Cornish, General Authority Seventy, and James E. Evanson, Area Seventy, organized the new stake on February 26, 2017, with wards in Frenchtown, Missoula (4th), St. Ignatius, Ronan and Polson, and branches in Superior, Plains and Thompson Falls. 

Today’s Ronan Stake: Frenchtown Ward, Mission Valley YSA Branch (discontinued in 2026), Plains Ward, Polson 1st Ward, Polson 2nd Ward, Ronan Ward. St. Ignatius Ward, Superior Branch and Thompson Falls Branch  

The Church Today in Montana

According to church records, there are 52,050 members across 14 stakes and 140 congregations (97 wards and 43 branches) in Montana. There are also two missions and two temples.

(Finally) Turning Some Sacred Dirt

June 6, 2006 - what a day! Lori and I had the chance to grab a couple of golden shovels and turn some dirt at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Missoula Montana Temple. That didn't happen as part of the official program. Instead, for us, it happened afterwards with lots of other folks who lined up to give it a go, but that didn't matter. However, it was great fun to help set the table for the day, thanks to our responsibilities serving on the Missoula Montana Temple Groundbreaking Committee.

Lori and I headed up the historical subcommittee with duties of capturing the day in words and photos. To help make that happen, we asked a fellow church member from the Stevensville Stake and another from the Kalispell Stake, both accomplished photographers, to help out. I was also asked to help the communications committee by working with media and community members to compile lists and invite them to attend.

Groundbreaking festivities took place on an overcast morning on the southern edge of Missoula, not far from the Bitterroot River. More than 500 people, church members and invited community members alike, attended. We did have a few raindrops about 20 minutes before the program but that held off during the day.

Elder Jose A. Teixeira

Elder Jose A. Teixeira, president of the Central Area and member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, presided. Lori and I had the chance to meet him the previous afternoon during a casual gathering at the temple site he scheduled so he could meet and thank all of us. 

Adam Smith, former Ronan Stake president and friend whom I served with nine years prior to his release in February, gave the opening prayer. Craig Bell, who was called as the Ronan Stake's first-ever executive secretary whom I also served with, spoke as did a young girl from the Missoula Stake as well as Elder Teixeira.

"Today is the day of gratitude, a day of anticipation. We are thankful for your presence. We are thankful for your support that made it possible this day," said Elder Teixeira. "I can't help to put a smile this morning because of this lovely setting. We're here in this valley surrounded by these beautiful mountains and in this beautiful valley. We are gathering together to see the beginning of the construction of one more temple of the Lord. While the temple is not yet built, it has an influence on us and all of those that will watch the construction and subsequently the open house and its dedication. We can have that influence in the temple in our lives right now."

After Elder Teixeira's dedicatory prayer, selected church and community members joined him and his wife for three rotations to turn soil. It was after that that the broadcast ended. At that point, anyone who wanted to turn soil could do so. And when the broadcast ended is when Lori and I really got to work, getting photos taken and compiling reaction from attendees for the historical report we had one month to compile and send to church headquarters in Salt Lake City. 

All in all, it was such a great day to turn some sacred soil, which raised the green flag for construction to finally begin on the Missoula Montana Temple - our temple! And it happened four years, two months and three days after it was announced by President Russell M. Nelson. #bringit

Historical Subcommittee: me, Lori, Sister and Elder Teixeira, Quinn Kirkland and Mayra Lundell 

Communications Subcommittee: me, Grace Thomas, Sister and Elder Teixera, and Kent Haslam

Lexi's Baptism

My youngest granddaughter asked me to speak at her baptism on May 31, 2026, in Frenchtown, Montana. Below is a copy of my remarks.

Let me tell you – and let me show you – a little about Lexi Lynn Johnson.

(showed some photos on a big screen TV in the background)

Lexi is fun. Lexi is sweet. Lexi is happy. Lexi is spirited and spunky in the best of ways.

Lexi is also loving and caring.

She was already looking after her Papa and Grams before she was born because four months before she arrived, we had a house fire and we moved in with the Johnsons and lived in her room.

And we stayed there after she was born on April 24, 2018.

We spent a lot of time together ever since then.

On days I pick her up from dance, her first question is almost always “Papa, can you just take me to your house?”

Every so often, Lori and I will be at home and we’ll hear a knock at the door, and then a little later we’ll get a text from her Mom: “Is Lexi there?”

When Lexi was about two years old, she went through an interesting phase.

Lori and I would go next door to the Johnsons, who live about 100 yards behind us. We’d go there for dinner or to play games and when it was time to go, Lexi would make sure she was in my arms and didn’t want me to go.

For a guy like me – who is used to and knows he plays second fiddle to Lori for all our grandkids – it was refreshingly surprising. And nice.

Little Lexi would just say, “Papa, Papa, Papa,” in the saddest, cutest voice.

I got such a kick out of it.

I’ve thought about that and wonder what our Heavenly Father and Jesus said when we left their side in heaven to come to earth.

I bet they were excited for us to have this opportunity but I’d bet they were a little sad too, like Lexi was.

Jesus would like us to return to heaven to live and stay with him and his father after we leave this earth.

How do we know that?

Because he came to earth to follow his father’s plan and set the table for us and to do his father’s will.

Jesus came here, established his gospel, taught others – which we read about in the Bible and Book of Mormon – then he suffered for us and was resurrected. Why did he do all that? So that we could do the same.

And what did he tell us while he was here? Two words!

In John chapter 1, verse 43 in the New Testament, it says, “The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.”

Matthew 9:9 it says, “he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me.”

Jesus said, “Follow me” 19 times in the New Testament.

And in the 2 Nephi 31:12 in the Book of Mormon, it says this: “And also, the voice of the Son (which is Jesus) came unto me, saying: He that is baptized in my name, to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost, like unto me; wherefore, follow me, and do the things which ye have seen me do.”

What have we seen Jesus do? We have seen that he was baptized and he wants us to be baptized too

Lexi, you will be showing Jesus and your Heavenly Father like the Primary songs say…

I’m trying to be like Jesus. I’m following in his way. I’m trying to love as he did, in all that I do and say.

And… I know when I am baptized I choose the Savior’s way. And I will be forgiven as I turn to him each day. I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain. I want to be the best I can and live with God again.

Lexi, look around. Go ahead, look around. Look at all the people that love you. You have friends. You have family – some of whom came a long, long way to be here. We all love you. Heavenly Father loves you and Jesus love you.

And by being baptized, you show how much you love them, too. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

My Full Circle, Long Distance Temple Journey

Below is the copy of a talk I gave in Superior, Montana, on Sunday, March 26, 2026. 

It’s always great to visit you good folks in Superior.

My name is Mark Holyoak. Like Travis, I from Frenchtown and am serving as stake clerk.

Thank you to Brother Peterson and Travis for sharing their thoughts.

Brother Peterson and I have served together in our callings as behind-the-scenes members of the stake presidency for five or six years now, including the recent transition to our new leadership of Presidents Fullerton, Gage and Nygard. We can tell you they are fired up and truly want to do all they can to serve you as they serve the Lord.

For me, our assigned topic of “strengthening faith in Jesus Christ through temple worship” is a full circle, long distance journey. I’d like to lay that out for you.

I spent most of my childhood growing up in Wichita, Kansas. At that time, it was exactly 1,000 miles from the front door of my house to the Manti Temple, which was our assigned temple district. I think I went there once on a stake Seminary bus trip as a teenager.

I did attend the Idaho Falls Temple when I was a student at Ricks College in 1981. The following year, I received my endowment in the Jordan River Temple before entering the MTC, where I attended the Provo Temple just one time before it was closed for renovations.

As a missionary serving in southern Italy, the nearest temple was in Switzerland, so that was out.

When I returned home, I attended college in Wichita one semester before transferring to BYU, where I was finally close to a temple but did not give it the important attention I could’ve and should’ve, instead focusing on studies, then getting married, starting a family and graduating.

My first job was in Topeka, Kansas where we were in the Dallas Temple district, 500 miles away. After living in Topeka for eight years, our temple district shifted to St. Louis in 1997 where a new temple was about to open 310 miles away. We were slowly cutting the distance. Lori and I attended the dedicatory service with President Hinckley presiding. The Spirit was so strong. How strong? Regular folks driving by on Interstate-64, which runs right in front of the temple, pulled over, stopped and called the local fire department, claiming they saw flames coming out of the building during the service. True story. It felt that way too.

In late 1998, I accepted a new job in Spokane, Washington, where we were thrilled to learn a new temple was being built. We attended the dedication in 1999. Again, President Hinckley came and offered the dedicatory prayer. Again, it was amazing. The Spokane Temple was 3 and a half miles from our house. Lori and I took advantage, attended every Tuesday at 10 a.m. for the rest of the time we lived there. We learned intimately more about our Savior than ever before and the role he played in creating the Earth and the role he plays now for each of us, thanks to the Atonement, in clearing the way for us to be able to be resurrected and return to live with him and our Heavenly Father, depending on our works and worthiness.

During that time, we also took part in the national broadcast of the dedication of the Nauvoo Temple in 2002. It was blessing to watch that in the Spokane Valley Stake Center with our fellow ward and stake family members.

The next year, in 2003, we moved to Lolo. Ten years later in 2013 there were 141 temples in operation, when President Monson announced in general conference that 85 percent of the church membership worldwide lived within 200 miles of a temple. Unfortunately, we – being those of us in the Stevensville Stake at the time that included President Anderson and his family – were among that other 15 percent that did not live within 200 miles.

Fast forward to 2021, when President Nelson announced Helena would receive a temple. It opened two years later. And then on April 3, 2022, President Nelson made a thrilling announcement for me and my family, declaring new temples would be built in Wichita – where I grew up, Austin, Texas – where my sister lives and Missoula, Montana. We let out a scream of joy in our house and my phone instantly exploded with texts from my friends here, friends in Kansas and my sister and other family members.

Such a great day but that was four long years ago. What’s been going on? When would hear anything about the groundbreaking of the Missoula Temple?

Fast forward to four weeks and two days ago. My wife Lori was flying to Tennessee to attend a family wedding. When I got home from work, I noticed an email notification pop up on my phone from someone I didn’t recognize. It said, “See the attached letter from Elder Steven R. Bangerter.”

“Dear Brother and Sister Holyoak, we are pleased to extend an invitation to you to serve as members of the Missoula Montana Temple Groundbreaking Committee. Your assignment will be to co-chair the Historical Subcommittee. May the Lord bless you in this important assignment. Sincerely, Steven R. Bangerter, Temple Department executive director.”

I just stared at it, reread it and I was like…what??

Lori was still in the air so I texted an image of the letter to her with six exclamation points and said, “Call me after you see this!”

When she landed, she did and was as surprised as I was but also extremely honored.

It still seems surreal. Since then, we have had multiple Zoom meetings with contacts at church headquarters in Salt Lake City as well as with our entire local Montana committee and with our subcommittee members.

For Lori and me, it is our responsibility to compile a detailed written and photo history of everything leading up to the groundbreaking, the event itself and then to send the finalized historical version to church headquarters. We have invited photographers, fellow church members from the Stevensville and Kalispell Stakes, to help us. I’ve also been recruited to serve in the communications subcommittee with assignments there.

Plans are being made for the June 6th groundbreaking. Invitations lists are being created to invite community, interfaith, business and other leaders from the Missoula, Mission, Bitterroot and Flathead Valleys, and points in between. Elder Jose Teixiera of the Seventy will preside. Each stake will receive a very limited number of tickets. And the event will be broadcast virtually so everyone can take part. Details will be announced later.

Lori and I are pumped

When the temple is built, it will be 34 miles from my house. It’s not 3 and a half miles, but we’ll take it. And it will be 62 miles from where we sit right now here in Superior.

My first trip to the Missoula Temple site

President Dallin H. Oaks said this while dedicating a temple in the Philippines: “Temple teachings center on Jesus Christ, whose house this is. All that is taught here relates to our Savior. This is His house. This is His work and the work of His Father.”

President Ezra Taft Benson said: "I promise you that, with increased attendance in the temples of our God, you shall receive increased personal revelation to bless your life as you bless those who have died."

President Thomas S. Monson said: "As we touch the temple and love the temple, our lives will reflect our faith. As we go to the holy house, as we remember the covenants we make therein, we will be able to bear every trial and overcome each temptation."

President Russell M. Nelson said: "Here is my promise. Nothing will help you more to hold fast to the iron rod than worshipping in the temple as regularly as your circumstances permit. Nothing will protect you more as you encounter the world’s mists of darkness. Nothing will bolster your testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Atonement or help you understand God’s magnificent plan more. Nothing will soothe your spirit more during times of pain. Nothing will open the heavens more. Nothing! The temple is the gateway to the greatest blessings God has in store for each of us. For the temple is the only place on earth where we may receive all of the blessings promised to Abraham."

President Oaks again: “Because of His atoning experience in mortality, our Savior is able to comfort, heal and strengthen all men and women everywhere, but I believe He only does so for those who seek Him and ask for His help.”

Brothers and sisters, we can seek and find him when we attend the temple – any temple.

As for the Missoula Temple, it is not just a temple. It will be our Montana temple! So, let’s take advantage of it. Start preparing now. If you don’t have a temple recommend, do what you need to do to get one. If you have one but it’s expired, talk to your bishop and then to Brother Peterson who can line you up with a stake presidency member to renew it. If you have a current recommend, keep plugging forward. And for all of us, no matter our current temple recommend status – please be there to enter the House of the Lord. Let’s make attending a regular habit. Also, consider becoming a temple worker. The temple will need hundreds of workers to fill out its day-to-day staff.

I am so grateful for my lifelong temple journey, for the truthfulness of the gospel, for a loving Heavenly Father and a Savior willing to die and live again for us so we can do the same as individuals, as families and as friends.

Let me repeat again what President Nelson said: “The temple is the gateway to the greatest blessings God has in store for each of us.” 

So, let’s go there!

Missoula Montana Temple (photo credit: © Intellectual Reserve)

Jack's Big Baptismal Day

My grandson, Jack, asked if I would speak at his baptism on April 11, 2026, so we traveled to Albuquerque for the big family event. Below is a copy of my remarks.

Why are fish so easy to weigh? – Because they have their own scales.

Where does a fish keep its money? – A riverbank.

Why did the fish get bad grades? – Because it was below sea level.

I live in Montana and I love to fly fish. My favorite fish to catch are cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, brook trout and brown trout. I especially like brown trout because they can be big and active. And boy, they are strong, strong swimmers.

One more fish question. What in this room is like a brown trout?

I’ll give you a hint. It has three names – Jack Lewis Brownell.

If you have ever seen Jack around water, he is totally comfortable in it. This kid can swim! He can jump into the water. He can flip into the water. He can swim deep underwater. Oh, and he’s got a pool in his backyard. When it’s hot outside, that is where he lives. And in the summer, Jack turns….brown, just like a brown trout.

You know who else liked fish and fishing? Jesus did.

In Matthew 14 in the Bible, thousands of people showed up to listen to Jesus talk about loving God, loving each other and he healed those that were sick. But it was getting late in the day and his friends that were with him said they needed to send everyone home to eat before it got too late. Jesus said let’s feed them here. But all they had were five loaves of bread and two fish for these thousands of people. Jesus sat down, blessed it and kept giving and giving and giving to his friends who gave bread and fish to everyone – five thousand men, plus women and children. Nobody went home hungry. It was a miracle of Jesus’s love for everyone.

In Matthews 17 – also in the Bible –  a temple tax had to be paid so do you know what Jesus told Peter to do? He said go the sea, cast a hook into the water and bring in the first fish you catch. When you open its mouth, you will find a coin in it to pay the tax.

In John 21 in the Bible, eight of Jesus’s friends spent the night in a boat fishing. They fished all night and caught nothing. The next morning, Jesus showed up and asked if they had any meat to eat. “No,” they said. “Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find,” Jesus said. They threw in their net. Do you know how many fish they caught? 153!

In Matthew 4, Jesus called on his friends to be “fishers of men.” In Luke, he said, “Catch men.” And what did he ask people then to do? The same thing he asks us to do today – three words: “Come follow me!”

You know what else he said? We can’t enter into the Kingdom of God in heaven unless we get baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

In 3rd Nephi in the Book of Mormon, Jesus said, “be perfect even as I or your Father in Heaven is perfect.”

We’re not perfect now but we can try to be good in all we do. After we are resurrected, we will be perfect. Our bodies will be perfect and strong and we won’t get sick or hurt any more.

That’s still a long time away. One thing we can right now – and do perfectly – is to do what Jesus said. We can follow him by doing what he says by being baptized.

Jack's brothers, cousins and friends sing to him just before he was baptized 

Jack, coming up in just a few minutes, you are going to walk down into the water with your dad. You won’t be like Jack, the brown trout. This time, entering the water will be totally different than you ever done before. You will be showing Jesus and your Heavenly Father like the Primary songs say…

I’m trying to be like Jesus. I’m following in his way. I’m trying to love as he did, in all that I do and say.

And… I know when I am baptized I choose the Savior’s way. And I will be forgiven as I turn to him each day. I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain. I want to be the best I can and live with God again.

Jack, I love you. Your other grandparents love you. Your parents love you. Your brothers love you. Your aunts, uncles and cousins love you. Your friends love you. Your church teachers and leaders love you. Heavenly Father loves you and Jesus love you.

And by being baptized, you show how much you love them, too. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

When I Met the Best Basketball Player...Ever!

The date was January 17, 1998. The place was Allen Fieldhouse on the campus of the University of Kansas. A sellout crowd of  more than 16,000 rabid Jayhawk fans were on hand for two occasions. First, was the annual Sunflower Showdown between Kansas and K-State. The second came at halftime when KU held a special ceremony to welcome Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain back to his alma mater to retire his jersey and hang it in the rafters.

It was an emotional and wonderful homecoming for Chamberlain, who grew up in Philadelphia but wanted to leave the East Coast to avoid his racially-charged surroundings. He didn't think basketball out West was very strong and wanted nothing to do with the segregation in the South, so he chose Kansas. Though there were racial tensions there as well, he helped changed thinking and was known to attend establishments that would not serve black people. Wilt simply sat there until he was served. 

Still, he didn't exactly know how his return to Lawrence would go in 1998. Wearing his KU letter jacket, the atmosphere was electric. At halftime, the crowd gave him a thunderously loud, appreciative and lengthy ovation. As I sat on press row as sports director for ABC affiliate KTKA-TV (Topeka, Kansas), you could feel the emotion and electricity surge through everyone who witnessed it. School officials presented him with a piece of the original Allen Fieldhouse floor and stood with him as his #13 was unveiled high above the playing surface.

"I'm humbled and deeply honored," Wilt told the roaring crowd. "I'm a Jayhawk and I know now why there is so much tradition here and why so many wonderful things have come from here. Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

Today, the argument about who is the greatest basketball player ever is often centered on Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Personally, I think Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell and Larry Bird deserve consideration. However, in my mind there has never been a player as great as Chamberlain. Yes, greater than Jordan, James and all others. The fact is nobody dominated the game like Wilt did - nobody!

His statistics speak for themselves. In 1955, Wilt suited up for the Jayhawk freshman team in the annual freshman versus varsity game. Back then, freshmen couldn't play until their sophomore seasons. Anyway, Chamberlain lit up the varsity by scoring 42 points and pulling down 29 rebounds in a victory. He was also a standout on the KU track team. He set the Big Seven Conference freshman indoor record in high jump, placed fourth at the Kansas Relays in the triple jump and placed third in the shot put. Oh wait, we were talking basketball, weren't we?

In his Jayhawk debut the first game of his sophomore season, Wilt scored 52 points - still a single-game KU record to this day - and had 31 rebounds. Over his two-year career in Lawrence, Chamberlain scored 1,433 points (29.9 per game) and had 877 rebounds (18.3 per game.). He was named a two-time all-American and led his team to the 1957 national championship game, which KU lost in heart-breaking fashion in triple overtime.

Wilt left college after his junior season to play with the Harlem Globetrotters. Then, he played 14 years in the National Basketball Association where he was a 13-time all-star, 11-time rebounding leader, nine-time field goal percentage leader, seven-time scoring champion, four-time most valuable player and two-time champion. Chamberlain's career featured 31,419 points (30.1 per game), 23,924 rebounds (22.9 per game) and 4,643 assists (4.4 per game). At one time, he held at least 72 NBA records including the highest single-season scoring average at 50.4 points per game. Toward the end of his career, Wilt blocked what many called the unblockable shot - and he did it twice in a matter of seconds. A young Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) launched an right-handed sky hook and Chamberlain blocked it. He got the ball back, went to the left hand for another sky hook and again had it rejected. Wilt is also the only player to score 100 points per game and his single-game best for rebounding was 55. And through it all, he NEVER FOULED OUT FROM ANY GAME. Not once!

Wilt's athletic agility and abilities changed the rules. While playing against Kansas State, he was awarded a free throw so he started beyond the top of the circle, ran toward the free throw line, leaped without crossing it and dunked the basketball. After the season, K-State Coach Tex Winter attended the NCAA Convention calling for a rule change. The NCAA, and later the NBA, agreed, ruling players had to keep both feet on the ground while taking a foul shot. It doesn't stop there. Teammates under the KU basket used to lob the inbounds pass over the top of the backboard. Chamberland would leap, catch it and slam it home. That too was outlawed. The NCAA also widened the free throw lane from 12 to 16 feet to make it more fair for opponents and outlawed offensive goaltending, all because of him.

Wilt retired from the NBA at the early age of 36. In that final season, he still led the league with more than 18 rebounds a game. He then transitioned into a brief professional volleyball career. Imagine being on the front line and looking across the net to see that!

Returning to the retirement ceremony in Lawrence, it was late in the game when an announcement came over the public address system that Wilt would stay after the game as long as it took to sign autographs for everyone who wanted one. The crowd roared and thousands took him up on it. Once the game ended, Chamberlain sat behind a table courtside to greet the public. Among the masses, I had my chance to talk with him along with my cameraman. As the autographs continued, I asked if we could chat as he signed. He gladly obliged and said he had been away from KU for too long. He expressed how he was deeply moved and later told a former teammate and friend that it was "greatest single day of my life."

Wilt talked to locals and signed autographs into the early evening at Allen Fieldhouse for three hours and 18 minutes.

When I met Wilt that afternoon at Allen Fieldhouse, he was 62 years of age. But standing 7-feet-one-inch and weighing 275 pounds, he still looked fit and trim. Shoot, he looked like he could still go out on the court and dominate. Amazingly, less than two years later, he passed away from heart failure. 

Wilt Chamberlain, the greatest basketball player of all-time!

'Foggy' Memories of My Birthplace

"Randy and I are down Louisiana way."

That text popped in a family thread in January. My sister and her husband were on their way to New Orleans to set up their family business at an expo for the weekend. 

"New Orleans?" was my response.

Then my brother, Alan, asked if they were going to stop my our old house. The response was "no." That was until Alan chimed in that the house was just off of I-10 and they would be driving right by it. So, Amy stopped by and then came the posting of photo after photo. First was the home where Amy and I were born.

Then we started swapping memories including playing in the streets that used to flood every time it rained. You see, New Orleans is actually below sea level so it took a while for the water to drain after a storm. While I don't remember a ton about my birth city because we moved away when I was six years old or so, I do remember "swimming" in the street. Mom was not a fan of that. And she definitely did not like it when when the "fog man" came down the street. 

New Orleans is a mosquito infested kind of place. I don't remember how often the fog man and his truck that sprayed mosquito-killing insecticides rolled through the neighborhood, but it was pretty often. And we were dumb kids. We would run behind it, play in it and ride out bikes through it. Alan texted that it was most certainly some kind of DDT-laced stuff and sent this link, which looks pretty darn and dangerously accurate. 

Then Alan forwarded "a few blasts from the past," a series of throwback photos from the early to mid-1960s. The memories are a bit "foggy," but they still exist. And that's a great thing.

Our clubhouse, which Dad built for us boys. Funny thing is I remember it being so sleek, a great place to play and home to our guinea pig, Tiger (see photo below), who lived beneath it.

It never snowed in Louisiana but the one time it did, we needed about every bit of it in our yard to make this snowman.

A Mark Holyoak classic family photo of me cracking Alan in the head with the handle of a toy gun.

Kerry helping hold me upright. I wasn't even two years old when we were outside of church and a couple of teenage boys chasing each other plowed right over the top of me, breaking my left leg.