Elder Vaughan J. Featherstone

[Anonymous]

I came across this post on Wheat and Tares which I found interesting: https://wheatandtares.org/2020/12/06/down-the-memory-hole/” class=”bbcode_url”>https://wheatandtares.org/2020/12/06/down-the-memory-hole/ It was interesting because it involved the late Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone and some of his more “outrageous?” remarks. Being the age I am, I remember Elder Featherstone in his heyday and I now look back at him as, well, kind of a strange man. Interesting to listen to, yes. Charismatic, definitely. But kind of strange.

Many, many years ago, he came and spoke at a stake conference where I was living at the time. At the stake priesthood meeting, he told a story of waiting for his son to come home from a date one night because the son had broken curfew. He made quite a production about the fact that he waited on the front porch of their home wearing nothing but his garments (compared himself to a big white something I vaguely recall). The story got a lot of laughs but I personally found it a bit cringe-inducing. (Not too surprisingly, the story ended with the son having done something noble which resulted in him arriving home late.) It was “too much information” for me. Later on, Elder Featherstone bragged about how he was able to pinpoint a man who was committing adultery in a congregation of priesthood leaders. I also think he retold the same story about the father raising the son from the dead (and how he couldn’t have possibly been masturbating) but my memory might be wrong there. At the time, I was much younger and accepted everything I heard uncritically. But I remember that talk leaving me uncomfortable rather than inspired.

So I’m not surprised that some of his more extreme comments might be “scrubbed” from the Church records. I will say this, his words were memorable. I’ve had a number of GA’s come to stake conferences over the course of my life and I don’t think I could tell you one thing that they said. (Elder Richard G. Scott came unexpectedly to a stake conference once. All I remember about his talk was how grateful he was that he could drive to his speaking assignment rather than fly.) But I remember Elder Featherstone. But some small part of me wishes I didn’t

[Anonymous]

Interestingly I remember Featherstone too. He was never one of my favorites but I know lots of people who just adored him (he had recently departed as mission president in the area where I was baptized).

For his time, I don’t know that he was all that outlandish though. Lots of GC and stake conference talks were like that (although not generally coming out with the M word). There are lots of people who wish it was still like that and haven’t paid any attention to how differently modern GAs speak.

Featherstone currently has some “fame” as allegedly writing a letter for the Atlanta Temple cornerstone time capsule stating that when the capsule is opened (presumably in 2033, 50 years after the dedication) that the second coming would have already occurred. Again, I think many people of that time believed that would be the case, but most are smart enough not to put it in writing. (There is some question as to whether such a letter actually exists.)

[Anonymous]

In looking at the blog post in the link, it reminds me of other similar GC addresses where it seemed that the speaking authority was just including a laundry list of their personal pet peeves.

In looking for the origin of the “no playing cards” rule used by some LDS families, I found that it appears to have originated in just such a list – with the GA railing against the idle time spent playing cards right next to his complaints of the public eyesore of unpainted barns, fences, and unkept yards.

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