A Story Begging to be Told: Herbert N. Openshaw

In October General Conference of 2003, President James E. Faust said: "I encourage you... to begin to unlock the knowledge of who you really are by learning more about your forebears. We can have exciting experiences as we learn about our vibrant, dynamic ancestors. They were very real, living people with problems, hopes, and dreams like we have today."

               I always find the words of the Brethren to prove true, and this has been the case for each ancestor about whom I have learned.  One ancestor whose story has been begging me to share it is that of Herbert Nathaniel Openshaw, my maternal grandmother's father.  Luckily for me, a better writer has already told it, and it is only up to me to share his words.  Long before he was President of the Church, Gordon B. Hinckley wrote this story for the Church News in the 1940s.  Not every day do you find a tribute to your ancestor written by a prophet of God.  His words are as follows.

"Salt of the Earth: Loyal Assistant on Temple Square---Inspired by the Example of a Courageous Mother

"By Gordon B. Hinckley

"Every man is a story!

"Thousands of Sunday visitors to Temple Square have paid little or no attention to the gentleman who has counted them as they entered the Tabernacle and demonstrated the acoustics of the building.  To them he might be only one of the hired hands, or an office clerk, or a butter and egg handler.

"Butter and egg handler he is.  Six days a week that is his job.  But on Sundays he gives of his time to assist on Temple Square.  For ten years he has reported early on a Sabbath morning and has stayed for as long as fourteen hours, doing a dozen little jobs that have to be done by someone, and doing them without any consideration or compensation.

"He opens the buildings, counts the people, drops the pin in the Tabernacle, takes a group around the grounds when one of the regular guides is not on hand.  And he does it because he likes to be of service.

"There is never any question about his being there.  As sure as Sunday morning rolls around, Herbert N. Openshaw will walk through the south gate.  Men who can be so depended upon are becoming all too few even in business.  But for a man to do it, without being paid, year in and year out, winter and summer, is even more of a phenomenon.

"Of course, he is paid.  He is the first to admit it.  But not by check or cash.  His recompense comes in the pleasure of seeing and meeting people from all over the earth, and in the satisfaction of rendering service to the Church.

"Such service was not new to him when he came to Temple Square.  He has been an ordained Seventy for more than 30 years.  On two different occasions he served as a local missionary in Nebo Stake.  Since moving to Salt Lake City, he has filled two other missions, one of 25 months in Liberty Stake, and another of 27 months in Highland Stake.

"He enjoys telling others of the Gospel because it has meant so much in his own life.  Eighteen years ago his wife died, leaving him with five children.  One of them has since passed away.  Of the remaining four, three are now married, and the youngest boy is on a mission in Norway.

"When asked how he had managed to rear such a family alone, he replied: "We worked together and the Lord blessed us.  And then, I always had the example of my mother to encourage me.  Father died when I was eight, the eldest of five boys.  Mother worked for fifty cents a day doing washing and ironing.  But five cents of every half dollar went in the cup for the Lord.  And although it was a struggle, somehow we pulled through."

"It has been an unending struggle since the day of his father's death.  Beaten as a farmer during the depression by poor crops and low prices, he brought his family to the city.  Uncertain work, sickness, no mother in the home to nurse the children---those were his lot.  After getting the children off in the morning, he would look for work, and when he found none, he would walk up to Temple Square.  Encouragement came from looking at those monumental houses of worship which had come out of the poverty of his people.  When he found regular employment, he continued to come to the square on Sundays, to render such service as he could.

"Egg handler?---yes!  Gateman---yes!  Walk by and think nothing of him.  But there is a more significant story than that.  Father and mother for eighteen years, and now keeping his youngest son in the mission field.  For five years a local missionary himself.  And for a full decade a loyal assistant on Temple Square, happy to serve in the realization that perhaps indirectly he can do some good to further the cause that has brought comfort in the times of his own difficulties."

The caption reads: "HERBERT N. OPENSHAW---A devoted worker for a decade on Temple Square---"Because he likes to be of service."

                Alex Haley, the author of the book Roots, said: “In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage—to know who we are and where we have come from. Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still a vacuum, an emptiness, and the most disquieting loneliness.”

                Herbert Nathaniel Openshaw might be my own direct ancestor, but in a deeper sense, this is the legacy of all the Latter-day Saint people.  The service rendered by our ancestors was in the hope and belief that the Gospel would one day span the globe and fill the whole earth.  He selfless service was for others' children and grandchildren, just as it was for his own.  I am proud to be a granddaughter of Herbert Openshaw.