Brushes with Fame: General Authority Edition

[Portland Ute]

My uncle is an emeritus member of the 1st Q. He used to write most of TSM's talks (before TSM was prophet).

When my uncle's daughter got married, my mom, sister and I went to dinner after the sealing and before the reception at The Pearl in Bountiful - a GREAT place to see GA's BTW. While were there Elder Oaks and his wife were at the table next to us. We did nothing more than a little head nod acknowledging his existence. Then we went to the reception at the Joseph Smith Building (Hotel Utah). As we parked and got out of the car - Elder Oaks and his wife were getting out of their car too. He saw us and made a funny look of recognition. Then up at the reception, about 5 minutes after we got there, we were talking with my uncle and Elder & Sister Oaks walked in. He saw us again, and made the same funny look and then a relieved look and came over to us and said that even though we didn't fit the normal demographic for such things, he thought we were following/stalking them, and he was glad to see that we just had the same well-thought out plans as he and his wife (ie to eat at The Pearl before the wedding reception).

L Tom Perry stayed at my house when I was about ten or so. He had come in for our Stake Conference, and while the customary thing at the time would have been for him to stay with the Stake President, the SP's daughter had just gotten married and they had a house full of in-laws, so they stayed at our house - my mom was the SRSP. I asked Elder Perry if the "L" stood for "large" - he is a big dude...

As noted above - if you really want to see GA's go to The Pearl in Bountiful. I'm not sure why, but a whole lot of them seem to like it there. I've been there probably 10 times and about 6 or 7 of those times I've seen GAs that I've recognized (which means they were long-term 70s or Apostles).

Where the hell is the Pearl? I've lived in Bountiful, Fruit Heights and Kaysville almost my entire life and have never heard of it. I must have my head buried in the sand.

I suppose I could just drive around and look for the parking lot filled with tan Toyota Avalons with huge million dollar Publisher's Clearinghouse style checks in the back seat.

[Indy Coug]

Where the hell is the Pearl? I've lived in Bountiful, Fruit Heights and Kaysville almost my entire life and have never heard of it. I must have my head buried in the sand.

I suppose I could just drive around and look for the parking lot filled with tan Toyota Avalons with huge million dollar Publisher's Clearinghouse style checks in the back seat.

It's kind of like that Seinfeld episode where Costanza finds his way into a secret nightclub for supermodels and once they discovered he didn't belong, it reverted back to being a slaughterhouse. Once Statman infiltrated the inner sanctum, that was the end of The Pearl.

[CardiacCoug]

Where the hell is the Pearl? I've lived in Bountiful, Fruit Heights and Kaysville almost my entire life and have never heard of it. I must have my head buried in the sand.

I suppose I could just drive around and look for the parking lot filled with tan Toyota Avalons with huge million dollar Publisher's Clearinghouse style checks in the back seat.

I've never heard of it either. There is a place called Golden Pearl in SLC that is a decent Chinese takeout place. Probably not what he is talking about.

[Eddie]

Stephen D. Nadauld was in the Area Presidency some of the time I was in Florida. Came before I got there though. Heard of missionary joking with him and Stephen expressed concern to the MP. This is an urban legend in our mission. Don't even know if it was him but some office Elder or someone else said when he came in you must be Nadauld disrespectful so he told that MP to send him home to make an example. If that is true I think that is harsh. Something I have hard time believing myself.

SDN's son was in my mission. He met his wife there. They both left the mission at the same time, had their families come pick them up, and toured the mission together before heading back to Utah.

[smokymountainrain]

Where the hell is the Pearl? I've lived in Bountiful, Fruit Heights and Kaysville almost my entire life and have never heard of it. I must have my head buried in the sand.

I suppose I could just drive around and look for the parking lot filled with tan Toyota Avalons with huge million dollar Publisher's Clearinghouse style checks in the back seat.

According to Google (and my elementary search skills), there is no "The Pearl" restaurant in Bountiful.

[CardiacCoug]

According to Google (and my elementary search skills), there is no "The Pearl" restaurant in Bountiful.

Maybe he's confused with the Mandarin -- that seems like a restaurant in Bountiful that I could see GAs frequenting.

[woot]

I ran into David B. Haight at a family reunion right after I got back from my mission. I guess maybe I'm distantly related to him or something. He said "once a missionary always a missionary" and told me to shave. The end.

[smokymountainrain]

Maybe he's confused with the Mandarin -- that seems like a restaurant in Bountiful that I could see GAs frequenting.

Agreed.

[Uncle Ted]

Maybe he's confused with the Mandarin -- that seems like a restaurant in Bountiful that I could see GAs frequenting.

Yeah, I can't see them going to "Ho Ho Gourmet".

[grapevine]

AT a devotional at Ricks I heard were Dave at Albertsons saw guy with goatee shake his hand and said to him you didn't wear that on miss why now shave it. He did got called in bishopric, and eqp. took Dave's advice and shaved. 2000 devotional at Ricks were he suggested it. I shook Larry EchoHawks hand and talked to him while he was campaigning for governor. He asked for my vote while I was wearing Phil Batt t shirt.

[happyone]

Maybe he's confused with the Mandarin -- that seems like a restaurant in Bountiful that I could see GAs frequenting.

I saw Pres Faust there a couple of times.

[Hypoplastic]

I'm related to Keith B. McMullin, but I've only met him once.

I met Elder Eyring at a Subway. He was a lot more conversational than I expected and his demeanor really lit up when I asked him how the work was going in Chile (where I served). This was a few months before they announced the temple in Concepcion.

I met JRH toward the end of my Freshman year at BYU and through our conversation found out that his wife and the wife of my hometown stake president at the time are very good friends. He asked me to convey greetings when I returned home for the summer. My stake pres was visiting my ward the first Sunday I was home and I did as JRH asked. His first response was that his wife and JRH's wife are very good friends.

[Omaha 680]

Freshman year with a group of friends we saw David B. Haight at the Crossroads Mall food court in SLC. I didn't think it was him but the girls with us wanted to talk to him. He was really nice and said he was waiting for his ride.

At a sparsely attended basketball game at the Marriott Center about 8 years ago, I looked over my shoulder to the empty upper section and saw what a man sitting by himself in a suit. After a triple take I realized it was Jeffrey R. Holland. Someone with me wanted to go talk to him. Even though he's one of my favorites I said the guy is probably between boring meetings and wanted to pop in and be a normal person watching a basketball game for a few minutes. Let's leave him alone. Five minutes later I looked back again and he was surrounded by about 10 BYU students chatting him up. Two minutes after that I looked back and he was gone. It must really suck to be those guys sometimes.

[Surfah]

My MP was released after just two years to serve as a seventy in west Africa. He spoke in conference one year. It was the talk about sneaker waves. I've had conversations with Elder Kikuchi, Elder Groberg and Elder Staheli.

[myboynoah]

I went to the Mandarin once. It was okay, but not as great as everyone had said it was going to be.