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LAWRENCE WILLIAM SHERNER
4th Bishop of the Lynne Ward (later Ogden 15'h Ward)
March 12, 1916 - February 28, 1926
"If thou
wilt live unto the knowledge thou hast obtained ... you shall be gratified and
prepared for every duty that is appointed to thee by thy Father .... And in the
own due time of the
Lord thou shalt be called and ordained to the office of a Bishop in the church
and kingdom of
God .... And like Alma of old, the Spirit of the Lord thy God shall rest upon
thee."
These prophetic words were spoken to Lawrence Sherner thirteen years prior to
his ordination as
a bishop. Uttered by his patriarch, they answered the query the young man had
been intently
pondering.
The place:
Ogden, Utah. The year: 1903. Lawrence had completed his mission to the
Eastern States in 1899 (he departed for the mission field in November, 1897),
and he returned to
his mother and brothers and sisters to help them recover from the sudden death
of his father and
the poverty they were suffering. During Lawrence's fourteen months away in West
Virginia the
weather in the Rocky Mountains was so cold that Lawrence felt compelled to send
his own
overcoat home to provide some warmth for whomever could wear it. One historical
record
reported that "a remarkable cold wave prevailed throughout Utah." (Jensen's
Church Chronology
for Jan. 26, 1898) Mary Sherner, his mother, wrote that everything had frozen in
the cellar. Both
she and his father Peter were bedridden, Peter with a kidney disease, and Mary
with a new baby,
her eleventh child. She did note that his sisters were doing "a splendid job" of
doing all they
could to help. Lawrence was stunned by the subsequent telegram from President
Lorenzo Snow
in January 1899, announcing his father's death and releasing him from his
mission to return
home. He wrote in his journal, "I couldn't get the thoughts of my loss and home
and my
responsibilities off my mind."
The
mission president sent train fare, and after walking 60 miles to Charleston,
Lawrence
was soon on his way to Utah to shoulder the responsibility that had passed to
him. When he
arrived, he stopped briefly downtown for a shave and haircut and then went to
see his family.
Four days later Lawrence noted in his journal that he had gone to work as
janitor at the
schoolhouse that day (the same job Peter had before he died). He continued to
work as a janitor
there for some time, and when spring came he again labored in the fields to help
restore his
family to prosperity.
But wait.
Let's view a larger picture. In his own words, written neatly in his notebook
later. Lawrence William Sherner was born in "Lynne Ward, Ogden City, Weber
County, Utah," on
October 27, 1874, to Peter Lorenson Sherner and Mary Elizabeth Hutchens. He
attended school
at the Lynne schoolhouse, and he spent his childhood days in the company of his
relatives, who
were Mormon pioneers. From them, he leaned the necessity of hard work and the
character
traits of responsibility, integrity, and strict faithfulness to their religious
tenets. His father, Peter,
had trudged across the plains as a boy with Peter's mother Maren Sorenson from
Denmark in
1863, eleven years before Lawrence was born. And, Peter set an example of faith
by returning to
Denmark as a missionary when Lawrence was a young boy.
Lawrence's
mother, Mary Elizabeth Hutchens, was born on the Utah frontier in 1855, but
both her parents were pioneers. Mary's mother, Mary Eliza Stone, emigrated from
England and
drove an ox team from Winter Quarters for a deaf family when she was only 15.
Mary's father,
William Birch Hutchens, left an easy life in South Carolina, surrounded by
servants and a
luxurious estate, to travel by wagon as a boy of 14 with his sister Nancy to
join the Saints in
Nauvoo, and then continue to the Rocky Mountains in the second company in 1848.
As a young
man, William was called to journey out to the Green River, Wyoming, area with
wagons of
supplies to render assistance to other emigrant teams coming to Utah. He then
became a part of
the building crew on the Salt Lake Temple and on other public buildings, After
William Hutchens
married and moved north to Slaterville, he and Mary Eliza raised eleven
children; he was active in
civic and church affairs; and, until his death he was a dynamic force in facing
the challenges of
his religion and in building up this new land. (from transcript of William B.
Hutchens biography in
possession of Genevieve Sherner)
William
Birch Hutchens was no doubt a significant influence on the character of his
grandson, Lawrence William Sherner. This was the man who blessed Lawrence as a
baby,
baptized him, confirmed him, and taught him many things as they worked in the
fields together.
Each week Lawrence saw his grandfather serving faithfully in his church
positions or helping
those less fortunate, and he could not miss the respect that community members
expressed for
this man. Lawrence only knew his Grandfather Hutchens for eleven years before
the older man
died of typhoid pneumonia on October 18, 1885, at the age of 57, but it was time
enough for the
boy's feet to be firmly planted in the way he should go.
As time
passed Mary Sherner's fortunes improved, and Lawrence began to think more
about his own future. After four years of friendship and courtship, Lawrence
proposed to his
sweetheart, Rozina Diana Shaw, a neighbor and fellow member of Lynne Ward.
Rozina was in
her teens, daughter of a prominent merchant. She had studied at the Weber
Academy; her
teacher was David 0. McKay. She had large eyes and long, upswept hair, with a
penchant for
hats--very fashionable at the time. He gave Rozina a beautiful opal-and-diamond
engagement
ring. Lawrence had previously been granted some of the family acreage, and
Rozina's father,
William Shaw, loaned the young couple $700 to build a two-story red brick home
at 218 Second
Street that still stands as the home of their daughter Genevieve. On June 18,
1902, Lawrence
and Rozina traveled to the Salt Lake Temple to marry. They returned to their new
home, where
they traded rings at the threshold as they entered their new life together.
Now,
Lawrence's formative years were behind him, and his feet were set on the path
toward his dreams for the future. A new century had begun, with new challenges,
a new bride,
and a family soon to follow. Lawrence felt anxious and uneasy about the future
and the
aspirations that he should seek. What should he do with his life? What was God's
plan for him?
He decided to obtain a blessing from the patriarch, George Larkin. On August 12,
1903, the
patriarch blessed him, saying, "Thy mind has been somewhat worried because of
circumstances
surrounding thee," and he said the purpose of the blessing was for thy comfort
and strengthening
in the Lord, and to prepare thee for further usefulness in His church and
kingdom."
Patriarch
Larkin then blessed Lawrence in a way that must have shocked him, but it
surely answered his query as to what the future held, for he was told, "in the
own due time of the
Lord thou shalt be called and ordained to the office of a Bishop in the church
and Kingdom of
God." He then admonished Lawrence to "put thy trust in thy Father in Heaven and
be reconciled
to His will concerning thee .... These are thy blessings, dear brother." (Patriarchal blessing
recorded in Book 8, p. 59. Copy in possession of Genevieve Sherner)
So now he
knew! Surely it was comforting to have one's future revealed, but what
knowledge--that if he lived worthy, he would someday be a bishop, a judge in
Israel! The
patriarch indicated that the time between his knowledge and the actual calling
was to be a period
of preparation and acceptance. It would be a time when he would worry over the
responsibility
that was to come (indeed, his sister Laura remembered that Lawrence did worry
about his call
from that time forward). And, it would also be a time when he would
continue to be tested.
Lawrence
moved forward with his life. He continued to work as the schoolhouse janitor
(the same school he had attended as a boy), and he planted crops on his
property. He served as
Sunday School teacher, Sunday School superintendent, chorister, and member of
the North
Weber Stake high council. Rozina served actively in the ward also. Two daughters
were born,
and the girls remembered later how delightful their dad thought they were, and
how he loved to
play with them. In 1907 the first son, William Lawrence, was born. With Willie's
birth, along with
joy, came the greatest sorrow his parents would ever know. Willie suffered from
a festering skin
ailment that caused him excruciating pain. Doctors were consulted and remedies
were tried, but
to no avail; Willie still suffered from the terrible sores. David 0. McKay gave
Willie a blessing, but
finally the parents could see that his life would not be spared and they must
accept the will of the
Lord. He died after ten months of life, and he was given a large funeral
in the Lynne Ward.
Lawrence
had been forewarned that his faith would be tested, but he had no idea how
much. He and Rozina had passed through the refiner's fire with Willie, and the
experience stayed
with them for the remainder of their lives. It taught Lawrence compassion and
acceptance of
things that cannot be changed. Other sons and daughters came, and the parents,
although
broken-hearted, went forward. The world was in turmoil, with World War I on the
horizon;
Lawrence's own brother, Mark, would be going to Europe soon. In the community,
the new Lynne
Ward meetinghouse was completed at Five Points, and Apostle Reed Smoot offered
the
dedicatory prayer at the handsome, brick building on September 5, 1915. Elder
Smoot noted in
his prayer that hundreds of chapels were being built yearly, and the people were
"better housed
and better taken care of in their worshipping assemblies than they ever have
been in the past."
He prayed that they would be blessed "in their basket and in their store and in
their faith", and
that they would continue to increase "as Thou would have them do." (from the
dedicatory prayer
transcript in possession of Genevieve Sherner)
On March
12, 1916, the patriarch's prophecy was fulfilled, and Lawrence Sherner was
called and ordained to be bishop of the Lynne Ward of Zion by authority of
President Joseph F.
Smith. The new bishop chose his brother-in-law, Lawrence Malan, to be his first
counselor, with
another counselor still to be selected. Apostle George Albert Smith ordained the
new bishop and
declared, "If you are humble and prayerful and will do your part you will have
joy in the ministry
and you will be the means in the hands of the Lord in doing much good among this
people." He
admonished Lawrence to have no favorites, but rather, "to go forth with a
feeling in your heart that
all are your friends.... Now, dear brother, be the Father of your Ward. Love
every child in it,
both old and young." He was promised if he would love without condition, that
even on the other
side of the veil his ward members would rise up and call him blessed by reason
of his prayers
and persistent effort. (from the ordination blessing transcript in possession of
Genevieve Sherner)
Bishop
Sherner threw himself wholeheartedly into his calling. Austin Shaw was set apart
as his second counselor and Henry Moore was named ward clerk. Thus began the
countless
hours a bishopric spends conducting ward business and counseling ward members.
His
daughter Marjorie remembered years later that her dad was totally engrossed from
Thanksgiving
to the end of each year conducting tithing interviews and writing notations in
the record books in
his meticulous script. The smallest details claimed his attention, so that
everything would run
smoothly. If he did have time in the evening, she recalled that he could usually
be found in the
unheated front parlor, reading his church books.
Leisure-time activities were rarely considered, although the children remembered
riding a
wagon pulled by a horse up the canyon on the 4th of July. More likely, leisure
fun resulted when
the family took an evening walk along the railroad tracks and they would take
turns swinging on
the railroad switch. The whole family would work together, perhaps harvesting
the green beans
in the back field. Besides the bean patch, Lawrence had planted other crops, and
Genevieve was
paid one cent for each cup of strawberries she picked from the family patch.
(Hey, kids, how
would you like to make that kind of money?!) The children recalled that both
parents were kind to
their children and caring about the grandparents. Lawrence visited his mother
down the street,
and the family would journey up to Logan to visit Grandma Shaw in her later
years. Grandma
Shaw was VERY religious and loving, and she offered them profuse amounts of food
whenever
they came to visit.
They had a
wonderful dog named Nick who could climb a ladder and who lived a long
time. The family cow was highly prized by the family; as the family grew to
eight children, they
really needed the cow. The family was devastated when the cow ate too much
alfalfa and, as
she groaned in the throes of agony, Lawrence stuck a knife in her belly to
release the gas. She
died anyway, and Rozina wondered whatever would they do now! When church
dignitaries
visited from out-of-town for conference they ate dinner at the Sherner home;
this was a difficult
chore for Rozina.
During the
first years after Bishop Sherner was ordained, his ward members were coping
with the sorrows of death and deformity from World War I. Mark Sherner, his
younger brother,
had seen the horrors of combat and had survived, he believed, only because as a
farm boy from
Utah he could shoe horses, so he was removed from the front lines to work with
the horses. (from
his unpublished journal in possession of Genevieve Sherner) Other sons and
brothers were not
so lucky. Those who returned after the armistice in 1918 faced a lack of
work--Utah's agrarian
economy did not support many jobs--and broken spirits. It would be the bishop's
task to help
families find answers to these temporal problems. (As for Mark Sherner, the
family recalls that he
never fully recovered from being gassed during the fighting, and that eventually
he died an
untimely, early death, broken by what he had endured. No doubt his sufferings
must have pained
Lawrence.)
About this
same time the influenza epidemic enveloped the world, and Ogden did not
escape, either. Nearly every family lost a family member to its scourge, and
those who did not die
were often very ill. Penicillin had not yet been discovered. Genevieve Sherner
remembers her
mother remarking that in the neighborhood two members of the Leavitt family died
from the flu at
that time. Lawrence and Rozina's son, Lawrence Jr., was born during the epidemic
in 1918, and
the midwife attending thought he had died; he was laid aside while Rozina was
attended, and
then the baby made a small sound. Women were gone from home to tend sick friends
and
relatives, hoping not to become infected themselves. The bishopric was very busy
during 1918-
1919, blessing ward members or conducting funerals. They, too, were in danger of
contracting
the illness.
The new
meetinghouse at Five Points was a real bright spot for the LDS community. It
was a spacious building, well designed, located on the triangle between
Washington Boulevard
and Harrisville Road; it cost $20,000. It replaced an older building nearby.
This was where the
ward meetings were held, social events took place, and where the Lynne Ward
bishopric
conducted interviews. It was an easy walk up Second Street for Bishop Sherner.
No doubt,
everyone was proud of that chapel. By today's standards, however, it was quite
noisy because of
the wood floors and wooden benches. A visitor from the 1950's remembers that a
curtain was
pulled across the back to separate classes for Sunday School, and voices easily
carried through
the curtain. A public address system would be lacking in the early days. But, no
matter, it was
lovely, and the gospel was taught there. A 1919 program describes a meeting
format just like
today, although Primary, Relief Society, and Sacrament were held on different
days or times.
Home teachers were called ward teachers, and priesthood members were reminded of
the
upcoming ward teacher's report meeting. The scripture message was from D&C 68:29
- "The
inhabitants of Zion shall also observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy." The
Sacrament bread
was served on heavy silver plated trays, and the water was passed in trays with
small metal cups.
Bishop
Sherner counted heavily on both his counselors to help him fulfill his
assignments,
as he was instructed to do by Elder George Albert Smith at his ordination.
Quoting from Elder
Smith, "Honor your counselors and sustain them ... and when you reason together
with prayerful
hearts, the will of the Lord will be made manifest unto you, and you will
understand each other
and your decisions will be our Father's will." Lawrence Malan was an example of
a counselor
who was a close confidante to Bishop Sherner. He spoke these words at Rozina's
funeral in
1952. "I was [her husband's] counselor from 1916 to 1926 while he served as
Bishop of the
Lynne Ward and during our administration the name was changed to the Fifteenth
ward. This
relationship was as fine as any who have been associated in church activities as
counselor to a
Bishop."
Lawrence
Malan also mentioned Rozina's contribution in helping her husband perform
his labors (in spite of the fact that she was still bearing and caring for their
children, and she was
also the ward Relief Society President 1920-1921): "The relationship drew us
closer together in
our family duties and I know that Rozina was devoted and helpful to her husband
the Bishop as is
necessary for successful administration in that high office in the Mormon
Church." (from Rozina's
funeral transcript in possession of Genevieve Sherner)
Time
proceeded on, and in spite of the political uncertainties, no calamities
occurred in
the remaining years of Bishop Sherner's administration. Heber J. Grant was
ordained as Church
President in the waning days of World War I, and his astute financial decisions
and emphasis on
welfare benefited the members. Prohibition was a big political issue, and church
leaders strove to
continue repressing the evils of alcohol. It was ironic, and embarrassing, that
Utah actually
provided the deciding vote in Congress to overturn Prohibition. Bishop Sherner
would have
known about this political issue, as well as the erratic stock market, which did
provide
the calamity of the crash at the end of the decade. Lawrence himself, besides
farming, was a
shareholder by now in the Scoville Paper Company (later the Ogden Paper
Company), where he
had advanced from clerk to manager, thus providing his family with an adequate
income. The
Depression would provide new trials for all, including the Sherners.
The
bishopric of the Fifteenth Ward was released on February 28, 1926. Earl E. Lee
was
selected as the new Bishop. A newspaper article of the time attributed the
change to Bishop
Sherner's ill health; he did suffer at some point from elevated blood pressure,
but perhaps, after
ten years of service, it was simply time for a change. In a letter from the
Presiding Bishop's
Office, Sylvester W. Cannon wrote, "Yours has been a labor of love and mercy and
your kindness
and helpfulness to all classes, particularly the poor and needy, no doubt, cause
your name to be
held in affectionate remembrance by all with whom you have labored." (letter in
possession
of Genevieve Sherner)
No
comments by Lawrence Sherner have been found, but the release must have been
a bittersweet event: a relief in some ways, and opportunity for rest, but
definitely a change
for someone used to getting things done. He must have felt joy and satisfaction
that he had done his
best effort for his Heavenly Father. His posterity holds him in highest
esteem.
Compiled by his Granddaughter, Colleen Johnson Blankenship
June 15, 2004
