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S U N S T O N E
People
Deceased. LARAINE WILKINS, 41, on 2
September from injuries sustained in a
car accident in southern Idaho. Wilkins
was a teacher, pianist, writer, and published
poet who, at the time of her
death, was serving as editor of
Irreantum, the literary publication of the
Association for Mormon Letters. In announcing
her passing to its members,
the AML board wrote, “Laraine’s contribution
to Mormon Letters and her involvement in AML was a
great gift to all of us, and everyone who knew her feels her absence
deeply.” Wilkins’s daughter, Lena Schoemaker, was
tragically paralyzed in the same accident. A fund, the
Schoemaker Family Trust, has been set up at Washington
Mutual for those who would like to assist with Lena’s recovery
and care.
Celebrated. His 96th birthday, LDS
President GORDON B. HINCKLEY, on
23 June, in a low-key event held at
Brigham Young University. President
Hinckley, who recently underwent
colon cancer surgery and chemotherapy
treatments, was in Provo for the groundbreaking
of a BYU building that will
bear his name. Despite his age and recent
ailments, President Hinckley took
up a shovel and helped break ground.
Winner. BENJI SCHWIMMER, of the
Fox television show So You Think You
Can Dance. Schwimmer, from Redlands,
California, is a returned missionary from
the Oaxaca Mexico Mission. Schwimmer’s
Mormonism came up good-naturedly
several times on the show, especially
when routines from Hip Hop and
other dance styles called for sexy moves.
Schwimmer is a former national champion
in West Coast Swing. Besides Schwimmer, three other
Latter-day Saints were among the show’s ten finalists.
Planned. A new Mormon musical by
South Park creators MATT STONE (left)
and TREY PARKER. Stone and Parker
have teamed up with Avenue Q composers
Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez to
write a Broadway musical about the
Mormons. “The show is going to be
something totally different,” Marx recently
said, according to a story widely
circulated on the web. “It’s going to be
about Mormons, and it’s going to be really funny. We hope.”
Mormons and Joseph Smith have appeared several times on
South Park, and a 2003 episode focused almost exclusively on
the origins of Mormonism and the Book of Mormon (see
SUNSTONE, December 2003, 9).
Baptized. Posthumously, POPE JOHN
PAUL II, in four LDS temples, one year
after his passing. According to
Holocaust baptisms researcher Helen
Radkey, the pontiff was baptized in the
Ogden Temple on 11 April, in the
Madrid Temple on 19 April, in the
Jordan River Temple on 20 April, and in
the Salt Lake Temple on 26 April. He
was also endowed and sealed to his parents
multiple times. John Paul II joins a list of renowned
Catholic leaders who have been baptized vicariously, including
Padre Pio, Mother Teresa, and Pope Pius XII. Born
Eugenio Pacelli, Pius XII was also sealed to a mysterious “Mrs.
Eugenio Pacelli.”
Named. MICHAEL HICKS, as editor of
American Music, a prestigious quarterly
journal devoted to studies of American
composers, performers, publishers, institutions,
events, and the music industry.
Hicks, a professor of music at
BYU and regular contributor to
Sunstone forums, has published three
books with the University of Illinois
Press, which publishes the journal.
Acquired. By the University of Oklahoma Press, THE
ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY. Founded in 1902 and
presently based in Spokane, Washington, but soon moving to
Norman, Oklahoma, the Arthur H. Clark Company is a publisher
of fine-quality nonfiction books on the history of the
American West, including several important titles related to
Mormonism, many in its Kingdom in the West series, edited
by Will Bagley. Former owner Robert A. Clark is now a manager
at OU Press, which is one of several university presses
that publishes substantive works on Mormon history topics.
Deceased.PORTER ROCKWELL JONES,
16, the official greeter and playmate of
visitors to the Signature Books office, 20
September, of complications resulting
from a ruptured spinal disk. The half-pit
bull, named, appropriately, for Joseph
Smith’s infamous bodyguard, Porter has
been a fixture at Signature since his
rescue from an animal shelter by
Signature staffer Greg Jones. Porter is
also famous for having his portrait painted by renowned artist
Trevor Southey. Southey’s portrait of Porter can be viewed at
www.signaturebooks.com/excerpts/trevor.htm#porter.
SEPTEMBER 2006 PAGE 77