(Compiled by Dennis B. Horne)
Elder Matthew Cowley, member of the Quorum of the Twelve (Part 1)
[Editorial
Note: This material continues the reminiscences of Elder Glen L. Rudd relating
to his former mission president, mentor, and close friend, Elder Matthew
Cowley. Missionary Rudd had returned home to Salt Lake from New Zealand at the
start of WWII, married, started a poultry business, and been called as a young
bishop. President Cowley remained in New Zealand, at the First Presidency’s
request, until the end of the war and then returned home at which time he was
called to the apostleship. There is a little repetition in a few stories.]
The very next day Brother Cowley’s phone rang and it was President David O. McKay. He said, “Brother Cowley, this is David O. McKay and this is your official call to preside over the New Zealand Mission. We need you there in about six weeks.”
He and his
wife had very little time to get ready, but they made it and got to New Zealand
sometime during February 1938. They stayed for almost seven and a half years.
During
Brother Cowley’s first mission (which lasted five years), he was in New Zealand
during the entire time that America was at war in WWI. When he was called back
in 1938 to be the mission president, New Zealand went to war in September of
1939 and all of the missionaries were called home in October of 1940. He was
left alone until 1945. By that time WWII was fought and he had been in New
Zealand during that entire time. Because of his two missions to New Zealand, he
missed both World Wars.
When
Brother Cowley returned home in September 1945, he didn’t own a car—didn’t own
a home—didn’t have any insurance—didn’t have any money, everything had been
spent during his years in New Zealand. He was looking for a job. He had two or
three opportunities, but didn’t like them. Only three weeks after he got home,
he went to October conference. The night before, President George Albert Smith
called him and told him to sit on the front row in the Tabernacle and in the
event that they had five minutes, they would call on him to give his testimony.
If they didn’t have five minutes, they were going to call on him to offer a
prayer.
I went with
him to the Tabernacle. I was a bishop and had a pass, but because he didn’t
have a pass, we were given quite an argument getting him in. We talked him in
and he sat on the front row. After the opening prayer, President J. Reuben
Clark, Jr. read off the names of all of the general authorities. There were
then only eleven members of the Twelve. President George Albert Smith had just
been made President of the Church which created a vacancy. When President Clark
read off the eleven names, he paused, and then announced the twelfth apostle –
Matthew Cowley. That was the first Brother Cowley knew about it. He had not
been told and it was a surprise to him and all of the rest of us. His wife was
home doing some work when the phone began to ring with people calling
congratulating her. She was upset because she hadn’t been to conference.
President George Albert Smith didn’t tell the Twelve until only just a few
minutes before the beginning of that general conference.
With World War
II, new missionaries were no longer being sent out. Our mission hadn't received
any new elders for over a year, and there were only 34 missionaries left to
keep the mission running. One day President Cowley received a cablegram calling
the missionaries home on account of the war. European missionaries had been
called home and now it was our turn. President Cowley read it to us: we had
been called home.
President
Cowley remained for the next five years with his wife, daughter, and little
adopted Maori boy for the entire war. He was stranded, unable to leave the
country. But he was the kind of person to be stranded there. He had already
been there on his first mission, so on that second assignment of eight years,
he had a wonderful time. On his first mission, he had been there for five years
throughout the entire First World War. So altogether his two missions comprised
thirteen years and he missed out on both wars.
When he
finally returned home, President Cowley wondered what he would do for a living.
He had been a lawyer and had practiced law for about twelve years, but he
didn't have a practice to come back to. He had never made very much money and
was struggling. We took him to look for a car. The war had just ended and it
was very difficult to get a car. He was on waiting lists to get a car. Those of
you who are older may remember how you couldn't buy anything without tickets or
coupons and had to be on a waiting list to get a car. People who talked with
Brother Cowley said they would get him a car, but for a while nobody could.
Then one day, someone finally did, but not until after Brother Cowley had been
a member of the Twelve for quite a while. Upon his return, he was forty-eight
and totally broke.
It was then
time for General Conference and I told Brother Cowley I would pick him up and
take him. On the way, I said, "President, how are you going to get into
the tabernacle? You don't have a ticket." "Well, how are you going to
get in?" he asked. I replied, "I'm a bishop, and I'm going to sit
with the bishops." He said, "Well, last night, President George
Albert Smith called me and asked me to sit on the front row. Frequently, they
have five extra minutes and call on a returned mission president to come up and
bear his testimony. If there isn't any extra time, I'll probably be called on
to pray. So I'm to tell the ushers that I'm supposed to sit on the front
row."
When we
arrived at the tabernacle, he talked his way in. After the opening song and
prayer, President J. Reuben Clark asked that George Albert Smith be sustained
as the President of the Church and Prophet of the Lord. He next read off the
names of the Twelve, including Matthew Cowley at the bottom to fill the
vacancy. Matthew Cowley didn't know anything about it. It was an exciting
moment. President Smith knew where he was. He was President Smith's pride and
joy since he was a little boy. President Smith didn't even tell him what was
going to happen; he just had him sustained. Very few apostles have been
sustained that way. Sister Cowley hadn't been listening to conference at home.
The phone began to ring and her friends started to congratulate her. She didn't
know why; but she was a little upset because she hadn't gone to conference.
He was a
little shaken up, as you can imagine. I told him to let me drive back to
conference. There he gave his very first talk accepting the great calling that
had come to him. For 8 ½ years, he served in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
He was one of the most loved men in the Church. Since President Smith couldn't
keep all his appointments, he gave most of them to Brother Cowley. He was the
Prophet's best friend, and so he gave him all kinds of special assignments.
When
Brother Cowley returned from his mission and became an apostle, he wanted me to
travel with him. I didn't want to because of my new calling as bishop, but I
did go with him on a few trips. We were together almost every single day that
he was in town. He would come to my place of business and wait. Then we would
go bless someone. I have no idea how many hundreds of people we administered
to, but it was day after day.
In the
afternoon session Elder Cowley was asked to speak, giving his “apostolic
acceptance” speech, as they were often referred to. President Smith, who was
conducting, accidentally called him by his father’s name, Mathias F. Cowley
(who had been an apostle long before but had been removed from the Quorum), but
then quickly corrected himself. You can listen to Elder Cowley’s first (inspiring)
conference address by copying and pasting this link into your browser, and
going to 1:43:53 minutes in: https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets?id=ab7be049-9c19-48ba-862c-9d7ae488a29d&crate=0&index=0
]
Brother
Cowley didn't know at the time he was called to be an apostle that Senator
Elbert D. Thomas from Utah and a very close friend to President Harry S. Truman
was working on the proposition that Matthew Cowley be called by the U.S.
Government to represent the United States in the New Zealand Consulate [as
Ambassador]. It would have been a great assignment for Brother Cowley and he,
no doubt, would have accepted—except that the Lord had other plans. Instead,
President George Albert Smith called him to be an apostle.
Brother
Cowley was not the least bit interested in running for political office, but he
had great respect for Senator Reed Smoot, for whom he had worked as a young man
while attending law school. In Brother Cowley's last talk on 4 October 1953, he
spoke mainly about prayer. When it was over, he said to me: "I would have
liked to have told the Saints about the many times I went into the office of
Senator Reed Smoot in Washington D.C. and found him on his knees. He was truly
a great man and prayed constantly over the problems he had. If I were to
mention his name in my talk and his prayerful efforts, someone would have
accused me of politics."
While I was
in the hospital, Elder Cowley visited me every day, sometimes for up to an
hour. He seemed to have a great attraction to hospitals. Elder Albert E. Bowen
spent the last months of his life in the LDS Hospital in critical condition [in
a private room]. Many nights, after we were through with our normal activities
and visits, Elder Cowley suggested that we go see Elder Bowen. We almost always
ended our visit by giving him a special blessing.
Many times
Elder Cowley came to my office [at Rudd’s poultry processing plant] and waited
for up to three hours while I got through the heavy part of my work and then we
went to bless people. On several occasions, while he was waiting for me,
President George Albert Smith's secretary called my office trying to find Elder
Cowley. She would say, "Tell him the President of the Church needs him to
come to the office as soon as possible."
Many years
ago I served a mission in New Zealand. The day I arrived, I had the opportunity
of meeting President Matthew Cowley for the first time. During the next two
years we became close friends, and during the latter part of my mission I lived
in the mission home and traveled with President Cowley throughout New Zealand.
He was an
excellent teacher and a most interesting person. Some years later, while he was
a member of the Council of the Twelve Apostles, I accompanied him on two or
three occasions when he was the speaker at Brigham Young University
devotionals. Everyone loved to hear his stories. Even though he passed away
many years ago, people in many parts of the Church are still interested in the
faith-promoting stories he told.
Over and
above everything else, President Cowley tried to keep the things he taught
simple. In fact, he said many times that he was unable to speak very often of
subjects beyond the first principles of the gospel. I remember well that he
spoke about prayer, faith, and repentance. For several years he had a talk
about baptism prepared, which he wanted to give in general conference, but life
ran out before he gave that talk. He lived simply. He really didn’t concern
himself with his own personal needs; he only wanted to bless and inspire people
to live the gospel in a simple way.
President
Spencer W. Kimball was a man of good humor. He loved to hear a good story. He
commented several times that the funniest story he had ever heard in his life
was the one I had told him about Brother Cowley and a deep freezer. This is the
story:
Brother
Paul Pehrson owned Pehrson Hardware in the Sugarhouse area of Salt Lake City.
He was prosperous and a fine Latter-day Saint. Brother Cowley and I would drop
in his store frequently to do some shopping or visiting. Every time we went
into the store, Brother Cowley would go over to the freezers that were on sale
at the back of the store. Brother Cowley didn't seem to notice the other
appliances, just the deep freezers. I began to realize that he really wanted
one.
After we
had been to the store about five times, and Brother Pehrson had watched Brother
Cowley opening and closing the freezer doors, he called me one day at work and
asked, "Bishop, does Brother Cowley really want a deep freezer?" I
replied, "We both know he would like to have one; he seems to be
fascinated with them. But I don't think he needs one, and I know they can't
afford one." Brother Pehrson said to me. "I've had a good year. I've
made more money than I have made ever before, and it wouldn't hurt me to give
him a deep freezer. But I am reluctant to do it because I don't want to
embarrass him in any way." I told Paul that it would be difficult to
embarrass Brother Cowley. He always appreciated it when someone gave him
something. But I don't think he would ever expect to get such a valuable gift
as a deep freezer. Brother Pehrson asked me how he should approach Brother
Cowley. I said,
"Just call him on the phone and say, "Brother
Cowley, you've been in the store several times and I have an idea you would
like to have a deep freezer." He will then tell you it is true. Then you
can say to him, "I would like to give you a freezer if it is
alright."
Brother
Pehrson called Brother Cowley and said, "Brother Cowley, I don't want to
embarrass you or make you feel funny, but I wonder if it would be alright if I
gave you a nice new deep freezer." Instead of Brother Cowley saying
something like, "I'd love to have it," or "thanks," his
immediate answer was, "full or empty?"
Brother
Cowley did get the freezer—an empty one. However, some of his missionaries
helped him fill it and he enjoyed it throughout the balance of his life.
Brother
Pehrson got more unexpected and unsolicited advertising from this gesture than
anything else he could have done. Brother Cowley let everyone know where they
should go for their hardware and appliances.
One day
Brother Cowley and I were walking down Main Street in Salt Lake City. We got
down a block or so when he said, “Let’s stop in this place and get a good cold
drink.” At the very back of this tall building, about fifty or sixty steps, was
a little confectionary place where you could buy cigars, cigarettes, candy, and
drinks. It was a narrow entrance and we walked to the back. Brother Cowley
said, “We want two ice cold Coca Colas.”
The clerk
took the cap off of the Coke and handed it over to Brother Cowley and he handed
it to me. The clerk grabbed the other Coke, but before he could remove the cap
Brother Cowley said, “I’ve changed my mind. I think I’ll have an Orange Crush.”
There I am
standing holding a Coca Cola in an uptown office building and he is drinking an
Orange Crush!
He had
planned this all out in advance just to pull a trick on me. We were standing
there drinking and all of a sudden he says, “Don’t turn around! Don’t turn
around! Here comes Harold B. Lee!” I did turn around and it wasn’t Brother Lee,
but just typical Matthew Cowley….
On one
wonderful occasion, Matthew Cowley insisted, against my protest, that I go with
him to the office of J. Reuben Clark, Jr., then a member of the First
Presidency, to receive some final instructions before leaving on an extended
trip to the Islands. We were, at that time, on our way to the railroad station.
When we
arrived at President Clark's office, he shook our hands and said to Brother
Cowley, "Now kid, don't forget Rule 6."
When
Brother Cowley asked what Rule 6 was, President Clark replied, "Don't take
yourself too darn seriously."
I smiled,
and Brother Cowley inquired as to what the other five rules were. "There
aren't any," President Clark replied.
Then
Brother Cowley received some very detailed instructions about not flying in
airplanes any more than he had to. (President Clark was very opposed to air
travel at that time.) He also received instructions on how to eat as he
traveled among the natives in other countries and particularly warned him
against eating uncooked foods and overeating the fruits. He was urged to get
plenty of sleep and take care of himself.
It was
interesting to be in the presence of these two great men and listen to
President Clark give a younger apostle some good fatherly advice about his many
journeys out into the far places of the globe. He was one of the greatest
teachers of his time.
[Editorial Note: Those interested in gaining a further
understanding and appreciation of President J. Reuben Clark, whom so many
members of the Quorum of the Twelve thought so highly of, might watch some of
his general conference messages; copy and paste link into browser:
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