(Compiled by Dennis B. Horne)
Elder Matthew Cowley, member of the Quorum of the Twelve (Part 2)
[Editorial Note: This is a continuation, as part 2, of 3 posts about Elder Cowley as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, out of a series of 6 delving into highlights of his life. These in turn are among others that touch on interesting and unusual experiences recorded by Elder Rudd regarding his friend and mission president. There may be a little repetition.]
Brother
Cowley was marvelous, just a great man. We talk about miracles. There were many
miracles. I was blessed to be a part of some of them. It got to be where he
could hardly go anywhere to bless the people without me or one of the other
missionaries. He would come to my office at my poultry business where I was
always busy trying to get orders out and wait an hour or an hour and a half
till I could clean up and go with him to the hospital or to wherever someone
was waiting for a priesthood blessing. It was wonderful to know how he loved to
bless people.
The phone used to ring on some of those occasions. It would be the secretary to President George Albert Smith. She’d say, “Brother Rudd, President Smith’s trying to find Brother Cowley. Have you got him down there?”
And I’d
say, “Yeah, he’s sitting right here.” “Well, tell him that President wants him
right now.” You know, Brother Cowley was not lazy, but he didn’t want to stay
in his office. He just had to get out of the Church Office Building because he
knew of half a dozen people who needed blessings. So, he played hooky a lot
from work. He would come and wait and President Smith would know how to find
him. It was wonderful what teamwork it took to get Brother Cowley back uptown
where President Smith could use him.
This is a
day of miracles and it was in his lifetime. He was a man of great faith, a man
who had the ability to bless people. He had the ability to call down from
heaven those blessings. It was marvelous to be at his side on a dozen, a
hundred, two hundred – at least, maybe more – occasions where we blessed the
people.
Matthew
Cowley had a serious heart attack about one year [six months] after he became
one of the Twelve. He was rushed home from BYU where he had been speaking and
was taken directly to his home. He refused to go to the hospital. As soon as he
arrived home, his wife called me and said, “Get Dave and come up quick.” So I picked
up Dave Evans in my old delivery truck and we raced up to the place where
President and Sister Cowley were living in the Royal Arms Apartments on North
and West Temple. We immediately went in and he said, “Hurry, Elders! Give me a
blessing!” He was in terrible pain. So we administered to him. The pain left
immediately.
Not many
minutes later, the front doorbell rang. I went to the door and it was President
George Albert Smith. He loved Brother Cowley, loved him with all his heart. He
had called him to be an apostle. He had helped raise him as a young boy. He
went with him to New Zealand when President Cowley went to be the mission
president. President Smith said, “I have come to see Brother Cowley.” I took
him into the bedroom where President Cowley was.
It was a lovely thing to see the Prophet of the Lord as he knelt down close to Brother Cowley. You could feel that great feeling between the President and the Apostle. He said, “Matt, I have come to give you a blessing.” Brother Cowley said, “Well, my missionaries just gave me a blessing.” And then the President of the Church said, “But, don’t you think it would be okay if the President of the Church could give you a blessing too?” The President smiled, and then he said to Dave and me, “Come on brethren.” And then he gave Brother Cowley a blessing, just as a father would to his tender son.
***
Years ago,
Brother Matthew Cowley came home from a mission and was made a member of the
Twelve. He came to my office one day and said, “Bish,” he used to call me
bishop, I was a bishop then, and he didn’t always call me bishop, sometimes he
just said “Bish.” He said, “Bish, I have got to tell you something that
happened today. I went into the steam room in the Old Deseret Gym. I went in
there to lose a couple of pounds. When I opened the door I was all alone. I sat
down in the heavy steam and it was hot and I began to perspire. Pretty soon the
door opened and I looked up to see who was coming in and I didn’t see anyone
and the door closed.”
Then he
said, “I felt the presence of an individual, but I couldn’t see him. In just a
couple of minutes a little boy sat down by me, or was sitting and moved over by
me. I looked down at him and just nodded my head and he said I didn’t even say
hello to him.”
He said, “I
saw that little boy look up at me, then he looked up again, and finally he
nudged me. There was just that little boy and I in the steam room. He says to
me, ‘Mr. I think I know who you are.’”
Brother
Cowley said to the little Primary boy, “Who am I?” He said, “You are Brother
Cowley, one of the Apostles of the Church.” He said, “That’s right.
Then he said, “Did you know I have been wanting to see you. You are the one who has been flying in airplanes all over the islands. You are the one that goes out and sees all of those native people that live out in the ocean aren’t you? Do you know how you do that? You know how it is that you don’t ever get sick and you don’t have any troubles and the planes never crash and you never have any troubles or anything like that?” “why?” Brother Cowley looked down at him and said, “No, do you know” And he said, “Sure, certainly I know why!” He said, “The reason you do all of those things is because every single morning I pray for you.”
***
Sometime in
the early 1950’s, Charles P. Rudd, my father, took his four sons on a trip to
California. At the time, Dad would have been around 60 years of age, Sam was
35, I was 34, Cal was 29, and Jack was 18. (These are approximate numbers.) Dad
had a big beautiful Cadillac and the five of us drove it to Northern California
to meet with some of Dad’s business associates in the San Francisco area.
We had a
great week together. We laughed a lot and managed to get along very well. Our
father was full of “righteous pride” in having his four sons with him on the
trip. I think he never forgot it and none of the boys ever forgot the
opportunity we had of being with our father during that week back when we were
young.
My father had been inactive in the Church since he had lost his hearing as a young boy; however, he loved the Church. Not long after we returned from our California trip, all five of us were in the office with our father helping him with his business when Elder Matthew Cowley came in for a visit. He congratulated Dad on having taken his four sons on a special trip and Dad told him how proud he was of his sons and how he had enjoyed being with them during that week. Brother Cowley listened carefully and detected a deep feeling from our father; and then, in a nice way he said, “Brother Rudd, wouldn’t it be nice to take a journey with your boys throughout eternity?” Dad knew what he meant and that was all that was said. It wasn’t long after that that we were able to go to the temple to be sealed as a family.
***
When Elder
Matthew Cowley was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, I had the occasion to
be with him nearly every day when he was in Salt Lake City. He always had
someone to bless, and he would call me to assist him.
He would
come to my place of business and wait until I could go with him. We blessed
hundreds of people in Salt Lake City and the surrounding area. Brother Cowley
seemed to be in great demand. If I was unable to go with him, some of my
missionary companions would accompany him.
Elder
Albert E. Bowen, an older member of the Quorum of the Twelve, was severely ill
in LDS Hospital—on the seventh floor in a private room. Quite regularly Brother
Cowley would say to me, “Let’s run up to the hospital and see how Brother Bowen
is.” When we went in, it was wonderful to hear a younger apostle express with
tenderness his sympathy and love for one of his brethren. On every occasion we
would give Brother Bowen a priesthood blessing. I know he appreciated it
greatly and I know it did Brother Cowley a lot of good. It made me feel wonderful
to be in the presence of these two wonderful men.
In my opinion, priesthood blessings are not given often enough. I am grateful that Brother Cowley was one who reached out constantly to see if someone needed or wanted another priesthood blessing.
***
I received
a telephone call from my mother who informed me that her cousin, Lavon
Holgreen, had just told her that her daughter was in the hospital with critical
injuries. My mother wanted me to get Elder Matthew Cowley and go immediately to
St. Mark’s hospital in North [South?] Salt Lake.
I called
Brother Cowley and we left for the hospital as soon as we could. Upon arriving,
we heard the details of the accident. The little girl’s name was Janice. She
was 12 years of age. She had been hit by a city-lines bus. The double rear
wheels had passed over her head and part of her body. Before we could
administer to her, the attending physician, who was LDS, spoke to us
discouragingly. He said, “Brethren, I advise you not to bless her to live, as
she has sustained the most serious kind of injuries. Her brain has been crushed
beyond repair. If she lives, she will never be able to see or hear and she will
be nothing but a vegetable. It would be better to bless her to pass away than
to live on the earth in the condition she will be in.” I remember very
distinctly how negative he was toward our blessing her with a promise of
restored health.
Brother
Cowley and I entered the room where Janice was. It was quite evident that she
was critically injured. We were told she had a broken pelvis, a possible broken
shoulder, a broken arm, and several other broken bones in addition to her
severe head injuries. Nonetheless, it was our feeling that we should administer
to her and bless her. I anointed her with oil and Elder Cowley sealed the
anointing. In a strong and resolute manner he blessed her to become well and
whole, and to live a normal life. We blessed her that she would recover with no
lasting effects from her many injuries. It was a great blessing and truly a
magnificent moment.
Elder
Cowley went back to the hospital almost every day for at least the next 30
days. He would sit by her bedside and just look at her. I know he fasted and
prayed several times in her behalf. She didn’t move a muscle for that entire
month and possibly longer. The doctors had felt no need to set her broken bones
because of the critical nature of her head injuries. However, after several
more weeks passed, she began to move. The medical staff began setting bones and
attending to other procedures that they had previously delayed. Janice began to
respond a little more each day. It was a joyous moment when things turned for
the better.
Brother
Cowley never lost faith. He had pronounced that she would get well, that she
would be all right, and that she would not have any lasting impairments. So it
was.
April 5,
1993, I spoke to Janice. She was celebrating her 55th birthday. She was the
mother of three children and had 11 grandchildren. No one had ever told her of
the full extent of her injuries, until this day. She asked me several questions
to which I responded to the best of my recollection. This miraculous healing
had never been recorded, nor had Brother Cowley ever mentioned it in any of his
faith-promoting talks, and neither had I until this day.
I told
Janice that her healing was one of the greatest of miracles, not unlike Brother
Cowley restoring the eyesight of the boy who was born blind. I know that boy
well and have been with him many times. As a middle-aged man, he could see near
perfectly.
I described
to her a little girl from American Fork who was badly crippled after being run
over by a car; unable to walk or talk. Brother Cowley and I blessed her and
then two or three years later we were blessed by her being able to sing and
dance for us.
I also
recited to her the story of little Joe, afflicted with polio. We blessed him as
he lay dying in an iron lung. The nurse had informed us that we were 15 minutes
too late – he appeared as if he had already passed away. At the request of his
mother who pleaded, “Don’t let my little boy die,” we blessed Joe and he was
made almost immediately well. In three or four weeks he was able to breath
without a tracheotomy. He went on to recover completely, go on a mission, and
be a happily married man with a lovely family. This too, was a great miracle.
Yet, of all the miracles I have been blessed to witness in my life, I think the single, most powerful experience occurred back in 1950 to that little 12 year-old girl, Janice, who says she has not suffered a single negative effect from her accident. While she has had her share of trials, none have been the result of what should have been critical injuries from being crushed by the bus those many years ago.
***
When I was in the business of selling baby chicks, early one morning several boxes of chicks arrived, which I was to deliver to American Fork. Since Elder Cowley was to speak at BYU that morning, he invited me to go along and deliver the chicks on the way. When we arrived in American Fork and began carrying in the boxes of baby chicks, the lady of the house almost fainted when she realized that a member of the Quorum of the Twelve was delivering her baby chicks to her, just one of those little things that seemed to happen quite frequently.
***
Elder Cowley loved to stop by the poultry processing plant which I owned. In the front by the office was a deep freeze, and we generally filled it with Snellys ice cream bars, which were bought by the dozen. He often stopped in to pick up a couple of Snellys, hop back into the car and be on his way. One day, while on his way to Provo with a carload of men, he stopped long enough to get Snellys for everyone, then waved goodbye to us as he went on his way.
***
Warren S. Ottley and I were invited to travel with Elder Cowley to a stake conference in the St. George Tabernacle, during which he called upon us to speak. Then, during his talk, he told the congregation that Brother Ottley was in the paint business and if anyone needed paint, they should order it today—and that I was in the baby chick business and if anyone needed baby chicks, they should order them today—inasmuch as he would receive a commission on anything that was sold during stake conference.
***
Elder
Cowley, as most of us know, never wrote his talks. He had been instructed not
to do that by President Smith. However, he had the assignment to give the
“Church of the Air” talk on one occasion, which had to be perfectly timed.
Therefore, he was required to write it all out and give it to Brother Gordon
Hinckley (not yet a General Authority), who was in charge of the [radio] broadcasts.
Elder Cowley and Brother Hinckley had quite a debate over the talk. Brother
Hinckley insisted that Elder Cowley could not give it in the exact time, and
Elder Cowley was sure he could. They wrestled back and forth for a while; and
finally Elder Cowley agreed to take a rather large paragraph out of the talk,
which made Brother Hinckley happy. However, when he got before the microphone
to give the talk, he put the omission back in and finished right on time. I’m
sure he and Brother Hinckley smiled over this unusual occurrence.
Elder Cowley gave some great talks. Some of them lasted well over an hour. But I think as far as I personally am concerned, the most wonderful talk I ever heard him give was given in my father’s office. My brothers and I had just returned from a week-long trip to California with our father. Elder Cowley came in to visit, and my dad had to tell him what a wonderful time he had with his sons. He was proud of us and was quite generous in the things he told Elder Cowley. After a moment, Elder Cowley, knowing that my father was not active in the Church, said to him, “Charlie, how would you like to take a trip with your boys through eternity?” Dad just smiled and nothing much was said. But it had a great effect on him, and it wasn’t very long before he was active and we were in the temple with him.
[Editorial Note: Elder Cowley’s heart attack caused him to miss the general conference held after the one he was called at. At the October 1946 general conference, as Elder Rudd explained above, he was assigned to speak during the special “Church of the Air” CBS radio broadcast that occurred during a session of conference. Those wishing to listen to Elder Cowley’s address on this occasion can do so by copying and pasting this link into their browser. Go to about 6 mins. in.: https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets?id=ab7be049-9c19-48ba-862c-9d7ae488a29d&crate=0&index=0 ]
***
When Elder
Matthew Cowley was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, I had the occasion to
be with him nearly every day when he was in Salt Lake City. He always had
someone to bless, and he would call me to assist him.
He would
come to my place of business and wait until I could go with him. We blessed
hundreds of people in Salt Lake City and the surrounding area. Brother Cowley
seemed to be in great demand. If I was unable to go with him, some of my
missionary companions would accompany him.
Elder Albert E. Bowen, an older member of the Quorum of the Twelve, was severely ill in the LDS hospital-on the seventh floor in a private room. Quite regularly Brother Cowley would say to me, "Let's run up to the hospital and see how Brother Bowen is." When we went in, it was wonderful to hear a younger apostle express with tenderness his sympathy and love for one of his Brethren. On every occasion we would give Brother Bowen a priesthood blessing. I know he appreciated it greatly and I know it did Brother Cowley a lot of good. It made me feel wonderful to be in the presence of these two wonderful men. In my opinion, priesthood blessings are not given often enough. I am grateful that Brother Cowley was one who reached out constantly to see if someone needed or wanted another priesthood blessing.
[Editorial
Note: Those wishing to learn more about Elder Bowen can copy and paste the following
link into their browser and watch him deliver a general conference address:
***
Many years
ago, back around 1950, Matthew Cowley and I were the two visitors who were
allowed to go into the polio ward at Salt Lake County Hospital. We went there a
number of times to bless the children and the adults who had polio. I shall
never forget the great number of people who were afflicted with this terrible
disease. We went into individual rooms, but once in a while we would go into a large
area where there were several patients—some were on rocking beds and others
just in hospital beds, two or three were in wheelchairs, and even one or two
were in iron lungs. Every person in that room was struggling to overcome the
dreadful disease.
On one
occasion, one of the group was a young boy who was sorely afflicted. Brother
Cowley and I blessed him. His name was Wilbem McDougal. He was no different
than the others, but years later he became a very prominent businessman and was
quite successful in some political activities.
During the
time I served as a member of the Seventy, I discovered he was the president of
the Arizona Phoenix Mission and we had the privilege of visiting him on a
number of occasions and even toured his mission. His health had been preserved
and he had enjoyed really good health except one of his legs or hip had become
quite deformed. He had a really bad limp which he has carried with him his
whole life. He was an excellent mission president with a good wife. It was a
great testimony to see that his life had been preserved and he had been allowed
to stay on the earth to become a highly successful man and even a mission
president. The last I heard, he was serving as a bishop in the west part of the
city.
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