Dealing with the death of someone you love is never easy. Our heavy hearts can be made heavier by the financial burden, which until recently I thought was unavoidable. Perhaps you share my previous experience of assuming that everybody who had a death in the family simply called a funeral home and followed tradition. However, a traditional funeral, burial, and headstone can easily cost anywhere from $8,000 to $20,000. For most of us, such an expense would mean a heavy debt. With the Church’s frequent counsel to stay out of debt, research of all options available is something worth our time. Since we all know that death is a fact of life, we can begin now to gather information. I did considerable research in the last few months, and am glad to report it is not only possible, but also environmentally advisable to sidestep these high costs.

I have come …

Question:

I am an active LDS woman, married to a non-LDS man, and I have 2 adult non-LDS stepchildren. We are a happy family, though I do attend church and the temple by myself. Sometimes I feel torn between two worlds: it seems I’m “super religious” to my non-LDS friends and family, and I’m considered “less active” or on the “worry list” in my ward, because of my non-LDS family (though I attend church every week). It’s not my imagination about the ward’s perception of me–a close LDS ward member let it slip one day. I long to have social connections in my ward (going out for dinner or the movies as a couple, etc), yet my LDS friends seem uncomfortable socializing with us outside of church, perhaps because my husband has a glass of wine with dinner, or they find little in common to talk about with my non-LDS husband. …

If I was researching the Myerly family of Carroll County, Maryland, I would be jumping for joy! Hidden in an obscure estate file was the Holy Grail of genealogy documentation: a one-page letter naming the deceased’s children, their spouses, and the deceased’s grandchildren.

Addendum to Letter of Administration 

David Myerly, the decedent, died without a will. Therefore, it was necessary for a “Letter of Administration” to be created to name an executor who would distribute Mr. Myerly’s property with legal authority.

I came across this treasure while working with our team of volunteers to prepare documents for digitization at the Maryland Archives (see my earlier Meridian article). For the previous two weeks, we had been processing hundreds of Letters of Administration, but they were simply the standard forms as shown below.

Letter of Administration for David Myerly 

This stunning discovery of a detailed letter reinforced the first …

Try a thought experiment. Pretend that you are a researcher finding out how members of the Church view themselves. They do not know you are LDS, you interview them on a Wednesday or Thursday in a neutral setting, and there is no hint of religion in your purpose.

You ask them to fill in the blank in this statement: I am a _____________. They may write as many self labels as they wish.

How long do you think it will take an active member, in the middle of the week, to spontaneously say, “I am a Mormon”? Probably not long; I’d say within the first five or so mentions.

Now, how long do you think it will take that active member to say, “I am a missionary” or “I am a member missionary” or some such variation? All of the people I have discussed this with felt that the label …

Read the first article in this series, “How Did America Get this Crack in its Foundation?” here.

In the first article in this series, I summarized a common contemporary view of the relationship between morality and politics as follows:

“But now society has fundamentally changed. It is no longer based on a moral consensus, but on the acceptance of diversity. Pluralism’ has replaced moral-religious homogeneity as the basic character of modern societies like ours. So, even though we may not approve, personally, of many lifestyle choices among our fellow citizens, it is not only politically necessary but in fact a moral duty to respect the diversity of lifestyles that flourish in a pluralistic society.”

Pay close attention to the italicized assertion. For this points up a significant sleight of hand that plays an essential role in what I will call the New Liberalism. For the claim is not only …

The third and final volume in the Isabelle Webb series by N.C. Allen is The Grecian Princess in which the author wraps up the many dangling threads left from Legend of the Jewel and the Pharaoh’s Daughter. Isabelle’s party has grown to seven, including her recently betrothed fianc, James. As they arrive in Athens they have one jewel with them, the second jewel was stolen from them by Mr. Sparks, an emissary of the mysterious Egyptian who is determined to obtain all three jewels and destroy their group, and the legend places the third jewel in Athens or nearby.

Isabelle and her friends set out to explore the city, concentrating on museums, antique shops, ancient ruins and any structure that resembles the maps found in Dr. Pearce’s papers sent to his son by the historian’s assistant following the old man’s death. They also befriend two Grecian women when rumors …

By Clarke D. Forsythe

The most controversial decision in recent Supreme Court history was not inevitable. New research from the personal papers and case files of the justices involved in Roe v. Wade reveal that the outcome, decided by Nixon appointee Harry Blackmun, was in some ways a fluke of history – a rare blend of misinformation, backroom politics, arbitrary logic, and incomplete jurisprudence.

In Abuse of Discretion, veteran attorney Clarke D. Forsythe examines the Justices’ case files, oral arguments, and personal papers to reveal how miscalculations made in 1971-72 yielded 40 years of turmoil in politics and public health. The 7-2 decision led to 50 million abortions, unleashed the horrors such as those found in Kermit Gosnell’s Philadelphia abortion clinic where fetuses were ripped from mothers’ wombs and killed with scissors, and created one of America’s most fiercely debated political issues, as evidenced by Wendy Davis’s recent filibuster of …

People are like an encyclopedia, filled with information but not often opened. Guida Ponte is a wonderful person I met on NBC’s “Today Show” several years ago. She was born in the Azores Islands and came to America to fulfill her dream of becoming a top chef. That she did when she became corporate chef for Legal Sea Foods, a wonderful chain of seafood restaurants in Boston.

For a big show like NBC’s “Today Show,” there is a rehearsal the night before for segments that have props in them. I had just finished my rehearsal and was heading for the elevator when a group, who had also been at the show rehearsals for their seafood segment, met up with me. Legal Sea Foods was to be featured on the show the next morning.

As we rode down in the elevator, the group asked me if I would like to …

All these choices.…

For years I’ve enjoyed dispensing advice on the radio. Just like leaning over the back fence to talk with a friendly neighbor, callers have asked me for help with just about every relationship question imaginable, and a few that I thought were unimaginable.

And I’ve noticed something. While there are many tough situations and desperate crises out there which definitely require assistance, there are a lot of questions that don’t. Sometimes we ask because we’re hoping for a different answer than the one we already know in our gut. And, often, we do the same thing when we pray.

One time a man called with the following predicament. Let’s call him Jason. Jason’s son had lost his job and Jason was thinking of bringing this grown son into the family business. Jason’s wife was really insistent, and Jason just wondered what I thought about the idea.

I told him not …