Thousands to attend viewing for prophet
Tickets for funeral will be handed out Saturday
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' expansive Conference Center also will be the venue for President Hinckley's funeral on Saturday, and church officials expect people to line the procession route from the center to the Salt Lake City Cemetery afterward.
Church employees were to be given the first chance to pay respects at the viewing, with the Conference Center opening to them at 7 a.m. The public viewing will begin at 9 a.m. today and will continue until 7 p.m. each evening.
The number of visitors expected at the viewing is drawn from the 1995 viewing for President Howard W. Hunter, who preceded President Hinckley.
"For President Hunter, we had 60,000 visitors in one day," said church spokesman Mark Tuttle, adding that he really does not know how that will affect the number of visitors the church will host this week.
Spokesman Scott Trotter said Tuesday the visitor count could reach "hundreds of thousands."
On Saturday morning, President Hinckley's family and church general authorities will have a private viewing in the Church Administration Building with the casket and funeral party, then move back to the Conference Center about 10:40 a.m. for the 11 a.m. funeral service. Tuttle said the service is expected to last about one hour and 15 minutes.
Tickets are required for the funeral and will be available at the north gate to Temple Square beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday. The tickets will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets to the Conference Center will be distributed first. Once those are gone, tickets will be distributed for the overflow venues, including the Conference Center Theater, the Tabernacle, Assembly Hall and Joseph Smith Memorial Building.
Ticket holders are asked to be seated in the Conference Center by 10:15 a.m. The church is also broadcasting the funeral, translated into 69 languages, via satellite to 6,000 church buildings around the globe. The times of those broadcasts will be adjusted to best suit the region, Tuttle said.
The funeral procession will leave the Conference Center's underground parking lot onto West Temple and then turn east along South Temple to N Street, where it will travel north into the Salt Lake City Cemetery.
Tuttle said he expects the graveside service to be "a private family service" and that it will be "extremely short. There will be only a brief introduction and a prayer."
Recent comments
I miss him already
Leilani Onerbak | Jan. 31, 2008 at 11:32 p.m.
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The D'Isabella Family | Jan. 31, 2008 at 11:26 p.m.
We are so grateful for the life and example of
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