"There were three young men who were as intimate, I think, as any three young men who ever lived could be. They were Heber J. Grant, Feramorz L. Young and Richard W. Young. Feramorz L. Young had been in the East and had been graduated with honors from the Troy Polytechnic Institute, then went on a mission to Mexico, where he died and was buried in the Gulf of Mexico. It always seemed to me a strange thing that a boy with all the education he had, who had made a wonderful success should be taken from us...He had to fight for the Church and its doctrines all the time he was in the East.
I thought that with his faith and knowledge and with all the information he had gained, it was too bad he had to lay down his life while in the Lord's service.
I do not think that Fera Young in his life ever listened to an unclean story. If anyone started to tell such a story he would excuse himself and walk away. I never heard an unchaste word uttered by him. If there ever was a clean, sweet, absolutely pure young man upon the earth, he was that young man.
When he died his mother said she could not remember a word or thought or act of his life that would bring her the least sorrow or uneasiness. There is many a mother perhaps who might say such a thing of her son, but usually if the man who without exception was the most intimate friend of that son from his boyhood up to the time of his death should tell everything he knew of him, the mother could not say that. My mother could not say that of me, if others told her what I did as a youngster, but I could say it of Feramorz Young.
What in the providence of the Lord is the result?...A woman came to Sister Young, his mother, with photographs of one of this lady's near and dear friends, a very beautiful woman, and said:
"Now Mrs. Young, I do not believe a thing of what I am going to tell you. This girlfriend of mine was one of the noblest, finest, choicest kind of girls and young women that ever lived. She has come to me in this city of Salt Lake on three separate occasions at night in dreams, and has given me this information: the date of her birth, the date of her death, and all this is necessary, she says, for a record in the temple; and she has told me that your son, Feramorz L. Young, has converted her, and that in addition to converting her he has proposed marriage to her. She has said to me, "I want you to go to Mrs. Young and give her this information and vouch for my honesty, virtue, integrity and upright life, and have the work done for me and have me married for eternity to her son, Feramorz. L. Young."
This woman who visited Mrs Young said: "I do not believe a word of it but the last time this friend of mine came - which was the third time - she said: "There is nobody in Salt Lake City who knows me and can vouch for me except you. You are the only individual that I know in Salt Lake City". She said further to Mrs Young: "I can furnish you any references you may wish regarding my character, from the place where I formerly lived. The last time this young woman came to me she said, "You might just as well go to Mrs. Young and give her this information, because I am going to come, and come, and come, until you do it". And the woman continued, "I just cannot bear to have her come again, it is so uncanny, and I do not believe a thing of it".
This beautiful girl was sealed to Brother Fera Young and I am convinced that my dear friend lost nothing by dying in his youth.
("Comforting Manifestations": Excerpts from Funeral Sermon delivered by President Heber J. Grant from the Improvement Era February 1931)
Here's what Elder Neal A. Maxwell had to say about this:
"We cannot control what I call 'the great transfer board in the sky'. It's out of our control. And the inconveniences that are sometimes associated with releases from labours here are necessary in order to accelerate the work there. Heavenly Father can't do His work with ten times more people that we have on this planet except He will on occasion take some of the very best sisters and brothers. And the conditions of termination here, painful though they are, are part of the conditions of acceleration there. And we're back to faith and the timing of God. And to be able to say, 'Thy will be done' (and I would paraphrase it, 'thy timing be done') is part of letting Him know we will be submissive in that situation too, even when we do not fully understand it. (Our Preparation for Work in the Spirit World, excerpt from Neal A. Maxwell's address to Religious Educators: Salt Lake Tabernacle, 2 February 2001)
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