(Wikimedia Commons; click to enlarge.)
We had the privilege of attending a very good funeral today — yes, a funeral can be “good,” in a way — for our dear friend Robert Cundick.
A grandson read the family-written obituary, which I commend to anybody who might be interested:
The music, as you might have expected, was wonderful: The prelude and postlude were played by Richard Elliott (including an organ version of “He is the Root and the Offspring of David,” from Brother Cundick’s The Redeemer).
John Longhurst accompanied the singing during the service, most of which was performed by a sizable group of current and former members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, conducted by Jerold Ottley. They sang Brother Cundick’s “Our God is a God of Love,” with lyrics by Delbert L. Stapley, who served as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from 1950 until his death in 1978:
Our God is a God of love.
Love is his greatest gift to us.
Love is our greatest gift to him.
To love is eternal.
To love is infinite. . . .
They also sang a beautiful choral piece from The Redeemer, based on a text from the Book of Mormon, titled “And What Is It We Shall Hope For?”
And what is it we shall hope for?
We have hope through the atonement of Christ
And the power of His resurrection,
To be raised unto life eternal.
We shall pray unto the Father with all the energy of our hearts,
That we may be filled with His love,
Which He has bestowed on us who are true followers of the Lord, Jesus Christ.
That we may become the sons and daughters of God;
That when He shall appear, we shall be like Him;
For we shall see Him as He is!
That we may have this hope,
That we may be purified even as He is pure.
Amen.
At the conclusion of the service, Brother Ottley led the very large congregation in “God Be With You ‘Til We Meet Again,” so that I can now truthfully say that I’ve sung under Dr. Jerold Ottley — twice, in fact: once today and once when I spoke to an assembly at BYU Hawaii while he was teaching there after his retirement from the Tabernacle Choir. Brother Longhurst also played Robert Cundick’s piece for solo organ entitled “Prelude on a Swedish Folk Song.”
Three of Bob’s sons gave spoken reminiscences of and tributes to their father, and all three did an excellent job. The ward bishop spoke as well, and the concluding speaker was President Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who came accompanied by Elder Ulisses Soares of the Presidency of the Seventy and who, among other things, read a letter of tribute and condolence from the First Presidency.
I was also very pleased, I must confess, when one of the sons suggested that members of the congregation could read Brother Cundick’s testimony at Mormon Scholars Testify.
Robert Cundick led a good, humble, kindly, devoted, productive, creative, and faithful life. We were privileged to be there at his funeral, and we were inspired by it.
I’ll close with a bonus: “Recessional,” by Robert M. Cundick.
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