{"id":96559,"date":"2022-09-04T19:35:52","date_gmt":"2022-09-05T01:35:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=96559"},"modified":"2022-09-04T21:26:34","modified_gmt":"2022-09-05T03:26:34","slug":"don-l-lind-rip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/09\/don-l-lind-rip.html","title":{"rendered":"Don L. Lind, RIP"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
An overhead view of the Skylab Orbital Workshop in Earth orbit as photographed in 1974 from the Skylab 4 Command and Service Modules (CSM) during the final fly-around by the CSM before returning home.\u00a0 (NASA public domain photograph)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I saw the news yesterday that Don Lind<\/a> has died.\u00a0 Holder of a doctorate in high-energy nuclear physics, a faithful Latter-day Saint, and a retired NASA astronaut, he had written an entry for my old Mormon Scholars Testify<\/em> site, now renamed Latter-day Saint Scholars Testify<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Don L. Lind<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I actually only met him a few times, but here are a couple of stories about him:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

During my last months as a young missionary, while I was serving in the headquarters of the Switzerland Z\u00fcrich Mission, I heard from Immo Luschin von Ebengreuth<\/a>, who was the president of the Bern Switzerland Temple at the time, that Don Lind was teaching a short-term course on the NASA Skylab project at the Universit\u00e4t Bern, and that he had given an absolutely wonderful talk on religion and science at the meetinghouse on the temple grounds.\u00a0 President Luschin had served as Dr. Lind\u2019s translator.\u00a0 (Previously, Brother Luschin had been the Church\u2019s German translator at the European office in Frankfurt, and he was multilingual.). I was struck by President Luschin\u2019s praise of the talk.\u00a0 He was an extraordinarily bright man himself, aristocratic in bearing and (frankly) rather intimidating, and I knew both that he was quite rigorous and that he didn\u2019t casually dish out such praise.\u00a0 He had, in fact, been reluctant to serve as the translator for the speech, because he had heard many such talks before and, candidly, didn\u2019t expect it to be very good.\u00a0 However, he said, it was so<\/em> good that he would be happy<\/em> to serve as a translator on a future occasion.\u00a0 And, he noted, a notable number of non-LDS faculty and students from the University had attended the talk, which almost certainly represented their first visit to any Latter-day Saint building.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In German-speaking Switzerland \u2014 back in them thar days, at least \u2014 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> was widely considered a Sekte<\/em>.\u00a0 That term is obviously a close cognate of the English word sect<\/em>, but its connotation is far more negative and pejorative.\u00a0 More like cult<\/em>.\u00a0 And the perception that we were a cult kept many people from ever giving us even the most cursory hearing.\u00a0 But how could we change the perception?\u00a0 It occurred to me that bringing some of the elite and the future elite of Switzerland into the Z\u00fcrich stake center to hear thoughtful remarks from a Latter-day Saint astronaut and astrophysicist might do us at least a little bit of good on that front.\u00a0 The Universit\u00e4t Z\u00fcrich and the Eidgen\u00f6ssische\u00a0Technische\u00a0Hochschule Z\u00fcrich (the ETH, the \u201cFederal Institute of Technology in Z\u00fcrich\u201d) were just two of the educational ornaments, I thought, where we might be able to have some impact.\u00a0 (To give some idea of the eminence of the two schools: Twenty-two Nobel laureates, two Fields Medalists, three\u00a0Pritzker Prize winners, and one winner of the Turing Award have been affiliated with the ETH alone; it\u2019s where Albert Einstein studied as an undergraduate before earning his doctorate at the nearby University of Zurich.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

So I contacted Brother Lind, and he said that he would be happy to give another such talk up in Z\u00fcrich if his schedule permitted.\u00a0 And President Luschin said that he would come up to Z\u00fcrich to translate.\u00a0 I then contacted the stake leadership in Z\u00fcrich, who said that they weren\u2019t interested.\u00a0 I said that I would take care of all of the arrangements, that everything was lined up.\u00a0 No, they weren\u2019t interested.\u00a0 A few weeks later, they changed their minds.\u00a0 But it was too late.\u00a0 Brother Lind was headed back to NASA headquarters in the United States.\u00a0 Opportunity missed.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I remember that Proverbs 29:18 came powerfully to my mind:\u00a0 \u201cWhere there is no vision, the people perish.\u201d\u00a0 It hasn\u2019t been the only time since then.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Years later, Brother Lind told me an amusing story from the time when he and his wife were serving as public affairs missionaries in London:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A very negative article about the Church had appeared in one of the major London newspapers.\u00a0 I\u2019m tempted to say that it was in The Times of London<\/em>, but I\u2019m not certain of that.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anyway, Elder Lind decided to try for a meeting with the editor of the newspaper.\u00a0 So he headed to the newspaper offices, where he was kept waiting and waiting.\u00a0 The editor, explained his secretary, is a very busy man.\u00a0 Elder Lind said that he would wait.\u00a0 He waited and he waited.\u00a0 And then he waited some more.\u00a0 Finally, it was the end of the work day and the editor was due to go home; there would be no meeting that day.\u00a0 So Elder Lind told the secretary that he would be back the next day, and he left his business card.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the secretary looked at the business card, she saw something like<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Elder Don L. Lind, Ph.D.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

NASA Astronaut (Retired)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Public Affairs Representative, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWait just a moment,\u201d she said to Elder Lind, and she disappeared into the editor\u2019s office.\u00a0 A minute or two thereafter, she came back out.\u00a0 Addressing Elder Lind, she said \u201cThe editor would be happy to meet with you.\u201d\u00a0 He headed in.\u00a0 The editor rose, shook his hand, and asked whether Elder Lind would be willing \u2014 at his convenience, of course \u2014 to visit a little bit with his grandson, who was fascinated by space and astronauts.\u00a0 Of course<\/em>, Elder Lind replied.\u00a0 He would be happy<\/em> to meet the grandson.\u00a0 There ensued a conversation in which Elder Lind laid out his concerns about the recent article and set forth its various inaccuracies and distortions.\u00a0 The editor was sympathetic, and he promised that no more such articles would appear while he was editor of the newspaper.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Don Lind led an admirable life, filled with exceptional achievements.\u00a0 And at the very center of that life was his commitment to the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 May God bless him and comfort his family.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

P.S.\u00a0 Since I posted the entry above, Jeff Meyers has kindly called my attention to an obituary for Brother Lind on space.com: \u201cDon Lind, shuttle astronaut whose moon mission was canceled, dies at 92\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u00a0 \u00a0 I saw the news yesterday that Don Lind has died.\u00a0 Holder of a doctorate in high-energy nuclear physics, a faithful Latter-day Saint, and a retired NASA astronaut, he had written an entry for my old Mormon Scholars Testify site, now renamed Latter-day Saint Scholars Testify: \u00a0 Don L. Lind \u00a0 I actually only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[31123,31120,31117,2872,29663,31126,9718],"class_list":["post-96559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-astronaut","tag-don-l-lind","tag-don-lind","tag-nasa","tag-national-aeronautics-and-space-administration","tag-skylab","tag-space"],"yoast_head":"\nDon L. 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