Memory Lane #4- Baptism Day

Like most Mormon kids, I was eagerly looking forward to my baptism at age eight.  Even though eight is still very young, I think it is old enough to know the difference between right and wrong and old enough to have have a basic understanding of God.  I believe it is an inspired age for baptism and sets a child on the right path. 


My baptism day was a great day, in that I was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and officially began my life as a follower of Jesus Christ.  In some other ways, it was a terrible day.


I was baptized on Nov. 22, 1963.  It's an easy day to remember because it is also the day that President Kennedy was shot.  My baptism was scheduled for sometime in the evening.  I woke up that morning excited and looking forward to my big event.  I went to school as usual and then sometime in the mid-morning the principal knocked on the classroom door and called the teacher into the hall.  When my teacher came back into the room, she was crying.  She told us that the President of the United States had been shot and that all the classes were going outside to gather around the flag pole. I was really frightened.


 I may have known more about the President than some eight year olds because my Dad was very politically active. He campaigned for President Kennedy.  He was so happy when Kennedy won the election and told us that things were finally going to change for the better in the country.  He said Kennedy liked Negroes  (Least anyone get offended at the word Negroes, that was a proper word in 1963.)  and poor people and didn't like war like the previous President, who was a military man. ( That was Eisenhower, but I don't think  I knew his name at that time.)  My Dad never talked to me like I was a little kid. Well, I guess he told me funny bed time stories, but he didn't really separate grown up talk from kid talk that much.  He also watched the news with Walter Cronkite on TV every night, without fail, and so we absorbed current events by osmosis at a young age at my house. As a result of the little knowledge that I had, I knew this was a terrible, terrible thing that had happened and I had no idea what would or could possibly happen next. 


When we all got around the flag pole the Principal told us that the President had been shot but was not dead. We all needed to pray for him to live. The Principal offered a prayer, told us that school was cancelled and to go home. I looked around for and found my brother who is three years older than I, and we walked home. 
We went home and waited for my parents to get home from work.  My sister, who was in high school would have been there too. I don't know if my parents came home earlier than usual or not but I do know that when they did, the first thing I wanted to know was if I was still getting baptized. 


I was told that things would go on as planned, unless the President died. We went to Temple Square and I was baptized in the Tabernacle building.  

The picture above is a postcard from the 1960's. The building with the rounded roof to the left of the Temple is the tabernacle. 

Until a few weeks ago, when I was in Salt Lake City with my sister, I had a confusing memory about the place of my baptism.  My sister and I were walking past the Tabernacle and she asked if I remembered getting baptized there. Since she he was sixteen when I was eight, she remembered this more clearly than I did. I told her I was so glad she asked that because over the years when I thought about my baptism I would always think I had been baptized in the Temple; but as an adult I know the LDS Church doesn't  baptize children in the Temple. I don't know why I didn't just ask someone in my family before.  I just figured that I had been  baptized in a regular church building and my childhood imagination had blown things out of proportion Suddenly the images in my head made since and  I asked my sister why I was baptized there since I am pretty sure the Tabernacle isn't used for baptisms anymore. She said that was our Stake building at the time. We didn't live that far from Temple Square so the Tabernacle was the building where we had Stake Conference and  larger  meetings  other than the usual ones on Sunday at the Church building.  It was great to know that my memory was not so out of whack with reality. 


After the baptism we went back to our house. Quite a few of our relatives were there. I know my Grandmother Colovich and my Grandparents Law were there along with a bunch of Aunts, Uncle, and cousins who lived in the area. We had cake and everyone was happy for me.


I had mixed feelings about the day.  Sometimes as adults I don't think we have a clue what children are thinking and often don't give them credit for thinking much of anything at all.  I remember clearly thinking three things.
1. I wasn't sure I liked being baptized on the day the President was shot.
2. My mother had cried off and on during the baptism, which was not her way.  I didn't know if it was about the President or if I had done something I couldn't figure out, that made her upset. I asked my Grandma why my Mom was crying and she said because she was happy about my baptism. She said grownups did that sometimes. I wasn't sure if I was being told the truth or not.
3. I understood that by being baptized all of my sins were forgiven and I was completely clean. I wondered  how long it would be before I did something bad again. (It's funny to me now to think of what I thought I might do that was so sinful. I had been known to stick my tongue out at my Mother and fight with my brother)  I had often been called a strong willed child and I knew I could be disobedient. I remember thinking I was sure it wouldn't be very long before I'd be needing the gifts of repentance and forgiveness.