My Faith is Enough

Posted December 11

Perspective changes in an instant. I have been busy with all the things I normally do and then I heard that my brother, Dwight, was struggling with COVID-19 and was in the hospital. From that moment on my life has been changed. The other prayers in my heart have had to move to the back. Now I plead with my Heavenly Father to allow the healing grace of our Savior be given to Dwight. I have to watch my thoughts and stay hopeful and faithful.

I remember in March when COVID-19 hit, and the seriousness of the situation became a reality. I remember an unusual strong earthquake hitting my area at just that same time. I remember thinking that if I lose everything and still have the gospel of Jesus Christ, it is enough. I am relying on that memory and on that understanding.

I will continue to pray with all my heart for my brother. He has been such a blessing to me and our whole family. But if I lose him and everyone else I love, I still have enough. We are all part of a loving plan of our Heavenly Father. Because the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored in this day, we know this. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, has unlimited love and capacity to save us all and get us back to our Heavenly Father. I put my faith in Him. I am so grateful to Him.

Sadly, Dwight succumbed to COVID on December 29.

Ann wrote:  My brother passed away yesterday evening. He went peacefully within minutes of turning the ventilator off. His wife got to be with him all day long yesterday in the hospital. This is an unusual blessing for these times. We will miss him. He as such an important leader in our family and in his community of Gunnison. Thank you for your prayers.

Ann shared more tender memories of him in this letter to close friends but offered to let us include it here. Additional photos show Dwight running to aid others as a great physician and fisher of men.

Dwight and his wife Jeannie had eight children, 4 boys and 4 girls. They have 27 grandchildren so far. He was a family practice doctor in Gunnison, Utah, and had a busy practice because he was an extremely good doctor – pro-active and courageous and confident. My image of him is someone running to help others. I witnessed several times when he jumped out of the car and ran to help victims of accidents. I remember looking out the window from the hospital from my father’s bedside and my brother’s bedside and seeing him run from his car in the parking lot into the hospital and up to see how he could help. He ran to get my son and his cousin out of a big ravine when they lost control of the snowmobile they were driving. Many, many times he ran to take a net to a grandchild who was reeling in a fish. One time I was asked to cook a Dutch oven meal for a wedding dinner to be held in the hay field west of Gunnison. We stopped at his house to borrow tarps because we could see from a distance these dark clouds over the area of the farm. He ran to get tarps and a metal table to put the Dutch ovens on. Then he said that he’d better come and help so he ran to his car and followed us out there. When we got there, it looked like someone had taken every canopy and snapped them in half. They were flung all over the field. The table coverings were on the ground. The decorator was in her car crying. There had been a microburst at that very spot, and it had destroyed all her work. The rain was now pouring down.  [My husband] Roman started gathering the canopies and repairing what he could with duct tape. The decorator was trying to find the centerpieces to put back on the tables. There was Dwight out in the rain, getting the meal going. He set all the Dutch ovens up and got the food cooking. He had taken two garbage bags and put one around his head and the other he had poked holes for his arms and had that over his body.  By the time the wedding party got there it was calm, and everything was lovely, and the food was cooked. He was always there to save the day. I don’t know how many times I have said to him, “Thank you, Dwight. I couldn’t have done this without you.”  We will all miss him so much.