A Hallie Dale Day

I want to tell you about my friend, Sister Hallie Dale.  She was tiny lady—about 4 feet 8 inches tall.  She and her husband met the missionaries when they had three young children.  They joined the church and raised their girls in the gospel.

They served faithfully in their church callings.  When Bro. Dale retired, they went on a mission together.  Sister Dale took care of Bro. Dale when he fell sick and nursed him for about 5 years before he passed away.

Sister Dale moved into town in the last year of Bro. Dale’s illness and I was assigned to be her visiting teacher a few years after that.  She was in her late 80’s at the time.  She’d progressed from coming to church walking… then walking with a cane… and now hobbling in clutching a walker.

But still she came to church.  She came even though she could no longer see to read the lesson manual or the scriptures.  She came even though she could no longer hear.  In sacrament meeting, they had a special hearing aid that helped hear the speakers.  But in Sunday School and Relief Society, she couldn’t hear much at all.

She came even though she was in a lot of pain with back problem.  And through it all, she smiled.  She was always cheerful and always had kind words.

When we visited her, she was welcoming and glad to see us.  She often wondered why the Good Lord left her on the earth.  She said, “I can’t see.  I can’t hear.  I’m not good for much of anything. I can’t help out.”  But unless you asked her, she never told you how she was feeling. “No one wants to hear about your aches and pains,” she’d say. “So I just decided to be cheerful.”

But each time we visited, we admired her dedication to the Lord and her example of enduring to the end.  She served as a great example to us. She reminded us that being faithful to the end is not always easy.  She had created a pattern of obedience.

Now she followed that pattern.  She came to all her meetings, even when she sat there in silence and darkness—not hearing or seeing.  Her memories of the spirit and comfort of attending must have helped her be cheerful.

She came to church until she was sick and hospitalized just after she turned 90 years old.  About 2 months later she passed away.

Last Sunday was a great fast Sunday.  All the meetings were very spiritual.  I spoke with my visiting teaching companion after church. She’d been in a lot of pain with health problems.  I asked her how she was doing.

“I was in a lot of pain during Sacrament,” she said. “And I thought about going home.  But I stayed on.  I decided this was just a Hallie Dale Day.”

It made me realize that even when we feel like we can’t do a lot, we can always be an example of good and of righteous living.

And our example can inspire those around us to do better.

Who can you set a good example for? How can you inspire those around you to do better?