Larry Miller Laid to Rest
Doug Alden – Associated Press
02/28/2009 09:13 PM MST
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -Utah Jazz owner Larry H. Miller received a fitting farewell.
His funeral was held in the arena he built, his casket painted in the scheme of his beloved Shelby Cobras and his five children each driving a sports car in the procession to the cemetery where Miller was laid to rest Saturday.
Miller, 64, died of complications from diabetes on Feb. 20. His funeral was held eight days later at EnergySolutions Arena, home of the NBA franchise Miller twice kept from leaving his hometown. NBA commissioner David Stern and former players including Karl Malone were among about 2,000 people that attended the 90-minute Mormon ceremony.
Miller’s children and grandchildren all recited memories of Miller, who started his career in an autoparts shop, expanded to car dealerships and built a business empire and became one of the most prominent figures in the state. A frugal businessman, Miller also donated generously to charities and many of his contributions were noted Saturday.
“There was a lot more to him than just the Jazz,” coach Jerry Sloan said after the service.
About 30 flower arrangements were placed on and around the dais, where top officials from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sat facing the congregation. Church president Thomas M. Monson was the last of them to speak from the podium, just above the casket painted blue with white racing stripes down the middle.
Miller was a devout Mormon who refused the attend Jazz playoff games on Sundays, adhering to church guidelines to focus on the church and family activities that day. But his faith was one of the very few things that would keep Miller away from his team or any other part of the Larry H. Miller Group of Companies.
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Charity Work
Garden Grove Stake
About 65 members of the Garden Grove California Stake Relief Society gathered to quilt up 89 lap quilts as a service project for the community. The Relief Society also donated 344 new, small stuffed animals to give away, according to Peggy Hauret, stake Relief Society president.
The sisters from the stake’s seven wards and branches donated their time from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. recently at the Westminster meetinghouse. They set up quilting tables, laid out material, set a table for refreshments and got to work with energy on the handmade lap quilts.
LDS Donation Has Iraqis Wheelin’ Good
Lynn Arave – Deseret News
02/27/2009 01:49 PM MST
The LDS Church does more than donate food or supplies to disaster-stricken areas. It recently donated 2,000 wheelchairs to the disabled people of the Babil Province in Iraq.
The Iraqi government and several aid organizations from the U.S. gathered along with community members at the Babil rehabilitation center last week to present new wheelchairs to 25 of the neediest people in the area, according to Capt. Stephen C. Short, 172nd Infantry Brigade.
