My father - remembered # 4

This is one of my favorites:

Sept. 1993

Bishop Enos J. Carlson became my bishop shortly after my wife, Mary and I moved to Denver in 1951. He had been acting as bishop for sometime and called me to be his ward financial clerk. I was very inexperienced in financial accounting and was determined to do the very best job possible. I felt honored to be trusted in the accounting of Church funds which I felt to be a sacred trust. Each Sunday, in the Bishop’s office, the contribution envelopes were opened by a member of the bishopric and verified.

The financial clerk would then credit the contributor’s account properly, count the funds and prepare them for deposit by a bishopric member. Each Sunday the books were balanced and each month a financial report was prepared, copies of which were sent to the Stake and Church Headquarters. Several times a year the Stake would send in an Auditor. The Auditor and the financial clerk would sit down together and check the books to verify that all was balanced and correct. On the very first audit, the auditor, filling out his balance sheet, said, “You are $3.82 short.”

I was devastated! My honesty and integrity were being questioned! I looked over a Bishop Carlson, sitting behind his desk, fully expecting that he would have to call the police or excommunicate me. I thought, “This is the end!”

Bishop Carlson, barely looking up said, “Just go over it again. You will find it.” For me, the heavens opened. The sun was shining. From that moment on, Bishop Carlson has been my HERO. I doubt that anyone will ever know how important his trust and faith were to me at that time. The Auditor subsequently found the error. Nothing was missing. That incident was a valuable lesson to me. Thank you, Bishop Carlson, for being a great Bishop and a great man. Thank you, we love you and Sister Carlson,

Keith & Mary Harris