Face to Face

A new addition to the HGB foyer was unveiled on Thursday, December 8. President Tanner accepted this beautiful statue on behalf of BYUH. This is the story of the statue:

In the 1980's, Elder John Naegle was the principal of the Bountiful Seminary and became acquainted with Dee Jay Bawden, who had recently begun sculpting LDS church historical figures. When he completed his statue of the first vision, Face to Face, the Bountiful seminary bought a desk-sized copy for display.

In the 1990's, Elder Naegle was transferred to the St George Institute and Dee Jay generously donated this 40" crushed marblecast copy of the sculpture. It was displayed in the old institute building. Within two years, a new building was completed and the statue was not part of the new plan. Elder Naegle contacted DJ and asked what he should do with the statue. DJ said, "John, I am consigning it to you."

For a brief period, the statue went home with the Naegles, then it went to E Naegles office. Eventually, it was placed on display in the foyer of the St George Institute Building. In 2005, the Naegles were asked to go to Riverside, California where Elder Naegle was the director of the institute at UC Riverside. The statue went with them and has been on display there for the past 11 years. 

For almost twenty years, Elder Naegle has been looking for a permanent home for this wonderful sculpture. As new missionaries here at BYUH, the Naegles had the opportunity to meet with President Tanner in his office where he has several beautiful pieces of art work on display. As he talked to them about the pieces and what they represented, Elder Naegle had the thought that this statue should be here so that BYUH students have a closer connection to the first vision. He showed pictures to President Tanner; the president enthusiastically endorsed the idea and put the wheels in motion to make it happen.

It wasn't long until LDS Philanthropies made contact and worked out the details to ship the statue from California. The statue arrived here in August and the artisans at the PCC wood shop created the beautiful stand for optimal display. It was placed in the HGB with the BYUH "sacred grove" in the background.

When the artist was made aware of this decision, he wrote this:

I love BYUH. I was there for two months of my mission as I learned Japanese at what was then called the Church College of Hawaii. I have dear memories of how the spirit was with those who carried out the language training mission. Thank you very much, good brother, for allowing this art to be shown in such a perfect way!