Inis was married to LDS Church President Howard William Hunter on April 12, 1990 in the Salt Lake Temple only hours after telling his fellow apostles of his plans. He and Iris had known each other from their California days. He preceded her in death on March 3, 1995.
Inis passed away peacefully at her home on the morning of Sunday, October 14, 2007. She was 93 years of age and resided at 27581 Lost Trail Drive in Laguna Hills, California at the time of her death.
The death of Sister Inis Egan Hunter was attributed to old age. Her husband, President Howard W. Hunter, died in March of 1995 after serving for almost nine months as church president. He was 87 years old.
Inis Bernice Egan was born Aug. 19, 1914, in Thatcher, Box Elder County, to Horace Walter Egan and Anna Bernhardina Jacobsson Tengberg. She married Robert Stanton and together they had three children, Barbara Robert and Elayne. The pair divorced in 1966.
President Hunter's first wife, Clara Jeffs, died in 1983. She and President Hunter had three sons, John Jacob Hunter, Richard Allen Hunter and Howard William Jr.
In April 1990, President Hunter — who was serving as president of the Quorum of the Twelve — told his fellow apostles following a meeting that he had an announcement to make.
"I thought I'd just let you know that I'm going to be married this afternoon," he told the group, explaining that, "Inis Stanton is an old acquaintance from California. I've been visiting with her for some time, and I've decided to be married." At 2 p.m. on April 12, 1990, the couple was married by President Gordon B. Hinckley — then a counselor in the First Presidency — in the Salt Lake Temple.
The newlywed couple had become reacquainted while Sister Hunter worked in the main lobby of the Church Office Building, beginning in 1968. They first met when then-Bishop Hunter was serving a congregation in Pasadena, Calif., in 1945.
A biography on President Hunter includes a reflection on President Hunter's wedding anniversary two years later, when he wrote in his journal that the last two years had been happy ones. Sister Hunter had traveled extensively around the world with him, and he commented on how she made their home a delight.
An article in the 1995 Ensign magazine featured a story by President Boyd K. Packer that further illustrated President Hunter's love for his wife: "Three days before President Hunter's passing, Elder Russell M. Nelson and I visited with the president. He was seated in the sunroom which overlooks the temple and the gardens. We knelt before him, each holding one of his hands. As we talked with him, he kept looking over his shoulder into the living room and then called to his wife, Inis.
"Ever present and ever attentive, she responded immediately and asked what he needed. He said, 'You are too far away; I want you close to me.' I said, 'President, she was only thirty feet away.' He said, 'I know, that's too far."'
Inis Hunter loved to sing and won blue ribbons in state fairs as a doll hobbyist. After marrying President Hunter, she traveled with him as he fulfilled church duties and both spoke to church members worldwide.
During the closing session of LDS General Conference in October 2001, President Hinckley made a special note of her presence during the two-day event. "We very much appreciate her presence," he said.
A viewing was held on Sunday, October 21, 2007 from 6:00-8:00 PM at Larkin Mortuary located at 260 East South Temple Street. Funeral services were held on Monday, October 22, 2007 at 12:00 PM at the Ensign Stake Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints located at 135 "A" Street in Salt Lake City under the direction of LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley.
Inis was laid to rest following the conclusion of the Funeral Services at the Salt Lake City Cemetery beside her beloved husband.
Detailed Account of her Funeral:
She was the kind of mother who laughed hard when the dog ate the pot roast she had cooked for company and performed cartwheels and hand-stands into her late 50s just because she could.
That's how Elayne Allebest remembered her mother, Inis Egan Hunter, during funeral services in Salt Lake City today for the 93-year-old wife of former LDS Church President Howard W. Hunter.
"She was a magnificent human being," full of Christianity, charity, resourcefulness and faith, Allebest said, a woman who had the talent for making "a silk purse out of a sow's ear" and "making a near-riot out of a family reunion."
Allebest shared the private side of her mother's life — known to Latter-day Saints as a close companion and second wife of President Hunter — with scores of family members and friends gathered at the Ensign LDS Stake Center. LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley presided and spoke briefly during the service, and was accompanied by both counselors in the church's First Presidency — Presidents Thomas S. Monson and Henry B. Eyring.
Several members of the Quorum of the Twelve were also seated on the stand, and selected members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir provided music, led by the choir's conductor Craig Jessop and Tabernacle organist Linda Margetts.
Allebest remembered her mother could "do it all," from creating heirloom porcelain dolls, to refinishing thrift store furniture to serving as stand-in for an LDS film when the actor failed to appear one day at the LDS Motion Picture Studio. Allebest, who was working at the studio at the time, offered to find a stand in, dashed home and convinced her mother to memorize the lines. "I can see her cameo performance to this day," she remembered.
As for her marriage to President Hunter late in life, "I think he married her because she was happy. That happiness was a magnet to all those around her," she said, remembering her mother's love for her husband and the Book of Mormon.
Sister Hunter served as an escort in the Church Office Building for several years before their marriage, and when asked about her job, she would say, "I just tell people where to go and where to get off." Her humor was contagious, Allebest said, remembering that when some of her own former boyfriends had long lost interest in her, they would keep in contact with her mother.
President Hinckley affirmed the eternal nature of the marriage between Sister Hunter and the former church president, whose first wife, Claire Jeffs, died after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease and is now buried beside him in the Salt Lake Cemetery.
Inis Hunter "will now be laid to rest on the other side," he said. "They were sealed under the authority of the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood for time and for all eternity," he said, recalling the marriage ceremony he performed for them in the Salt Lake Temple in April 1990.
"She was an excellent companion to him as he was to her," he said.
Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve echoed that sentiment. "I know Inis and Howard Hunter are supremely happy," he said, admonishing their children to refer to her in the present tense.
"She is an exceptionally choice daughter of our Father in Heaven, not was," he said, quoting an address by former church President Joseph F. Smith, who said family members who die "do not cease to love us. ... We live in their presence. They see us and are solicitous of our welfare. They love us now more than ever, for they see the dangers that beset us."
He urged the family to gather and talk of Sister Hunter, using a tape recorder to help preserve precious memories that can be passed through the generations.
Elder Jon M. Huntsman, a member of the Quorums of the Seventy, called the couple's marriage "the perfect match at the perfect time in history," as Sister Hunter accompanied her husband in his travels worldwide as president of the Quorum of the Twelve, and later, as president of the church.
"She always brought a twinkle to the eye of the president," he remembered, as he observed their interaction. "They insisted time after time that they be by each other's side. Inis made everyone feel comfortable."
He wondered "how many thousands of people were motivated and uplifted throughout the world," by observing her care and love for President Hunter in their travels.
"Sometimes in life, people are raised up to provide quiet and unheralded service to build the kingdom of God. Inis was one of those," Elder Huntsman said. "Collectively, as church members throughout the world, we say 'Thank you.'"
REST IN PEACE.
Inis passed away peacefully at her home on the morning of Sunday, October 14, 2007. She was 93 years of age and resided at 27581 Lost Trail Drive in Laguna Hills, California at the time of her death.
The death of Sister Inis Egan Hunter was attributed to old age. Her husband, President Howard W. Hunter, died in March of 1995 after serving for almost nine months as church president. He was 87 years old.
Inis Bernice Egan was born Aug. 19, 1914, in Thatcher, Box Elder County, to Horace Walter Egan and Anna Bernhardina Jacobsson Tengberg. She married Robert Stanton and together they had three children, Barbara Robert and Elayne. The pair divorced in 1966.
President Hunter's first wife, Clara Jeffs, died in 1983. She and President Hunter had three sons, John Jacob Hunter, Richard Allen Hunter and Howard William Jr.
In April 1990, President Hunter — who was serving as president of the Quorum of the Twelve — told his fellow apostles following a meeting that he had an announcement to make.
"I thought I'd just let you know that I'm going to be married this afternoon," he told the group, explaining that, "Inis Stanton is an old acquaintance from California. I've been visiting with her for some time, and I've decided to be married." At 2 p.m. on April 12, 1990, the couple was married by President Gordon B. Hinckley — then a counselor in the First Presidency — in the Salt Lake Temple.
The newlywed couple had become reacquainted while Sister Hunter worked in the main lobby of the Church Office Building, beginning in 1968. They first met when then-Bishop Hunter was serving a congregation in Pasadena, Calif., in 1945.
A biography on President Hunter includes a reflection on President Hunter's wedding anniversary two years later, when he wrote in his journal that the last two years had been happy ones. Sister Hunter had traveled extensively around the world with him, and he commented on how she made their home a delight.
An article in the 1995 Ensign magazine featured a story by President Boyd K. Packer that further illustrated President Hunter's love for his wife: "Three days before President Hunter's passing, Elder Russell M. Nelson and I visited with the president. He was seated in the sunroom which overlooks the temple and the gardens. We knelt before him, each holding one of his hands. As we talked with him, he kept looking over his shoulder into the living room and then called to his wife, Inis.
"Ever present and ever attentive, she responded immediately and asked what he needed. He said, 'You are too far away; I want you close to me.' I said, 'President, she was only thirty feet away.' He said, 'I know, that's too far."'
Inis Hunter loved to sing and won blue ribbons in state fairs as a doll hobbyist. After marrying President Hunter, she traveled with him as he fulfilled church duties and both spoke to church members worldwide.
During the closing session of LDS General Conference in October 2001, President Hinckley made a special note of her presence during the two-day event. "We very much appreciate her presence," he said.
A viewing was held on Sunday, October 21, 2007 from 6:00-8:00 PM at Larkin Mortuary located at 260 East South Temple Street. Funeral services were held on Monday, October 22, 2007 at 12:00 PM at the Ensign Stake Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints located at 135 "A" Street in Salt Lake City under the direction of LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley.
Inis was laid to rest following the conclusion of the Funeral Services at the Salt Lake City Cemetery beside her beloved husband.
Detailed Account of her Funeral:
She was the kind of mother who laughed hard when the dog ate the pot roast she had cooked for company and performed cartwheels and hand-stands into her late 50s just because she could.
That's how Elayne Allebest remembered her mother, Inis Egan Hunter, during funeral services in Salt Lake City today for the 93-year-old wife of former LDS Church President Howard W. Hunter.
"She was a magnificent human being," full of Christianity, charity, resourcefulness and faith, Allebest said, a woman who had the talent for making "a silk purse out of a sow's ear" and "making a near-riot out of a family reunion."
Allebest shared the private side of her mother's life — known to Latter-day Saints as a close companion and second wife of President Hunter — with scores of family members and friends gathered at the Ensign LDS Stake Center. LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley presided and spoke briefly during the service, and was accompanied by both counselors in the church's First Presidency — Presidents Thomas S. Monson and Henry B. Eyring.
Several members of the Quorum of the Twelve were also seated on the stand, and selected members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir provided music, led by the choir's conductor Craig Jessop and Tabernacle organist Linda Margetts.
Allebest remembered her mother could "do it all," from creating heirloom porcelain dolls, to refinishing thrift store furniture to serving as stand-in for an LDS film when the actor failed to appear one day at the LDS Motion Picture Studio. Allebest, who was working at the studio at the time, offered to find a stand in, dashed home and convinced her mother to memorize the lines. "I can see her cameo performance to this day," she remembered.
As for her marriage to President Hunter late in life, "I think he married her because she was happy. That happiness was a magnet to all those around her," she said, remembering her mother's love for her husband and the Book of Mormon.
Sister Hunter served as an escort in the Church Office Building for several years before their marriage, and when asked about her job, she would say, "I just tell people where to go and where to get off." Her humor was contagious, Allebest said, remembering that when some of her own former boyfriends had long lost interest in her, they would keep in contact with her mother.
President Hinckley affirmed the eternal nature of the marriage between Sister Hunter and the former church president, whose first wife, Claire Jeffs, died after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease and is now buried beside him in the Salt Lake Cemetery.
Inis Hunter "will now be laid to rest on the other side," he said. "They were sealed under the authority of the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood for time and for all eternity," he said, recalling the marriage ceremony he performed for them in the Salt Lake Temple in April 1990.
"She was an excellent companion to him as he was to her," he said.
Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve echoed that sentiment. "I know Inis and Howard Hunter are supremely happy," he said, admonishing their children to refer to her in the present tense.
"She is an exceptionally choice daughter of our Father in Heaven, not was," he said, quoting an address by former church President Joseph F. Smith, who said family members who die "do not cease to love us. ... We live in their presence. They see us and are solicitous of our welfare. They love us now more than ever, for they see the dangers that beset us."
He urged the family to gather and talk of Sister Hunter, using a tape recorder to help preserve precious memories that can be passed through the generations.
Elder Jon M. Huntsman, a member of the Quorums of the Seventy, called the couple's marriage "the perfect match at the perfect time in history," as Sister Hunter accompanied her husband in his travels worldwide as president of the Quorum of the Twelve, and later, as president of the church.
"She always brought a twinkle to the eye of the president," he remembered, as he observed their interaction. "They insisted time after time that they be by each other's side. Inis made everyone feel comfortable."
He wondered "how many thousands of people were motivated and uplifted throughout the world," by observing her care and love for President Hunter in their travels.
"Sometimes in life, people are raised up to provide quiet and unheralded service to build the kingdom of God. Inis was one of those," Elder Huntsman said. "Collectively, as church members throughout the world, we say 'Thank you.'"
REST IN PEACE.
Inis was married to LDS Church President Howard William Hunter on April 12, 1990 in the Salt Lake Temple only hours after telling his fellow apostles of his plans. He and Iris had known each other from their California days. He preceded her in death on March 3, 1995.
Inis passed away peacefully at her home on the morning of Sunday, October 14, 2007. She was 93 years of age and resided at 27581 Lost Trail Drive in Laguna Hills, California at the time of her death.
The death of Sister Inis Egan Hunter was attributed to old age. Her husband, President Howard W. Hunter, died in March of 1995 after serving for almost nine months as church president. He was 87 years old.
Inis Bernice Egan was born Aug. 19, 1914, in Thatcher, Box Elder County, to Horace Walter Egan and Anna Bernhardina Jacobsson Tengberg. She married Robert Stanton and together they had three children, Barbara Robert and Elayne. The pair divorced in 1966.
President Hunter's first wife, Clara Jeffs, died in 1983. She and President Hunter had three sons, John Jacob Hunter, Richard Allen Hunter and Howard William Jr.
In April 1990, President Hunter — who was serving as president of the Quorum of the Twelve — told his fellow apostles following a meeting that he had an announcement to make.
"I thought I'd just let you know that I'm going to be married this afternoon," he told the group, explaining that, "Inis Stanton is an old acquaintance from California. I've been visiting with her for some time, and I've decided to be married." At 2 p.m. on April 12, 1990, the couple was married by President Gordon B. Hinckley — then a counselor in the First Presidency — in the Salt Lake Temple.
The newlywed couple had become reacquainted while Sister Hunter worked in the main lobby of the Church Office Building, beginning in 1968. They first met when then-Bishop Hunter was serving a congregation in Pasadena, Calif., in 1945.
A biography on President Hunter includes a reflection on President Hunter's wedding anniversary two years later, when he wrote in his journal that the last two years had been happy ones. Sister Hunter had traveled extensively around the world with him, and he commented on how she made their home a delight.
An article in the 1995 Ensign magazine featured a story by President Boyd K. Packer that further illustrated President Hunter's love for his wife: "Three days before President Hunter's passing, Elder Russell M. Nelson and I visited with the president. He was seated in the sunroom which overlooks the temple and the gardens. We knelt before him, each holding one of his hands. As we talked with him, he kept looking over his shoulder into the living room and then called to his wife, Inis.
"Ever present and ever attentive, she responded immediately and asked what he needed. He said, 'You are too far away; I want you close to me.' I said, 'President, she was only thirty feet away.' He said, 'I know, that's too far."'
Inis Hunter loved to sing and won blue ribbons in state fairs as a doll hobbyist. After marrying President Hunter, she traveled with him as he fulfilled church duties and both spoke to church members worldwide.
During the closing session of LDS General Conference in October 2001, President Hinckley made a special note of her presence during the two-day event. "We very much appreciate her presence," he said.
A viewing was held on Sunday, October 21, 2007 from 6:00-8:00 PM at Larkin Mortuary located at 260 East South Temple Street. Funeral services were held on Monday, October 22, 2007 at 12:00 PM at the Ensign Stake Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints located at 135 "A" Street in Salt Lake City under the direction of LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley.
Inis was laid to rest following the conclusion of the Funeral Services at the Salt Lake City Cemetery beside her beloved husband.
Detailed Account of her Funeral:
She was the kind of mother who laughed hard when the dog ate the pot roast she had cooked for company and performed cartwheels and hand-stands into her late 50s just because she could.
That's how Elayne Allebest remembered her mother, Inis Egan Hunter, during funeral services in Salt Lake City today for the 93-year-old wife of former LDS Church President Howard W. Hunter.
"She was a magnificent human being," full of Christianity, charity, resourcefulness and faith, Allebest said, a woman who had the talent for making "a silk purse out of a sow's ear" and "making a near-riot out of a family reunion."
Allebest shared the private side of her mother's life — known to Latter-day Saints as a close companion and second wife of President Hunter — with scores of family members and friends gathered at the Ensign LDS Stake Center. LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley presided and spoke briefly during the service, and was accompanied by both counselors in the church's First Presidency — Presidents Thomas S. Monson and Henry B. Eyring.
Several members of the Quorum of the Twelve were also seated on the stand, and selected members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir provided music, led by the choir's conductor Craig Jessop and Tabernacle organist Linda Margetts.
Allebest remembered her mother could "do it all," from creating heirloom porcelain dolls, to refinishing thrift store furniture to serving as stand-in for an LDS film when the actor failed to appear one day at the LDS Motion Picture Studio. Allebest, who was working at the studio at the time, offered to find a stand in, dashed home and convinced her mother to memorize the lines. "I can see her cameo performance to this day," she remembered.
As for her marriage to President Hunter late in life, "I think he married her because she was happy. That happiness was a magnet to all those around her," she said, remembering her mother's love for her husband and the Book of Mormon.
Sister Hunter served as an escort in the Church Office Building for several years before their marriage, and when asked about her job, she would say, "I just tell people where to go and where to get off." Her humor was contagious, Allebest said, remembering that when some of her own former boyfriends had long lost interest in her, they would keep in contact with her mother.
President Hinckley affirmed the eternal nature of the marriage between Sister Hunter and the former church president, whose first wife, Claire Jeffs, died after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease and is now buried beside him in the Salt Lake Cemetery.
Inis Hunter "will now be laid to rest on the other side," he said. "They were sealed under the authority of the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood for time and for all eternity," he said, recalling the marriage ceremony he performed for them in the Salt Lake Temple in April 1990.
"She was an excellent companion to him as he was to her," he said.
Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve echoed that sentiment. "I know Inis and Howard Hunter are supremely happy," he said, admonishing their children to refer to her in the present tense.
"She is an exceptionally choice daughter of our Father in Heaven, not was," he said, quoting an address by former church President Joseph F. Smith, who said family members who die "do not cease to love us. ... We live in their presence. They see us and are solicitous of our welfare. They love us now more than ever, for they see the dangers that beset us."
He urged the family to gather and talk of Sister Hunter, using a tape recorder to help preserve precious memories that can be passed through the generations.
Elder Jon M. Huntsman, a member of the Quorums of the Seventy, called the couple's marriage "the perfect match at the perfect time in history," as Sister Hunter accompanied her husband in his travels worldwide as president of the Quorum of the Twelve, and later, as president of the church.
"She always brought a twinkle to the eye of the president," he remembered, as he observed their interaction. "They insisted time after time that they be by each other's side. Inis made everyone feel comfortable."
He wondered "how many thousands of people were motivated and uplifted throughout the world," by observing her care and love for President Hunter in their travels.
"Sometimes in life, people are raised up to provide quiet and unheralded service to build the kingdom of God. Inis was one of those," Elder Huntsman said. "Collectively, as church members throughout the world, we say 'Thank you.'"
REST IN PEACE.
Inis passed away peacefully at her home on the morning of Sunday, October 14, 2007. She was 93 years of age and resided at 27581 Lost Trail Drive in Laguna Hills, California at the time of her death.
The death of Sister Inis Egan Hunter was attributed to old age. Her husband, President Howard W. Hunter, died in March of 1995 after serving for almost nine months as church president. He was 87 years old.
Inis Bernice Egan was born Aug. 19, 1914, in Thatcher, Box Elder County, to Horace Walter Egan and Anna Bernhardina Jacobsson Tengberg. She married Robert Stanton and together they had three children, Barbara Robert and Elayne. The pair divorced in 1966.
President Hunter's first wife, Clara Jeffs, died in 1983. She and President Hunter had three sons, John Jacob Hunter, Richard Allen Hunter and Howard William Jr.
In April 1990, President Hunter — who was serving as president of the Quorum of the Twelve — told his fellow apostles following a meeting that he had an announcement to make.
"I thought I'd just let you know that I'm going to be married this afternoon," he told the group, explaining that, "Inis Stanton is an old acquaintance from California. I've been visiting with her for some time, and I've decided to be married." At 2 p.m. on April 12, 1990, the couple was married by President Gordon B. Hinckley — then a counselor in the First Presidency — in the Salt Lake Temple.
The newlywed couple had become reacquainted while Sister Hunter worked in the main lobby of the Church Office Building, beginning in 1968. They first met when then-Bishop Hunter was serving a congregation in Pasadena, Calif., in 1945.
A biography on President Hunter includes a reflection on President Hunter's wedding anniversary two years later, when he wrote in his journal that the last two years had been happy ones. Sister Hunter had traveled extensively around the world with him, and he commented on how she made their home a delight.
An article in the 1995 Ensign magazine featured a story by President Boyd K. Packer that further illustrated President Hunter's love for his wife: "Three days before President Hunter's passing, Elder Russell M. Nelson and I visited with the president. He was seated in the sunroom which overlooks the temple and the gardens. We knelt before him, each holding one of his hands. As we talked with him, he kept looking over his shoulder into the living room and then called to his wife, Inis.
"Ever present and ever attentive, she responded immediately and asked what he needed. He said, 'You are too far away; I want you close to me.' I said, 'President, she was only thirty feet away.' He said, 'I know, that's too far."'
Inis Hunter loved to sing and won blue ribbons in state fairs as a doll hobbyist. After marrying President Hunter, she traveled with him as he fulfilled church duties and both spoke to church members worldwide.
During the closing session of LDS General Conference in October 2001, President Hinckley made a special note of her presence during the two-day event. "We very much appreciate her presence," he said.
A viewing was held on Sunday, October 21, 2007 from 6:00-8:00 PM at Larkin Mortuary located at 260 East South Temple Street. Funeral services were held on Monday, October 22, 2007 at 12:00 PM at the Ensign Stake Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints located at 135 "A" Street in Salt Lake City under the direction of LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley.
Inis was laid to rest following the conclusion of the Funeral Services at the Salt Lake City Cemetery beside her beloved husband.
Detailed Account of her Funeral:
She was the kind of mother who laughed hard when the dog ate the pot roast she had cooked for company and performed cartwheels and hand-stands into her late 50s just because she could.
That's how Elayne Allebest remembered her mother, Inis Egan Hunter, during funeral services in Salt Lake City today for the 93-year-old wife of former LDS Church President Howard W. Hunter.
"She was a magnificent human being," full of Christianity, charity, resourcefulness and faith, Allebest said, a woman who had the talent for making "a silk purse out of a sow's ear" and "making a near-riot out of a family reunion."
Allebest shared the private side of her mother's life — known to Latter-day Saints as a close companion and second wife of President Hunter — with scores of family members and friends gathered at the Ensign LDS Stake Center. LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley presided and spoke briefly during the service, and was accompanied by both counselors in the church's First Presidency — Presidents Thomas S. Monson and Henry B. Eyring.
Several members of the Quorum of the Twelve were also seated on the stand, and selected members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir provided music, led by the choir's conductor Craig Jessop and Tabernacle organist Linda Margetts.
Allebest remembered her mother could "do it all," from creating heirloom porcelain dolls, to refinishing thrift store furniture to serving as stand-in for an LDS film when the actor failed to appear one day at the LDS Motion Picture Studio. Allebest, who was working at the studio at the time, offered to find a stand in, dashed home and convinced her mother to memorize the lines. "I can see her cameo performance to this day," she remembered.
As for her marriage to President Hunter late in life, "I think he married her because she was happy. That happiness was a magnet to all those around her," she said, remembering her mother's love for her husband and the Book of Mormon.
Sister Hunter served as an escort in the Church Office Building for several years before their marriage, and when asked about her job, she would say, "I just tell people where to go and where to get off." Her humor was contagious, Allebest said, remembering that when some of her own former boyfriends had long lost interest in her, they would keep in contact with her mother.
President Hinckley affirmed the eternal nature of the marriage between Sister Hunter and the former church president, whose first wife, Claire Jeffs, died after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease and is now buried beside him in the Salt Lake Cemetery.
Inis Hunter "will now be laid to rest on the other side," he said. "They were sealed under the authority of the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood for time and for all eternity," he said, recalling the marriage ceremony he performed for them in the Salt Lake Temple in April 1990.
"She was an excellent companion to him as he was to her," he said.
Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve echoed that sentiment. "I know Inis and Howard Hunter are supremely happy," he said, admonishing their children to refer to her in the present tense.
"She is an exceptionally choice daughter of our Father in Heaven, not was," he said, quoting an address by former church President Joseph F. Smith, who said family members who die "do not cease to love us. ... We live in their presence. They see us and are solicitous of our welfare. They love us now more than ever, for they see the dangers that beset us."
He urged the family to gather and talk of Sister Hunter, using a tape recorder to help preserve precious memories that can be passed through the generations.
Elder Jon M. Huntsman, a member of the Quorums of the Seventy, called the couple's marriage "the perfect match at the perfect time in history," as Sister Hunter accompanied her husband in his travels worldwide as president of the Quorum of the Twelve, and later, as president of the church.
"She always brought a twinkle to the eye of the president," he remembered, as he observed their interaction. "They insisted time after time that they be by each other's side. Inis made everyone feel comfortable."
He wondered "how many thousands of people were motivated and uplifted throughout the world," by observing her care and love for President Hunter in their travels.
"Sometimes in life, people are raised up to provide quiet and unheralded service to build the kingdom of God. Inis was one of those," Elder Huntsman said. "Collectively, as church members throughout the world, we say 'Thank you.'"
REST IN PEACE.
