Navoo, Illinois Temple
Architect's Drawings Lost and Found
Experience of Vern C. Thacker
by Becky Cardon Smith
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• Editor’s Note: This is the fourth in a series of articles spotlighting things to see and do in and around Nauvoo, Illinois.

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NAUVOO

Many of you have read about faith promoting experiences that occurred in early Church history. Most of these events took place over 150 years ago. Recently I heard of an experience that occurred a little over 50 years ago. Though it took place in California and Utah, it has a direct correlation with the beautiful, newly constructed Nauvoo Temple. I include this condensed version of Vern Thacker’s account with his permission.

In 1946, Vern C. Thacker, a resident of Wasatch County, Utah, received a mission call to serve in the California Mission under President Oscar W. McConkie. Elder Thacker had carefully saved his Navy pay during his three years of service and was thereby able to finance his mission without any help from his parents. Because Elder Thacker’s savings permitted him to buy a car, he was assigned with his companion to a large area in the Mojave Desert, including the town of Boron. This little town is best known for the “Twenty Mule Team” borax mine located nearby.

A Descendant of William Weeks

One day while tracting, he and his companion, Elder Frank Gifford, both felt inspired to stop at a small home. A man named Leslie M. Griffin invited them in and during their discussion mentioned that he was a descendant of William Weeks, the Nauvoo Temple architect. Mr. Griffin was not a member, and the two missionaries visited him several times to discuss the gospel.

Elder Thacker’s visits with Mr. Griffin took place in September 1948, as his mission was winding down. Elder Thacker would soon be released and he planned to return home and start school at Brigham Young University. On their last visit at the Griffin home, Mr. Griffin excused himself for a few minutes and went into the back of the house. He returned with what looked like a 3-foot long roll of papers, yellowed with age, and secured with a rubber band. He explained that these were the original plans for the Nauvoo Temple! The plans had been handed down through his family. As Mr. Griffin unrolled the plans, the two missionaries saw that the largest papers were side and front views of the temple exterior. Rolled inside were several other smaller drawings showing various views of the temple. Knowing that Elder Thacker would be returning home to Utah in a few days, Mr. Griffin asked if he would deliver the plans to the headquarters of the Church in Salt Lake City, Utah. Mr. Griffin said that he felt strongly that although the plans had been in his family for 100 years, they should be given to the Church. Elder Thacker assured him it would be an honor. He returned home with the plans tucked in the trunk of his car.

Shortly after his return home, Brother Thacker called the Church Offices and was referred to Brother A. William Lund, Assistant Church Historian. Brother Thacker delivered the plans as he had promised Mr.Griffin. Brother Lund was delighted to receive the plans and immediately wrote a letter enthusiastically thanking Mr. Griffin for his “wonderful gift.”  The drawings had already been photographed and placed in a steel locked safe for safekeeping.

As Brother Thacker later learned, the plans which he had been instrumental in returning had been lost to the Church when William Weeks, the architect of the Nauvoo Temple, became estranged from the Church soon after the migration to Utah. Brigham Young had intended that William Weeks should be the architect for the new temple in Salt Lake City. But he left both Utah and the Church in 1848, taking the original plans of the Nauvoo Temple with him. Weeks’ assistant Truman O. Angel became the architect for the Salt Lake Temple and the plans for the Nauvoo temple were handed down through William Weeks’ descendants.

Announcement of the Nauvoo Temple

It was in the 1999 spring General Conference that President Gordon B. Hinckley announced the rebuilding of the Nauvoo Temple. As the architects began their work, it became apparent that Brother Vern Thacker had been an instrument in the hands of the Lord. The recovered plans and drawings of the first Nauvoo Temple were the only original copies that existed. They included, in William Weeks’ handwriting, the measurements for the various details of the temple as well as the exterior drawings. These were useful to the architects in planning the new Nauvoo Temple.

Brother Thacker currently serves as an ordinance worker in the Provo Temple. He and his wife Suzanne reside in Heber City, Utah. They have three children and seven grandchildren.

Next week we cover Carthage, Illinois

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