Home >> Awards >> 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award
This year the John Whitmer Historical Association instituted a new award -- our annual Lifetime Achievement Award -- given to a person who has epitomized the qualities we most value:
- One who has made a significant contribution to the field through a large body of work, characterized by sound scholarship,
- A person whose interests and research are not confined to a narrow field,
- One who has encouraged others to engage in historical research, and
- A person who has shared his or her information and sources unselfishly.
We have not limited this award to the living. That being the case, it will
surprise no one that we are giving this first annual award to Leonard J.
Arrington.
Leonard J. Arrington, winner of the 2002 JWHA Lifetime Achievement Award |
The quality and quantity of Leonard's research and uniting in Mormon history has been unequalled. Practically all of us have been encouraged by Leonard. He also provoked stimulation, ideas, and sources. He provided me with coca-cola and Paul Edwards with coffee when we were surrounded by Mormons and isolated from our addictions. Jan Shipps has been the Den Mother of Mormon History; Leonard Arrington was The Father of Mormon History. Indeed, Leonard's Great Basin Kingdom is something seen as the beginning of the New Mormon History.
I last saw him at the Salt Lake Sunestone Symposium prior to his death. He was still soldiering on, full of enthusiasm. He was still Leonard.
A true Christian loves people and loves truth more than he or she loves an institution. Leonard was that kind of person. I always felt unconditionally loved by Leonard. To draw upon chapter 2 of Ephesians, in our historical association-LDS, RLDS, Strangite, etc-Christ has broken down the wall that has divided the mountain Mormons from the prairie Mormons, and other Mormons. Leonard Arrington embodied that spirit more than any way. He built bridges.
Leonard was our dear brother. We loved him. And we miss him terribly.
I have asked Dick Bushman to receive this award and get it to Harriett in Salt Lake City.
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