We May Never Know

I am convinced that we affect everything and everyone around us.   Sometimes our influence is good, sometimes not so good.  The smallest deed can have a huge impact in the life of someone else.  Most of the time we never know the effects of our actions.

 This is a sweet story of a summer where I followed the promptings of the spirit to stand as a witness of the things I knew to be true.  Thirty years later I learned the whole story.

 

I have always had a deep love and a testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith.   Little did I know that I would play a small pivotal role in helping to bring the posterity of Joseph and Emma back to the church.   Little did I know that my testimony and love of the gospel would have so much influence in the life of my very first roommate, Darcy, and her soon-to-be husband, Michael Kennedy.

The summer after I graduated from high school I moved to Rexburg, Idaho to be closer to my job.  I moved into the apartment I would be living in when college started in the fall.  A girl from Tonopah, Nevada was also staying there for the summer.  Her name was Darcy Dodge and she was the sweetest person you could ever hope to meet.  I found out that she had only been a member of the church for a short while.

We would often talk about the gospel until the wee hours of morning.  A lovely spirit filled our apartment and bore witness of the truths we shared.  She said that the missionaries taught her the discussions, but she learned the gospel during our talks.  She was like a sponge.  The gospel was like air to her and she embraced its standards without question.

I shared with her my goals and dreams of marrying a returned missionary in the temple and why it was so important to me.  We talked long hours about it.  The decision of who to marry would not only affect us, but also our children and future generations.  She was the only member of the church in her family and had no idea of how the priesthood could bless her future home.  Our conversations opened her view and new desires filled her heart.

She had been dating someone in high school named Mike Kennedy.  He had just joined the church but was not deeply committed to it.  He had only half-heartedly been baptized and wanted her to marry him.  She told me that he was a 3^rd great-grandson of the prophet, Joseph Smith.  I told her I didn’t care who he was if she would have to settle for someone who wasn’t going to take his gospel responsibilities seriously.  As the spirit began to work on Darcy, Darcy began to work on Mike.

She would gently tell Mike how she felt and what she needed.  He did his best to comply.  Mike was the first of Joseph and Emma Smith’s descendants to receive the Melchizedek priesthood.  Miracles happened and they were married in the temple.  Mike has risen to all the challenges placed before him and is amazing. It wasn’t until 30 years later that I learned the whole story.

In 2005, Steve and I had been called to serve as Cultural Arts Directors for our Stake.  It was the bicentennial celebration of Joseph Smith’s birth.  The Day of Celebration extravaganza was held in the Romney football stadium at Utah State University and was an amazing event with hundreds of youth participating.  The descendants of Joseph and Hyrum Smith were seated in a special section and were recognized for being in attendance.  I thought of Mike and Darcy and wondered if they were there.   After the event, I hurried over to that section in the stadium.  Scanning the crowd, I found them.  It was a very joyful reunion.  Darcy exclaimed to her daughters, “This is her.  She is the one I am telling about in my talks!”   Mike jokingly scowled at me and they explained everything.  I was in shock and deeply touched at the scope and outcome of Darcy and my summer together.

We arranged for them to come to our Stake and give a fireside.  It was wonderful!  They stayed in our home.  We spent hours talking.  I marveled at the scope of their mission and was deeply humbled and moved.

Mike and Darcy have been instrumental in gathering Joseph’s posterity.  They have met with Joseph and Emma’s descendants from all over the world, working tirelessly to bridge the gap.  They formed the Joseph Smith and Emma Hale Smith Historical Society and were responsible for the movie, “Emma Smith – My Story.”  Darcy even played a small part as a midwife in the movie. They travel all round speaking in firesides and meetings.

I never knew!

[I am now including 2 other articles and 4 short videos about Mike and Darcy.  First, is Mike’s conversion story.  It is very funny and deeply moving.  My friend, Debby Barnes had moved in with Darcy and I towards the end of the summer.  We are the roommates he refers to in his story.  This account is taken from the Joseph Smith and Emma Hale Smith Historical Society website.

Second, is an article that was printed in the Deseret News, May 2008.

Lastly, four videos with Mike and Darcy talking about the things being done and their part in helping to gather Joseph and Emma’s posterity.  It was filmed at the Liberty Jail and produced by the Liberty, Missouri Stake, October 2016.]

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Missionary Moment: The Michael Kennedy Conversion Story
(Third Great Grandson of Joseph Smith)
by – Michael Kennedy,
March 2011

Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it. (D&C 135:3)

I used to wonder in my early days of membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since Joseph Smith has done so much for the salvation of men in this world and taught such doctrine about the eternal preservation of the family why he did not have all of his own family to him?

Joseph Smith and his beloved wife, Emma, saw a terrifying revelation given five years before, come true at Carthage in a most horrifying way, severely impacting his family. “If thou art accused with all manner of false accusations; if thine enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the society of thy father and mother and brethren and sisters; and if with a drawn sword thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife, and of thine offspring, and thine elder son, although but six years of age, shall cling to thy garments, and shall say, My father, my father, why can’t you stay with us? O, my father, what are the men going to do with you? And if then he shall be thrust from thee by the sword, and thou be dragged to prison, and thine enemies prowl around thee like wolves for the blood of the lamb…” (D&C 122:6).

It makes sense that a loving God would have a plan that would recover the family of Joseph and Emma, honor the sacrifices made, and fulfill Joseph’s petition that his family would come to “be converted and redeemed with Israel, and know that thou art God” (D&C 109:70).

I did not know then that the Lord did have a plan, nor that I would be a big part of that effort.

My name is Michael Allan Kennedy, and I was raised in a small mining town in central Nevada. Tonopah is located about halfway between Las Vegas or Reno, a bit over a four-hour drive in either direction. In addition to mining, Tonopah relies on government operations such as the Tonopah Test Range for Nuclear Testing, bombing operations for the new F-117 Nighthawk, and Area 51, which is nearby. The military likes isolation and Tonopah is isolated

In my growing years, I was also isolated from both the LDS and the RLDS churches. I never heard of either church or even the word “Mormon”. The first time I heard “LDS” I thought it was some discussion about “LSD”. Joseph Smith was never part of any of our family discussions during my life until about halfway through my junior year in high school. My mother and father did not participate in any formal religious organization, but we were raised understanding and believing in a divine supreme being and were raised with confidence that such a being did exist.

During a cold wintery afternoon in my American history class, Miss Glass, our teacher, felt her students would have a greater appreciation for the development of our country if we knew, in addition to the founding fathers and other historical characters, how our own ancestors were involved in the development of our nation. By the end of the class period we received an assignment to research during the next two weeks our own family history. Using our research, we were to create a pedigree chart, select someone from that chart, and prepare both a written and an oral report on that ancestor. This report was to show how this person, by our own interpretation, helped with the development of America.

Taking this assignment home, I asked my father for some help. He told me there were three individuals he felt had something to do with American history in our family lines and named them off: Orville and Wilber Wright, Jonathan Swift, and some ambiguous person by the name of Joseph Smith.” I asked my dad who he was, and was informed, “He is the founder of the Mormons!”

“Who are they?” I asked. “The Mormons founded Utah,” said my dad. Well, that sounded very “American History” to me so I selected him. My dad left the room indicating he would be right back with the help I needed. Within a few minutes he returned with a box and told me that everything I needed to complete my assignment I would find in this box…

After explaining, my father left the room and I took the box over to the table and began going through its contents by sorting it on the table. I pulled out a picture of Emma Hale Smith, wife of the Prophet, then another one of Lucy Mack Smith, Joseph’s mother. I also found a journal of Alexander Hale Smith, Joseph’s son, and other documents and artifacts. As I was extracting the material from the box, the doorbell rang. Being the closest to the door, I answered it.

At the door were two young gentlemen, slightly older than me, well-dressed, with name tags indicating that they both had the same first name, “Elder”. One of them said, “Hello, I’m Elder Archibald, and we have a message for the head of the household.” I brought them in and called for my dad.

As we were waiting for my father to arrive, these young men glanced at the artifacts on the table and noticed the pictures. The two elders stared at each other for about a minute and then Elder Scott asked me what these items were. I told them that I was working on a school homework assignment involving one of our ancestors, whose name was Joseph Smith, and who founded the Mormon Church.

How was I to know that the “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” which was on their name tags and “the Mormons” were the same thing! It was obvious these young men were very excited.

They gave me all six discussions in the next ten minutes. This brought the rest of the family down: my mother and three brothers.

As these Elders explained who they were, my father arrived and informed them he was a second great grandson of Joseph Smith and I was Joseph’s third great grandson. The Elders indicated they had some “discussions,” and would like to come back next week, since they would help me with my homework assignment. My father agreed, and every Tuesday at 7:00pm these Elders came and gave us the discussions.

However, after the first two discussions I noticed this was getting rather religious, and decided I did not wish to participate any further since I had a bad experience with another religion a year earlier.

Since that time, I have developed a great testimony that our Father in Heaven is a master of choreography. What I did not know then, and learned many years later, was that these missionaries were tracting out Tonopah on a limited eight week “test” mission. At that time, The Church only had enough missionaries for larger communities such as Reno, Sparks, Carson City, Fallon, Las Vegas, etc.; not enough to assign to small towns.

 

 

Today, I’m the president of the Joseph Smith and Emma Hale Smith Historical Society founded in 2006. One of the JSEHS projects was producing the movie, “Emma Smith, My Story.” In the process, I was introduced to McClain Bybee, of LDS Philanthropies. As we got to know each other, I learned he served as a counselor in the mission presidency of that mission during the same time the missionaries came to our door. Brother Bybee informed me those missionaries were testing to see how well or receptive the area would be to the missionaries; if not, they would close that part of the mission down. At the end of the eight weeks, the missionaries had to return to Fallon, Nevada to continue the rest of their mission, as the test was not very productive. During this eight week period there were only two families in Tonopah who agreed to take the missionary discussions – my family was one, and the other family was the Gene Dodge family whose daughter, Darcy, is now my wife.

Darcy was a golden contact, anxious to be baptized. She accepted the gospel literally the first time the missionaries came to her home. As the missionaries pleaded with Darcy to wait until the sixth discussion before committing to baptism, they asked her if she knew Mike Kennedy. She did, and they told her, “He keeps ditching out of the lessons, is there anything you can do?”

Before, as I believe was choreographed by the Lord, and previous to the visit of these Elders to either of our homes, Darcy and I were elected to be leaders of the High School newspaper. I was elected President and Darcy was made a reporter, so we knew each other from this association.

Darcy knew my mother through work and had a conversation with her, after which I was not allowed to “ditch out” on the lessons anymore. I came up with another idea, following that old adage, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” I decided to tell the missionaries I would get baptized but not until after I graduated from high school. If they were still interested they would come back in a year to baptize me. (They did). I figured if I waited to get baptized then, that after my baptism I would leave for college and never see the missionaries again, and I could continue with the rest of my life. The missionaries could go their way, telling anyone they wanted that they baptized me, and they would go away happy. Everyone would be happy.

The next heaven-choreographed event, which I also did not know about until years later, occurred after my baptism. My father called his aunt, Glenna Henderson, who was the same aunt that gave us the box. She had collected all the artifacts that were handed down from one generation to the next since Emma, retrieving them from various families. She had given them to my father some twenty years earlier. My father told Aunt Glenna about my baptism. Coincidently, at that very moment, Buddy Youngreen, who had been assigned by President Harold B. Lee to find descendants of Joseph Smith and Lucy, was visiting with Aunt Glenna. Buddy, after hearing about my baptism, thought he ought to mention it to President Lee once he returned back to Salt Lake City; and so he did.

After hearing Buddy’s report, President Lee asked, “Buddy, where is this young man? I would like to meet him.” Buddy responded, “President, he’s currently attending college at his father’s Alma Matter and believes he has gotten far away from all the Mormons.”

President Lee responded, “Oh! Where is that?” Buddy told him, “In Cedar City!” President Lee then asked Buddy to visit me and ask me to go to Salt Lake to meet with him.

Buddy came to my apartment and knocked on my door at 2:00am. My father was part of central Nevada’s Search and Rescue program, and we grew up knowing that if someone came to your door at that hour something bad had happened. When I opened the door, I found a stranger, dressed in Sunday clothes. He informed me that President Harold B. Lee would like to meet with me.

I was greatly troubled by this. I had only been a member of the Church a little over thirty days. I wondered what I had done wrong that got the attention of the President of the Church. Nevertheless, I agreed to go, and a few days later I climbed into Buddy’s car and we began the trip to Salt Lake.

After the usual formalities were completed with President Lee, he asked: “Brother Kennedy, as the third great grandson of our beloved Prophet Joseph Smith, tell me what you know of him?”

All I knew about Joseph Smith was the report I gave in high school. I figured it was pretty good since I got an ‘A’, so recalling it from memory I explained to President Lee how Joseph Smith discovered the State of Utah. I did not get too far into this explanation when President Lee interrupted and asked me if I would mind waiting for just a minute, because he had someone he would like me to meet; and he left.

A few minutes later, he came back, and in tow was this new apostle. I was introduced to Elder Bruce R. McConkie. President Lee said, “Elder, this young man is the third great grandson of the Prophet Joseph Smith, a literal descendant, and he has been explaining to me how Joseph Smith discovered the state of Utah. What are your impressions?” Elder McConkie replied, “President, I think we have a problem!” President Lee went on, “Elder McConkie would you mind spending a little time with this young man and help him with this problem”.

I then went through more discussions, not the kind I felt comfortable to ditch. Today I cherish the insights, teachings, and counsel he gave me that have guided me and always stayed with me.

At that time, however, I had different reason to go to Salt Lake. Salt Lake City is half way between Cedar City, UT and Rexburg, ID where my girlfriend, Darcy, elected to go to college. By this time, I was falling in love with her but I was confused with lack of what appeared to be reciprocal feelings because of all the “Dear John” letters she had been sending me, making me very confused. Since half the trip was already covered, I took a Trailways bus the rest of the way to Rexburg to talk to Darcy face to face and find out if we could work things out. As I got off the bus, instead of a hand shake I got a “big” hug. I left, believing an opportunity was still possible. Darcy introduced me to her roommates, who had convinced her that the best person to marry was a returned missionary. I did not qualify. All of them told me that I had to serve a mission first, and that I had made some commitment to serve a two-year mission. I kept telling them I made no such commitment, but it did not seem to matter. I was determined when I returned back to my apartment in Cedar City to prove them wrong.

After I returned to my apartment, I searched through all my belongings and finally found my baptismal certificate. Sure enough, I was right. Nowhere on the certificate was any mention of a commitment to serve a two-year mission. To add additional validation, I called my bishop and made an appointment with him to discuss serving a mission.

He readily invited me to meet with him, and so I did the following Sunday. I told him about the conversation with my girlfriend and her roommates. He simply responded, “Brother Kennedy, you made this commitment before you were even born!”

He really did not want to know what I was thinking about the Church after that remark, but eventually the conversation came to this question, “Brother Kennedy, if you were to know that the Lord wanted you to serve a two-year mission would you serve.”

I told him if I knew the Lord wanted me to serve I would. He said, “That is all I need to know for now.” We shook hands and I left. A few weeks later, his secretary called and indicated the bishop would like to meet with me again, and I agreed to the visit. By this time, I started attending church because I learned Joseph did not discover the state of Utah, and I wanted to learn as much as I could, as soon as I could, to avoid any further embarrassments.

During the course of the conversation, the Bishop told me it had been made known to him that the Lord did not wish me to serve a mission at that time. However, he did have a mission for me later on, and I would not be able to complete that mission without the experiences I would develop during marital life. My Bishop told me, “So it is with the blessings of the Lord and the Church, you will be an exception and should continue with your plans to marry.”

I was elated and happy and anxious to return to my apartment where I called Darcy on the phone and informed her, “I have Bishop’s permission to go ahead and get married.”

Darcy said, “I only want to be married in the temple.” “Okay,” I said, “not a problem – pick one!”

Darcy said, “Michael what is your priesthood?”

I said, “I believe they made me a deacon.”

“You can’t go to the temple as a deacon; you need to be advanced in the priesthood.”

“Alright”, I said somewhat reluctantly. I called the Bishop back and told him I needed to be advanced in the priesthood. The Bishop said, “I’d love to talk to you about that, and believe we can help you with it.”

Another appointment was made, I was interviewed and the Bishop indicated he would recommend me to the ward for priesthood advancement. I was elated. The following Sunday I stood amazed as all these people, who did not really know me, supported the Bishop in my priesthood advancement. Later, during the ordination, I was very excited and anxious to call Darcy and give her the great news. As soon as I could, after the “Amen”, I ran for home, called Darcy and told her I had great news. “Not only can we get married in the temple now, but they advanced me in the priesthood, and I can probably do the ceremony myself because they made me a Priest.”

I was deflated to learn the Bishop gave me the wrong priesthood, so after disconnecting from Darcy I called the bishop back and informed him he gave me the wrong priesthood; I needed this Melchizedek priesthood.

Bishop asked me, “Brother Kennedy, how long have you been a member of the Church?” I told him, “About three months.” And he responded, “Brother Kennedy, usually we don’t advance anyone to the Melchizedek Priesthood until they have been a member of the Church for at least a year.”

I triggered on that word, “usually.” That meant there had to be an exception, and I wanted to know what it was. He informed me that only someone higher in authority could authorize it. I remembered one of the conversations I had with Elder McConkie recalling a discussion about there being three members in the First Presidency, twelve members in the Quorum of the Twelve, at least seventy members in the Quorum of the Seventy, and (at the time) many Assistants to the Twelve. I suggested to the bishop that we start with one, and keep asking until someone said yes. The Bishop suggested I should just leave the matter in his hands.

A few weeks later, the Bishop caught me in the hallway and mentioned that the stake had some business in a few weeks that would require the presence of a General Authority, and that they would present my petition to him. I asked, “Great, who is he?”

He responded, “Elder Bruce R. McConkie.”

I suggested we move on to the next one. From his expression, I recognized later on in life, that he knew how little I knew. A short time later, Elder McConkie came and interviewed me and the Bishop separately. It was during this time where I learned I would be the first of Joseph Smith’s posterity to receive the Melchizedek priesthood, fulfilling prophecy that one day the priesthood would be returned to the Prophet’s line before his posterity would be gathered.

Darcy and I were sealed in the Provo Temple (that was her favorite), and for the next ten years I grew in the Church, developed a testimony, and then began to lead the effort to help create opportunity for the posterity of Joseph and Emma to receive the teachings of the gospel that Joseph Smith taught.

Darcy and I do frequent firesides, and I’m often asked, since I was so slow to develop a testimony at first, what my testimony now is. I tell them:

Joseph’s faithfulness, despite very difficult situations, taught me to trust in the Lord. The Lord knows our sacrifices; and we have had plenty. We have had many trying times and can relate to Emma and Joseph’s sacrifices.

In the latter days of Joseph’s life just a short time before his death, Joseph Smith had two problems which weighed heavily on his mind. In the role as Prophet and President of the Church, he had the sealing keys bestowed on him by the authority of God from those who held those keys, and it was his responsibility to make sure these sacred keys and the authority to exercise those keys were passed on, to ensure the continuation of the Priesthood and the ability to bind on earth and in heaven. Ensuring that that authority and those keys would always be in place, in the manner the Lord had designated.

The second problem: in the role of a father, knowing he would be taken, what would become of his family? I know he sacrificed his life, knowing what the cost of restoring the gospel would be to his family.

Trusting in the Lord, he was assured that that cost would be made up by the restored sealing keys he held. The Priesthood would no more be taken from the earth, his family would one day all be sealed to him. Joseph Smith had to have the fullness of the priesthood before he could pass all the keys of that priesthood on to those the Lord authorized; Joseph had great comfort in that. Joseph Smith could not have received the fullness of the priesthood without sharing the ordinances he received with his eternal companion, his beloved wife, Emma. “Neither is the man without the woman nor the woman without the man, in the Lord” (1 Cor. 11:11). I have full confidence today that Joseph Smith, my third great grandfather, who still guides the affairs on this earth of this last dispensation, is watching closely over the ministering of his family, and does so with the mother of his posterity, Emma Hale Smith.

Joseph Smith also taught me that when I pray to that Supreme Being my father taught me about, I now know whom I am praying to; I know His nature, His character, and His great love for us. This knowledge makes my conversation with Him real, and his answers are as real because I know He lives and He does hear our prayers. He has answered mine, some the way I wanted, and many in other ways.

As I continue to perform my service to God and my family, I know the impressions I receive have important meaning. I learned what Joseph taught: this life is about the perpetuation of the family and preserving that family so my wife and my children will always be mine and always be with me. I know the Lord made this promise to Joseph and Emma. They trusted and relied on that promise.

Emma wants her children and grandchildren as much as Joseph does. I know they are depending on me to lead this gathering effort. Joseph Smith knew before his death that he would be dependent on his own posterity to bless his family through the temple ordinances, like other families are dependent on their posterity to do their work in the temple. I know that baptism in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave me entrance into the kingdom of Heavenly Father, and most importantly, that it was the receiving of the ordinances of the Temple, with my beloved wife, and now eternal companion, that made me an heir to our Father in Heaven.

Sincerely,

Michael Allen Kennedy

 

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UNITING THE SMITHS
For Descendant, Quest Began with School Report
Deseret News
May 8, 2008

In 1972, Michael A. Kennedy was a high-school junior in Tonopah, Nev., and he had an assignment. Chalking the word “genealogy” on the board, his American history teacher told her students to learn something about America’s past by researching an ancestor.

“We had two weeks to research and write a report,” said Kennedy, now an Alpine, Utah, resident. “At 3 p.m., I went home and waited for my dad. When he got home, I told him about the assignment.”

His dad had three suggestions: Jonathan Swift, author of “Gulliver’s Travels,” who not being an American was quickly scratched; a family member named Wright who had some small part in Wilbur and Orville’s historic first plane launching; and Joseph Smith.

The latter seemed attractive to young Kennedy, who thought Smith was “the guy who discovered Utah.”

When he learned that this ancestor actually was founder of the Mormon church, he had a question: “Who are the Mormons?”

In time, Kennedy learned that Joseph Smith was his third great-grandfather. His Kennedy name came from the marriage of Joseph’s granddaughter, Emma Belle Smith, to William Forrester Kennedy. Emma Belle was the daughter of Alexander Smith, Joseph and Emma’s next-to-last son.

To help him out, Kennedy’s father dredged up a box from a shelf that contained genealogy information, pictures, a Bible and other artifacts relating to Joseph and Emma Smith. The elder Kennedy had received the box from an aunt, Glenna Kennedy, with whom he had visited after serving in the Korean War. Among other things, he wanted to know about her association with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a group that broke away from the LDS faith after the martyrdom of Joseph Smith. She was not inclined to discuss the family religious background but gave him the box, which had been passed down through several generations of the family.

Aside from Michael Kennedy’s father, no one in the family had even known such a box existed, Kennedy said. For him, it was exciting. He could get his homework done in one day.

What he didn’t know then was that researching Joseph Smith and his family would eventually become a full-time passion. But in the meantime, he had an assignment to finish.

He took the materials to the front room and spread them out on a coffee table. As he worked, the doorbell rang and two young men in suits (“and with the same first name — Elder”) asked if they could share a message about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When his father invited them in (offering them an alcoholic drink, as Kennedy remembers), they spotted the pictures of Joseph and Emma and, no doubt, thought “Aha!”

But the missionaries were premature. They knew much more about the items than the youth did. “I told them I was doing an assignment on this guy named Smith,” Kennedy recalled.

• • • • •

THE UPSHOT OF THAT evening was that young Kennedy earned an A for his oral report and written paper on Joseph Smith, and his father invited the missionaries to return.

“I didn’t want to be there,” Kennedy said. As the family continued to hear the missionary discussions, “I skipped out whenever I could,” he said.
Nevertheless, in 1973 Kennedy was baptized with the casual thought that “I’ll go my way, they’ll go theirs.” He was one of the first of Joseph’s descendants to be baptized into the LDS Church and ultimately became the first to hold offices within the Melchizedek Priesthood.

In the year following his baptism, several things happened almost simultaneously and often without his knowledge that had a profound effect on his life. One was the fact that another young person in Tonopah had heard the missionaries and been truly converted. Eliminate that factor, and Kennedy’s involvement in the church might have ended there.

“My wife, Darcy, who went to high school with me, was one of those ‘golden contacts,”‘ Kennedy said.

After they graduated from Tonopah High, she went to Ricks College, a church school in Rexburg, Idaho. He went to Cedar City to attend then-Southern Utah Community College. But Kennedy was convinced already that she was the woman he wanted to marry.

At Cedar City, another of the elements working to shape Kennedy’s future began to bubble. The church had begun an effort to find the descendants of Joseph Smith, and President Harold B. Lee had assigned Buddy Youngreen to the task. Youngreen, an author, playwright and dramatist, “had a great passion for Joseph Jr. and wanted to know about his family,” said Kennedy.

When possible, Youngreen would visit any of Joseph’s descendants he could find. One was Michael’s aunt Glenna Kennedy, who had passed down her box of artifacts to Michael’s father.

“Buddy ‘just happened’ to be at my aunt’s home when my father called to tell her that I would be baptized into the LDS Church,” Kennedy said. “She relayed this information to Buddy and Buddy told then-President Harold B. Lee.”

At 2 o’clock one morning, Youngreen, who was returning from Salt Lake City to his home in Los Angeles, knocked on the door of the young college student’s apartment in Cedar City.

“I thought my roommates were playing a trick on me,” Kennedy said. “I opened the door and there was this man in a suit and tie asking me if I would meet with President Lee. I had been a member of the church for 30 days at the time.”

A brief visit with President Lee and Elder Bruce R. McConkie, then of the Quorum of the Twelve, made it clear that this young man wasn’t yet seasoned enough in the gospel to undertake the task of helping find his family, Kennedy recalled. But he enjoyed the tour of Temple Square. And he also decided that as Salt Lake City was halfway to Rexburg, he’d continue his journey north and press his suit with Darcy.

When he popped the question, she told him she would only marry in the temple. He asked what he had to do to bring that about. She told him about the priesthood requirements for temple marriage, and he reminded her that he was a deacon. Advised that that wouldn’t do the trick, he went back to Cedar City resolved to work with his bishop toward meeting the requirement.

A short time later, he called Darcy and told her, “I can now be married in the temple, and I can perform the wedding myself. They have made me a priest.”

• • • • •

SINCE THE OFFICE OF a priest is only the last step in the Aaronic Priesthood, Kennedy obviously had more learning to do. He was informed that a year was the usual waiting period for new converts to qualify for the Melchizedek Priesthood necessary for temple worthiness.

“I asked if there were exceptions,” Kennedy said. “The bishop said yes, but they would have to come from someone higher up in the church. I suggested to him that I was going to keep asking until someone said yes.”
A stake center was being dedicated in the Cedar City area and Elder McConkie, who officiated at the dedication, turned out to be the someone Kennedy was looking for. He was ordained an elder, the first of Joseph Smith’s descendants to receive the higher priesthood. Soon afterward, he and Darcy were married in the Provo Temple.

The marriage celebration was marred when Kennedy’s father was killed in a head-on collision with a tractor-trailer truck as he, his wife and another son were en route to the wedding reception. Neither his mother nor brother suffered serious injuries in the crash. Kennedy received comfort in a spiritual confirmation that his father “is doing the work on the other side of the veil” to unite Smith family members.

What Kennedy describes as a “10-year growing period, with education and experience honing his testimony” prepared him for the work of finding the prophet’s descendants.

“He gravitated to genealogy and would be up into the wee hours typing in names,” Darcy said. Over the years, Kennedy became totally immersed in the work, devoting every moment he could aside from his “real job” as manager of an IT department for ProPay, an Orem company. The results have been phenomenal.

The names of every Joseph Smith descendant are listed on the huge family chart mounted on two walls of Kennedy’s Alpine home. He has traveled extensively in search of family members, even to Australia, where a branch of the family settled. As data accumulated, Kennedy was instrumental in seeing that proxy temple work was performed for all the deceased members of the family. To date, 129 living descendants have become affiliated with the church, including 75 adults and children still too young for baptism, he said.

“The family is not large, with fewer than 2,000 descendants,” Kennedy said.

• • • • •

 

SOME OF JOSEPH’S posterity have remained affiliated with the reorganized church, whose first leader was Joseph’s son, Joseph III. The sect is now named the Community of Christ. Others have joined other faiths. The issue of polygamy has “been the nemesis” for many of the descendants, Kennedy said.

“They believe that (Joseph’s) pronouncement on ‘celestial marriage’ marked his decline into a fallen prophet,” Kennedy said.

In 1984, when Kennedy was visiting with President Gordon B. Hinckley of the Quorum of the Twelve in Kirtland, Ohio, President Hinckley suggested he become more involved in the affairs of Joseph’s family. One of the ideas was to create a family organization.

“With my wife and the cooperation of Gracia Jones (another Joseph Smith descendant who had been baptized) and her husband and mother, the Joseph Smith Jr. Family Organization was launched in 1985,” Kennedy said.

Initially, the organization focused on research. Faced with limited funds, the group then chose to form a historical society that “could not only bless the family but the public in general,” Kennedy said.

With support from Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve, the Joseph Smith and Emma Hale Historical Society was formed. The research can be accessed at www.josephsmithjr.org.

In 2005, the bicentennial year of Joseph Smith’s birth (Dec. 23, 1805, in Sharon, Vt.) was an opportune time to invite all the family members to Salt Lake City for a reunion. Representatives of each of Joseph’s family were among the 159 who attended.

Current research, much of it focused on Emma’s relationship with Joseph and the events in her life following his martyrdom, is being added to the Web site.

Another milestone occurred when the Brigham Young Family Organization joined in the effort by preparing a “healing document” aimed at mending animosities that have lingered since the majority of the Saints left Nauvoo in 1846 to come West. Emma Smith did not join the exodus, supposedly because of hard feelings between her and Brigham Young. Kennedy believes that impression is not well-founded and is based on misunderstandings of events during that troubled time.

The Young Family document, issued June 9, 2007, and shared during the Smith family’s biennial reunion, asks for healing of the long-standing feelings. The deep friendship between Joseph and Brigham, the document says, is cause to mend fences. “It would be our earnest desire to rebuild that bridge of friendship between our two families that existed not so long ago,” it says.

Kennedy said the statement caused an upwelling of emotion among those attending the meeting.

• • • • •

KENNEDY’S LATEST undertaking is a movie about the life of Emma Smith. He joined Paul Savage and Steve Lee of Morning Dew Productions to produce the film “Emma Smith: My Story,” now playing in local theaters. It portrays Emma’s life from her childhood to the death of Joseph in 1844 at the hands of a mob.

Emma faithfully endured the persecutions that dogged her husband and his followers before the church was founded in 1830 and for decades afterward until the Saints finally moved west to escape their enemies. She was intimately involved in the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and served as first president of the Relief Society when it was created in 1842.

The purpose of the movie, Kennedy said, was “to counter negative impressions about Emma. We’re trying to counter misperceptions about her and mend fences with those who think we don’t like Emma.”

He believes the movie is doing well. “No one gets up to leave,” he said.

Kennedy agrees with Elder Ballard, who said, “No women gave greater strength to the church in the early days than did Emma Hale, Jerusha Barden and Mary Fielding Smith … Emma stands more notable a character in the history of the church than any other person.”

Ultimately, Kennedy believes the movie may become one of the church historical productions that are shown in visitors centers and other church-related settings. In June, he and others will go to Independence, Mo., to present the movie to members of the Community of Christ, he said. All of Joseph’s known descendants will be invited.

“We expect there will be significant interest among the membership of the family organization,” he said.

Proceeds from the movie will be used to further the effort to build links among the family members, he said.

By Twila Van Leer

 

Michael and Darcy Kennedy at the Liberty Jail – Michael’s Conversion Story  
(This video was produced by the Liberty, Missouri Stake, 2016)

 

 

Michael and Darcy Kennedy at the Liberty Jail  
(This video was produced by the Liberty, Missouri Stake, 2016)

 

 

Michael and Darcy Kennedy at the Liberty Jail – Lucy Mack Smith’s Shawl 
(This video was produced by the Liberty, Missouri Stake, 2016)

 

 

 Michael and Darcy Kennedy at the Liberty Jail – My Driving Force 
(This video was produced by the Liberty, Missouri Stake, 2016)

 

(For more information go the the website listed below.)

The Joseph Smith and Emma Hale Smith Historical Society