The Provo Tabernacle

It seems strange to mourn the loss of a building, but in this case there are many who do. I am certainly one of them. When I heard the news that a fire had destroyed the Provo Tabernacle in just a few short hours, and indeed was still burning strong, I was shocked and heartbroken. The loss of that beautiful pioneer building is immeasurable. If I, who only lived in Provo a few years, could grow so attached to that wonderful piece of history, I can only imagine the loss to those whose connection to it was much deeper.

I first went inside the Provo Tabernacle to hear a BYU Choral Festival during my freshman year. I fell in love with it immediately - the organ, the acoustics, the staircases, the woodwork, the lights, the colors - all of it. Three years later it was finally my turn to perform there as a member of the BYU Womens Chorus. I loved performing there. It was so picturesque, and seemed a much more intimate venue than our own concert hall on campus. Not to mention the way the building enhanced our beautiful sound. I looked forward to performing there every time. The last time I performed there with the womens chorus, Craig Jessop was our guest conductor. I'll never forget the feeling as he led us in singing "You'll Never Walk Alone."

Besides performing and hearing concerts there, the Provo Tabernacle was also home to many of my stake conferences. Sometimes I wondered if our stake conferences might be held in the tabernacle to encourage more of us to come. My last stake conference there I sang in the choir, and Elder Ballard was our visiting Gerneral Authority. It was the Saturday evening session, and of course he spoke about marriage in a singles stake. My future husband was sitting on one of the side benches, and I had a good view of him the whole meeting from the choir seats. I fully intended on finding him afterwards to offer him a ride home, but he pretty much bolted as soon as the meeting was over.

My memories are only an infinitesimal part of what gave that beautiful structure its soul. There are probably hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of hearts with mine, that mourn the loss of a building this week.