[Elder Oaks'] thoughts began to turn to remarriage as a way of filling the hole in his heart. On Thursday, February 11, [1999], he attended his regular temple meetings where he saw Elder L. Tom Perry, who had remarried decades earlier after his first wife died. "I asked Tom Perry what counsel he had received about remarriage," Elder Oaks wrote. "Elder Perry passed on advice he received from then-Church President Spencer W. Kimball. President Kimball told Elder Perry 'to marry a woman not a lot younger than himself, who had not previously been sealed, and to avoid public courting or dating, which would invade his privacy and his date's, and subject them to needless rumor.'"

On March 5th, Elder Oaks was editing one of the final chapters in June's history. "As I saw June's picture," he wrote, "I teared up and felt profound sorrow and discouragement. I cried out for her and instantly felt her presence and felt her comfort me and assure me that all would be okay. What a marvelous, comforting experience."

That spring, he published June's history and delivered copies to their children and grandchildren.

I close with this assurance and this testimony: The Bible teaches that one of the functions of a prophet is to be a "watchman" to warn Israel (see Ezekiel 3:17; 33:7). In revelation the Lord added this parable for modern Zion: "Set . . . a watchman upon the tower," who will "[see] the enemy while he [is] yet afar off" and give warning to save the "vineyard from the hands of the destroyer" (D&C 101:45, 54).

I have spoken to you as one of those watchmen on the subject the Spirit has assigned me. I assure you that my message is true. If you have doubts about this, or if you have questions about how to apply these principles in your own life, I urge you to seek guidance from the same source.

Some members or former members of our Church fail to recognize the importance of the priesthood line. They underestimate the importance of the Church and its leaders and its programs. Relying entirely on the personal line, they go their own way, purporting to define doctrine and to direct competing organizations contrary to the teachings of prophet-leaders. In this they mirror the modern hostility to what is disparagingly called "organized religion." Those who reject the need for organized religion reject the work of the Master, who established His Church and its officers in the meridian of time and who reestablished them in modern times.