“Dorothy, you are departed, yet you live in our hearts. I know you are happy where you are; happy that you have put down this flitting garment called body, ready to put on the new gloried body.

You are a gift to us from our heavenly Father. You loved us, you challenged us, you grew us and nurtured us, you counseled with us and you expended your very own life for us in many ways.

Now the Lord has seen fit to give you rest, to call you home to be with him. To die is gain. You have gained, being in His presence forever, beholding His glory and embraced in all the heavenly breeze and love. You are now comforted from all pains and tears and struggles of this life.

You are missed, missed by all of us, the people you impacted as you journeyed through life. Your family misses you; all GS/STS family misses you. We will miss you until we will meet again.

To Dorothy’s family, to all of us her friends, to all STS family, take heart. Dorothy has gained. To all of us, let us spare our weeping. Let us Cease, cease our sorrow; Our mentor, our leader and our inspiration is gone, but she is glorified; our minister is gone, but she has ascended up to her Father and to our Father; our mother will be buried in the grave, but the archangel’s trumpet will awaken her, and her spirit is even now with God.

Yes, “To die is gain.” Take away, take away that hearse, remove the covering of black, adorn it in white with bright shiny decorations. There, take away the music of the death march; rather lend me the trumpet and the drum. O hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah; why do we cry as the saint has gone to heaven? Dorothy is not dead, she has simply gone to heaven before us. Stop, stop that crying, hold back your tears, clap your hands, clap your hands. She is supremely blessed, she is done with care and sin and woe, and with her Savior she rests.
What! weep! weep! for a head that is crowned with crown of heaven? Weep, weep for hands that hold the harps of gold? What, weep for eyes that see the Redeemer? What, weep for a heart that is washed from sin, and is throbbing with eternal bliss? What, weep for a God’s general that is now in the Savior’s arms?

I see her turning back on us with loving wonder, and she exclaims, “Why do you weep? What, weep for poverty that is clothed in riches? What, weep for sickness that has inherited eternal health? What, weep for shame, that is glorified; and weep for sinful mortality, that has become immaculate? Oh, do not weep, but rejoice. If you knew what it was that I have said to you, and where I have gone, you would rejoice with a joy that no one could take from you.”