Security

In the summer of 1999, Brother Mike Harker asked me if I would be in charge of the security detail for the Grand Blanc Stake for the open house of the Detroit Temple. I was so excited! Mike had suggested my name to President Schilling and he concurred. With my experience in the martial arts, being a woman was not a problem.
October 1999 was when the open house was held. My group had three days to be in charge of the open house. We all had walkie-talkies and maps where areas were marked. I don't remember how many people were on my team, but I do remember that it was a wonderful experience.
We were told to be aware of the anti-mormon groups who were at the entrance to the parking lot. They were handing out anti-mormon leaflets. I guess they felt it was their duty to warn people about the 'evils' of mormonism. However, there were no problems at all. At least on our watch. We went over to them many times and spoke with them, but not about any trouble, just to let them know that we welcomed them in any time they wanted, but they couldn't pass out their anti-mormon leaflets on the property.
One of my guys called me on the walkie to tell me he found some cables sticking out of the ground next to the temple and he was worried someone had wired a bomb up somewhere. When we investigated, we realized it was cable for the closed-circuit t.v. that was going to show the dedication to those attending in the chapel of the stake house. We got a good giggle out of that.
Then one night it was rainy and dark. I saw a man in a trench coat sneak in the side of one of the draped walkways (people could avoid getting wet that way) that was leading to the temple. I took off running and broke through up near the temple door so I could be there in front of this man. He was very tall, and it seemed as though I had seen him before. I stopped him and asked for I.D. He pointed to his lapel, but he had a trench coat on covering it. There was no visible I.D. Then he opened his coat and showed me that he was Elder Mayo, regional representative. I felt pretty stupid.
I wore slacks the whole time (dress slacks) because if we had to go into a defensive mode, I wanted to be prepared. Nothing untoward happened, though. I did get a chance to go places on the grounds that no one else could go.
The temple was dedicated on October 22nd and 23rd. Bruce and I went on the 22nd. We were seated in the sealing room. We watched our prophet on a television screen dedicate our beautiful temple. He was in the next room from us, but there were so many people that we were blessed to be able to see and hear him with modern technology. Then we watched as the corner stone was laid. President Hinckley had a wonderful sense of humor. And who was one of the men laying the corner stone? Yep, Elder Mayo.