You Are What You Can Do

You are what you can do

Let it be for the Lord

Bare your testimony

Both in deed and in word

I once heard President Eyring say of his father that he would "forget" where he was and his lessons on chemistry would diverge into testimony. So wise!

Elder Richard G. Renlund wrote the following in Facebook:

On Saturday, April 12, 2025, my wife, Ruth, and I attended the unveiling of a statue of Dr. Henry Eyring in the Chemistry Department at the University of Utah. Dr. Eyring is the father of President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I wanted to attend because three degrees in chemistry from that department were awarded to my immediate family: bachelor’s degrees for my brother, Gary, and for me, and a PhD for my sister, Anita.

This ceremony celebrated the career of Dr. Eyring, a world-renowned professor of chemistry who left a prestigious faculty position at Princeton University to join the faculty of the University of Utah in 1946. Many spoke at this unveiling ceremony, including the interim chairperson of the Department of Chemistry, Dr. Peter Armentrout; the president of the University of Utah, President Taylor Randall; and the remarkable benefactor and philanthropist Khosrow Semnani, who made the statue possible. All honored a truly remarkable scientist.  

The remarks made by President Eyring, though, were the highlight for us. He spoke insightfully and lovingly about his father. Often, President Eyring did so in endearingly self-deprecating ways. 

When President Eyring was majoring in physics as an undergraduate, his father would invite him downstairs to the basement of their home to work the physics problems he had as homework. “Other families,” said President Eyring, “had ping-pong tables in their basements. We had blackboards!” When President Eyring suggested that he would do adequately if he could just use the equations he had been given, his father said, “No, let’s develop it from first principles,” and the tutelage would begin. We have noticed that President Eyring follows this advice in his talks. These talks frequently start with first principles that then lead to wise counsel for us. 

After President Eyring was awarded a PhD from Harvard University, was a visiting scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was a professor at Stanford University, his father had told him, “Hal, you have a problem. You think that who you are is where you have been. The truth is you are what you can do.” We have observed that President Eyring has taken this caution to heart. He is always concerned about what he can do to accomplish the Lord’s work.  

President Eyring said his father had a hard time separating science from his faith. On one occasion when Dr. Eyring was the president of the American Chemical Society, he gave a keynote speech at their annual meeting. Afterward, President Eyring told his father, “Dad, I think you bore your testimony.” Dr. Eyring innocently asked, “Did I?” In the secular unveiling ceremony on Saturday, President Eyring followed his father’s example. It was impossible to separate his testimony of the Lord and His work from his laudatory reminiscences of his dear, late father. What a joyous day this was for all who attended.