By Ann J. Kearns
Last year as I served in the Washington DC North mission, I became acquainted with sweet Katie Mincey and her husband, Will. The first time I saw Katie, she lightly held her husband’s right arm while they made their way to the front row of the chapel.
His red-tipped, white cane rested lightly over his left arm. Will didn’t need it at church because he was always helped by a friend who lovingly led them to the spot the members of the College Park, Maryland Ward had reserved for them.

Katie and her husband Will were childhood school mates. They were both blind, and perhaps because spiritual insight takes time to acquire, it was late in their lives before their innate knowledge of the Plan of Salvation blossomed into love and ultimately into marriage.

The missionaries who taught Katie and Will reaffirmed what they knew in their hearts—that ever since our Heavenly Father joined Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden a plan has been in place to seal husband and wife eternally. The elders quoted The Family Proclamation to the World by the First Presidency: “The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.” Katie and Will thrilled when they realized their lasting union could be accomplished in the nearby Washington D.C. temple.

In less than two years after their baptism Katie and Will knelt at the altar of the temple to be sealed as husband and wife for all eternity. I did not mention “for time and all eternity” because their time together on this earth would be short-lived.

When Katie was a baby the removal of a malignant tumor had cost her eyesight.
Despite this tremendous handicap she seemed to love every minute of the 49 years since. The month after I arrived in the mission field I learned that Katie’s cancerous brain tumor had returned.

The surgery was repeated, but it was impossible to halt the malignancy. As I visited Katie in the rehabilitation center on a weekly basis, I became aware of the depth of her love of mortal life. This love was tempered by her knowledge that we lived before we came to this earth, and we will live again. She knew that because our savior, Jesus Christ, had the power to re-unite his spirit and body, and he also has the ability to extend the blessings of resurrection to every person who ever lived.
Katie knew when she was resurrected, she would be whole again. She radiated this knowledge. She had gone beyond faith; her knowledge was sure.

Katie was not afraid to die. She would go when summoned, but she knew that while we are here in mortality we are given the gift of mortal bodies to experience opposition and find happiness in overcoming trials. Her zest for the delights of this world was evident. Katie’s favorite color was blue. She said she could feel its presence in clothing or flowers. She loved chocolates. When she became diabetic, regular chocolates were replaced by sugar-free ones. Two days before her passing I saw her in the center. She asked me to retrieve her box of chocolates from the top drawer of the nightstand. She insisted I take one, and then proceeded to enjoy two.

Katie had a firm testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ and his atonement and a sure knowledge that because she and Will had been sealed by proper authority in one of
His temples, they would be together and receive perfected bodies after their resurrection. Katie’s courage to endure her trials was heightened by the explanation she received in the temple. She learned about our pre-earth life, the purpose of this short life, and the glory she and Will would inherit in the life after this. The plan of Salvation became a plan of happiness for her.

Will is a professional singer and Katie loved to hear him sing. At her funeral, as a final tribute, his deep voice reverberated when he sang one of his wife’s favorites, “Swing Low Sweet Chariot.” There was not a dry eye in the chapel as he bore his vocal testimony that his Katie had overcome the trials of this world. He knew she was now in paradise, and that when he left this mortal existence, he would meet her there. They were both assured that on the morning of the resurrection they would be together in perfected bodies, never to be separated.