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Just six days before beginning his mission in the Southern States, David McAlister Faddies from West Weber, Utah, wrote President Woodruff the following message: “I have not as yet recieved any instructions from the Southern States mission, also that I have some work to do along with Father and Mother in the Temple, I would like to leave heare on Wednesday morning May 8th if you have a half fare ticket for me please send it & oblige your brother in the Gospell.”
While reviewing this letter, I noticed that David’s parents had not yet been identified. As a result, I discovered that they were Alexander McAllister Faddies and Mary Stewart Russell Faddies. As I was inputting their birth and death dates in the database, the fact that Mary died only 5 months after David began his mission was shocking to me.
In my quest to learn more, I found on her FamilySearch page that she had died from complications from childbirth at age 40. David was Mary’s oldest son, and her obituary in the Deseret Weekly illustrates how proud she was of him being called to serve a mission. In her obituary, her tender words to David prior to his leaving are recorded: “ ‘Yes, go, my son; we are willing to make any sacrifice that will be for your good. Shun the very appearance of evil, be true to God and your brethren, and all will be well.’ No doubt he [David] will be almost heart-broken to hear of the death of his mother, but I feel sure her last words to him, when he left home, will never be forgotten.”
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