Article - Mark Hofmann's Ex Wife Speaks

[silverfox]

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600149792,00.html

Some of you might find the story interesting.

Olds acknowledges her view of the marriage at that point was a misinterpreted reading of LDS teachings.
"There was an enculturation with the role of the priesthood (held by men) that's totally incorrect. In the church organization, there is a linear line of authority; but in a marriage, it's a partnership, and neither one is above the other," she said. "You need to be working together."

Back then, "It was whatever he says goes, and he is the head of a house. It's not true doctrine, but it's something that just sort of seeped in, like a smell in a room that permeates and no one really knows where it's coming from. Unless you are conscious of what's going on, you're not aware of why you are feeling that way or what is happening.

[peter_mary]

Back then, "It was whatever he says goes, and he is the head of a house. It's not true doctrine, but it's something that just sort of seeped in, like a smell in a room that permeates and no one really knows where it's coming from."

So...if I understand her, the Priesthood is like a fart.

I'm okay with that. I suggest we call this gas, "Melchizadane."

Can't you just see the headlines in a Peep Stone?

"Eruption of Melchizadane at General Conference sends Thousands to Hospital. Says Church spokesman, L. Thomas Grouper, "that's just one of the inherent risks when your leadership is comprised of old men. President Monson forgot to take his Beano.""

:D

Peter_Mary

[dogzilla]

Now, I think it's very revealing that Peter_Mary thought of a fart in comparison to the priesthood.

I thought of a dead rat in the ventilation system. Ever have that happen at your house? You find a small rodent dead somewhere, but it takes a while to track down the source of the stench that's coming from somewhere...

[kreleia]

...since I just railed on my son for wanting to switch DVDs every two minutes. But, OMG Peter_Mary, that's way too funny. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!! :D

Still, the whole "permeating" thing... I guess I'm really morbid, and my desire to go back to school to study forensics has twisted me, but instead of a dead rat, I thought "dead body in the walls." ...I know, I know. Ew.

[taruleo]

So...if I understand her, the Priesthood is like a fart.

I'm okay with that. I suggest we call this gas, "Melchizadane."

Can't you just see the headlines in a Peep Stone?

"Eruption of Melchizadane at General Conference sends Thousands to Hospital. Says Church spokesman, L. Thomas Grouper, "that's just one of the inherent risks when your leadership is comprised of old men. President Monson forgot to take his Beano.""

Peter_Mary

:D ROTFL! Peter_mary I wish I was as cool :cool: as you and could come up with witty satire (sp?). Maybe some day I can aspire to your greatness. (right here I need a smiley with prayer hands and eyes cast towards the heavens.)

[peter_mary]

:D ROTFL! Peter_mary I wish I was as cool :cool: as you and could come up with witty satire (sp?). Maybe some day I can aspire to your greatness. (right here I need a smiley with prayer hands and eyes cast towards the heavens.)

Actually, most people who know us are damn glad they're NOT like us! :D

However, my child, if you rub Peter_Mary's belly and scatter sweets and wine at our feet, you never know, you might find yourself cursed with a sense of humor as bizzare as ours. (Note the use of first person plural...very self agrandizing, don't you think?)

I wouldn't hope for that, if I were you...

But what the hell...thanks for feeding our ego this afternoon! You make us blush! :o

Peter_"the Humble, though stunningly witty and handsome"_Mary

Oh, and Silverfox darling, have we derailed this thread?

[Born Free]

Now, I think it's very revealing that Peter_Mary thought of a fart in comparison to the priesthood.

I thought of a dead rat in the ventilation system. Ever have that happen at your house? You find a small rodent dead somewhere, but it takes a while to track down the source of the stench that's coming from somewhere...

I once had a storage shed that had a rank smell, which I suspected was eminating from a dead rat. I was impatient for the heat to dehydrate said critter so the odorific presence would cease.

Well it got worse with the passage of time. It turned out the dead rat was a dead cat, hit while running across a nearby road, and making it to a recess to expire.

It strikes me that Mormonism is a bit like that 'rat'. With the passage of time and more information, what seemed like a small matter of decay of irrelevence, turned out to be the pervasive stench of widespread rot, decay and deception.

So, so much for Melchizadane.

Daryl

[miss taken]

So...if I understand her, the Priesthood is like a fart.

I'm okay with that. I suggest we call this gas, "Melchizadane."

Can't you just see the headlines in a Peep Stone?

"Eruption of Melchizadane at General Conference sends Thousands to Hospital. Says Church spokesman, L. Thomas Grouper, "that's just one of the inherent risks when your leadership is comprised of old men. President Monson forgot to take his Beano.""

:D

Peter_Mary

Aaargh...just cleaning up coca cola now engulfing my keyboard... PM your a genius!!

[free thinker]

I know one thing about Melchizidane.

It is closely related in smell to Bull**it!!

free thinker

[flotsam]

I think it's interesting to consider the source here. This story comes from Deseret News, the official Church newspaper. Obviously the editors are always going to keep a sharp eye out for material that could reflect badly on the Church. So why was this story published?

I think you could legitimately read this story from a number of different perspectives. I imagine the TBM perspective would say, "Oh, the poor woman who was saddled with an apostate for a husband. But look at that, she kept going to church. She kept believing in God. What an uplifting story."

However, the MoNoMo perspective might say, "Man oh man. Look at how bad the Mormon church, with it's obsession with covering up the past and maintaining a patriarchal system, screwed up that woman's life. It's a good thing she's so strong."

I thought the most interesting thing in the article was:

Olds acknowledges her view of the marriage at that point was a misinterpreted reading of LDS teachings.
"There was an enculturation with the role of the priesthood (held by men) that's totally incorrect. In the church organization, there is a linear line of authority; but in a marriage, it's a partnership, and neither one is above the other," she said. "You need to be working together."

Wow, what a thing to put in the Deseret News. I certainly like the idea she's putting forward. I really enjoy my marriage as a partnership. But the last time I went through the temple the hierarchy of obedience was still in place. It's a strange tension to see the public and private teachings together like this. I hope the public teaching takes on more creedence in the minds of the general Mormon population.

[helemon]

So...if I understand her, the Priesthood is like a fart.

I'm okay with that. I suggest we call this gas, "Melchizadane."

Can't you just see the headlines in a Peep Stone?

"Eruption of Melchizadane at General Conference sends Thousands to Hospital. Says Church spokesman, L. Thomas Grouper, "that's just one of the inherent risks when your leadership is comprised of old men. President Monson forgot to take his Beano.""

:D

Peter_Mary
This cartoon was suggested by me back in Feb of 04:
http://www.latterdaylampoon.com/slamtoons/captions/firstpresidency/040212anon_fartingpres.gif

[free thinker]

This cartoon was suggested by me back in Feb of 04:


The flatuating triumvirate!! Good to see Tommy, Gordon, and Jimmy having a good time!! Those are some fun fellas!! Easy on the Tobasco there Tommy!! :cool:


free thinker

[why me]

I think it's interesting to consider the source here. This story comes from Deseret News, the official Church newspaper. Obviously the editors are always going to keep a sharp eye out for material that could reflect badly on the Church. So why was this story published?

I think you could legitimately read this story from a number of different perspectives. I imagine the TBM perspective would say, "Oh, the poor woman who was saddled with an apostate for a husband. But look at that, she kept going to church. She kept believing in God. What an uplifting story."

However, the MoNoMo perspective might say, "Man oh man. Look at how bad the Mormon church, with it's obsession with covering up the past and maintaining a patriarchal system, screwed up that woman's life. It's a good thing she's so strong."

I thought the most interesting thing in the article was:

Olds acknowledges her view of the marriage at that point was a misinterpreted reading of LDS teachings.
"There was an enculturation with the role of the priesthood (held by men) that's totally incorrect. In the church organization, there is a linear line of authority; but in a marriage, it's a partnership, and neither one is above the other," she said. "You need to be working together."

Wow, what a thing to put in the Deseret News. I certainly like the idea she's putting forward. I really enjoy my marriage as a partnership. But the last time I went through the temple the hierarchy of obedience was still in place. It's a strange tension to see the public and private teachings together like this. I hope the public teaching takes on more creedence in the minds of the general Mormon population.
You made some good points that have been overlooked by the farting from the other posters :D You saw what I saw in the article. It was a serious story by someone who has certainly suffered in her life. It is a human story born from isolation and a overbearing husband who was also a criminal but the story is a human story complete with a 'reality' life without no connection to reality TV. I wish her well in her life....and you are also correct about it being in dessert news....and I found the quotes said by those idiot church members who have judgementalism in their blood revealing because they were quoted in a church owned newspaper. Keep cool in Alaska! :cool:

[silverfox]

http://www.sltrib.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?article=2898017

The bombings - 20 years later
At Sunstone: Principals in the infamous Mark Hofmann forgery and murder case reflect on the lingering effects
By Peggy Fletcher Stack
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune

Nineteen-year old Gretchen Sheets McNees was sitting in a University of Utah classroom, when a plainclothes policeman called her out. Something was wrong at home, he said.
On the drive to the police station, she hoped it was a traffic ticket but feared worse. The truth was beyond imagining. Her mother, Kathleen Sheets, had been brutally murdered with a pipe bomb.
"When my dad told me, it was like all my bones had been ripped out of me," McNees said Thursday. "I crumpled to the ground."
McNees made her emotion-packed remarks as part of a panel discussion, "Twenty-Year Reflections on the Mark Hofmann Bombings," held at the annual Sunstone Symposium, an independent gathering of Mormon intellectuals.
The three-day meeting that began Wednesday night at the Sheraton Centre in Salt Lake City attracted hundreds of participants, some of whom had firsthand experiences with Hofmann, who is serving life sentences for murdering Sheets and Salt Lake City businessman Steven Christensen in October 1985.
Her mother's death on that fateful morning 20 years ago continues to echo throughout McNees' life.
She was not allowed to grieve at the time, she said, because of extensive media coverage and public insensitivity. On Halloween that year, someone came dressed up as a "white salamander," an image from one of Hofmann's most infamous forgeries.
McNees felt her mother's loss when she was pregnant with her first child and had no one to ask mother-to-be questions. She senses it now when looking at her two kids, realizing they will never know their grandmother, who loved children so much she stocked her pantry with finger food and baby clothes.
The death also changed the course of McNees' life. She is now a detective investigating sex crimes for the Salt Lake City Police Department.
Doralee Olds, Hofmann's ex-wife, told the packed audience of the memories she didn't have time to explore: being at Hofmann's side in the hospital and seeing all her possessions dragged out of their house. Learning that her husband had deeded away their house. Her feelings of abandonment when both sides of the family supported her husband.
Those will all be in a book Olds is writing, she said.
What she wanted to talk about on this occasion was what she called "waking up."
She's been asked repeatedly how she could not have known that her husband was a fraud, that he was lying to everyone, even her.
"When I look back, there were a lot of places where things were a mess, but he'd always have a great answer," Olds said. "I was unable or unwilling to see."
Hofmann played on people's fears or desires, she said. Mormons who bought his documents for exorbitant amounts were afraid the church's official history wasn't true, and anti-Mormons worried that it might be. Olds often wonders if she could have prevented the murders by paying more attention to clues to his behavior but has concluded, "I needed to stay asleep to be safe. I might have ended up like Lori Hacking."
Hacking was murdered by her husband, Mark Hacking, after she discovered he was lying about graduating from college and being accepted to medical school.
"There will always be schemers," she said. "We need to be awake and aware. We need to read Mormon stories with an open mind, not thinking that all church leaders were perfect."
Olds is a life coach at the Academy for Life Management, using massage, hypnosis and other holistic methods to help people get through emotional crises.
She remains strong in her LDS faith and has not been in contact with her husband since she divorced him in 1988.
Other panelists discussed the impact of Hofmann's murders and forgery on their LDS faith and the historic documents market.
One was Brent Metcalfe, an LDS researcher who introduced Hofmann to businessman Steven Christensen. After Hofmann killed Christensen, Metcalfe lost his Mormon faith.
If the LDS prophet and leaders who dealt with Hofmann were truly talking to God, they could have saved two innocent lives and exposed forgeries, an emotional Metcalfe told the Sunstone crowd. "God died for me that day and I've seen no reason to resuscitate him ever since."
Curt Bench was also a close friend of Hofmann and Christensen. Bench worked in the rare books and document wing of church-owned Deseret Book.
"One of the victims was trust," said Bench, owner of Benchmark Books, which deals in used and rare LDS books. "I never thought I'd trust again."
He doesn't feel too bad about not being able to see through Hofmann's deceptions because he's in good company - the forger fooled LDS leaders, his wife, his parents, ward members, everyone he knew.
"This was not a faith-destroying event for me," Bench said.
He does mark time as "B.H." and "A.H." - Before Hofmann and After Hofmann - and is a tad troubled how little the document market has changed in the aftermath.
There is still not much testing of a document's age or handwriting. Testing is expensive and Hofmann fooled experts, so why bother?
"It could happen again," Bench said. "There's always that potential when there's lots of money involved."
pstack@sltrib.com
The Hofmann saga

l Mark Hofmann defrauded hundreds in the 1980s by creating bogus old letters and documents, many of which called into question the historical basis of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
l Hofmann's undoing came when he could not produce the so-called McLellin collection, the papers of an early Mormon apostle who turned into an enemy of church founder Joseph Smith. The church wanted to acquire it, and asked Hofmann friend Steve Christensen to serve as a go-between.
l Hofmann tried to mask his deceit by killing Christensen on Oct. 15, 1985, with a pipe bomb. A second bomb was placed outside Kathy Sheets' home because her husband, Gary Sheets, was a former business associate of Christensen. Hofmann hoped investigators would believe the murders were related to dealings between Sheets and Christensen.
l The next day, Hofmann injured himself with a third bomb.
l He pleaded guilty to two counts of murder in January 1987 and was sent to Utah State Prison. He currently shares a cell with double-murderer and religious zealot Dan Lafferty.