As a young Mormon boy growing up in a heavily wooded area of Long Island, Elder Robert D. Hales learned the names of the apostles.
“Imagine what it means to be a young boy from New York who memorized the names of all the apostles when I was a deacon," he once said. "I never thought I’d be among them.”
Elder Hales died Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017, of causes incident to age, passing peacefully at the hospital surrounded by his wife and family. He was 85.