Time Passes

“Sometimes we understand a turning point by whom it brings into our life.”

In 1965, the University of Chicago invited Russell M. Nelson to lead its cardiovascular and thoracic surgery program. During a visit, he and Dantzel dined with a young law professor, Dallin H. Oaks, and his wife June.

Nelson ultimately remained in Utah. The Chicago chapter never began as a professional move—but that dinner began a lifelong friendship. Nearly twenty years later, Nelson and Oaks were called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on the same day.

In 2018, President Nelson called his old friend as First Counselor. After Nelson’s death in 2025—sixty years after their meeting—President Oaks became the Church’s eighteenth President. Time revealed another line running quietly through what once looked like a career decision.