The Name

From the moment I found out I was having a boy, I wanted to name him David. I was so convinced that David was my boy's name that I never even mulled over or proposed another name. Dave was a little ambivalent about this as he thought naming a child after him was a bit assuming, but I always loved it. He advocated pretty strongly for a family name, Hezekiah. While Hezekiah is a great, strong name, it is quite a mouthful. Ultimately, mama won out and entered David Hezekiah.

There is significance to both names, both biblically and personally. In the scriptures, David is characterized as a youth as being a man after the Lord’s “own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14). His name is fact means "beloved" in Hebrew. From obscurity, David rises to become a great unifying leader of Israel. His life is marred by a series of bad choices, but ultimately he shows true contrition and a love for the Lord that is unfeigned. I have always liked the biblical David's story and have a soft spot for flawed prophets. They just seem real and genuine to me and David's unquestioning remorse for his sins I find remarkable.

Hezekiah was a biblical king of Judah. He hated idolatry and loved the temple. He recognized Isaiah as a prophet and was guided by him. Hezekiah in Hebrew means "God gives strength".

On a personal level, David is meaningful to me because my first David is the greatest man I know. Dave is good to the core. He is kind and even tempered. He is funny and true. He is sincere and doesn't try to be anyone he isn't. He makes people comfortable and at ease. He is hard-working and earnest. And to top it all off he is genuinely good company. There is no one I want my little man to be more like than his dad and that is why I knew he had to carry his name.

Dave's great, great, great grandfather who was born on the same day of Dave—August 25th—in 1809 was also a great man. He was the first member of the church is his line and readily and fully accepted the gospel despite a shyness about outward displays of religion that he maintained throughout his life. He was a natural pioneer and inured to hardships. He was driven out of Illinois with the Saints, crossed the plains to Utah and later at the behest of his lifelong friend, Brigham Young, was one of the first settlers in Sacramento and then Logan, Utah. He was an extremely hard worker and was able to become quite prosperous, while showing perseverance through some very meager years.

He was intuitive about the needs of others and showed his love for God by serving others willingly and generously throughout his life. His biographer, Edward W. Tullidge, states "In ordinary matters Father Thatcher was an ordinary man, but it emergencies, he never failed to display the characteristics of greatness." He goes on to say that he was "Modest and unassuming as a child, yet was he positive and firm. Being quick to comprehend the thing needful to be done, he usually acted first and thought about it afterward." Further, he notes, "If the hungry came to him he never sought for reasons why they should not be fed, or if naked why they should not be clothed. The cry of pain or the moans of anguish never touched his ear, without awakening a responsive cord in his sympathetic heart."

Despite the fact that he knew personally people of great influence and wealth, from the leaders of the Mormon faith to Abraham Lincoln, he was nonplussed by titles and regarded the honest laborer as superior to a king. Tullidge notes that "So little of the aristocrat was there in his composition that to enjoy a meal without sitting at the same table with his hired help was impossible."

He was a man of few words, but was often clever and straight to the point. In public he prayed little and preached not at all. As Tullidge expounds, Father Thatcher sat in one meeting where "he listened with interest to the profuse apologies of one of the speakers who feelingly declared that his frequent non-attendance at the Sunday gathering of the Saints was due to his lack of decent apparel in which to appear in public. Whereupon Father Thatcher from his chosen seat in a remote corner cried out: "Brother McN., I’ll furnish the clothing if you will do my preaching." It was a bargain quickly closed, and the next day Brother McN. appeared in a completely new outfit from "top to toe" and one, in those days, of no mean value; and thereafter preached many an excellent proxy sermon—sometimes taking for a text, "Those who give to the poor, lend to the Lord."

Hezekiah was a proud father who raised many fine children and his legacy is still spoken of in the Thatcher family today. His best characteristics are evident in his great, great, great grandchildren. We hope our little Kai's (pronounced Kye) namesake will inspire him and he will carry on his example.