Mary Brown Pulsipher's Mother-in-Law Witnesses Divine Light at Death

During the winter of 1838-1839 at Far West, Missouri, Mother Pulsipher (Mary Brown Pulsipher's mother-in-law) was approaching her final days. As Mary Brown recorded the account: 'The winter we were in Far West, Missouri, we had to part with our good old mother Pulsipher. She was sick one week, and then died. The day before she died, she lay looking up. I said, "Mother, what do you see?" She said, "Oh, don't you see that light?" I looked, but could not see any. The next day she saw it again over her bed. She said, "That is a light to light me through the dark folly of death."' This heavenly manifestation was a tender mercy to the aged matriarch during her final hours. Mary Brown recorded: 'Then she fell asleep without a struggle or groan. I think she was eighty-five years old.' The appearance of divine light at the moment of death provided comfort and reassurance to the dying woman and testified to those present of God's care for the faithful even in mortality. This experience was particularly meaningful as it occurred during a time of severe persecution and hardship for the Church in Missouri.

Fuller account of this event (in the witness’s own words):

The winter we were in the far western part of Missouri, we had to part with our good old Mother Pulsipher. She was sick one week, and then died. The day before she died, she lay looking up. I said, "Mother, what do you see?" She said, "Oh, don't you see that light?" I looked, but could not see any. The next day she saw it again over her bed. She said, "That is a light to light me through the dark valley of death." Then she fell asleep without a struggle or groan. I think she was eighty-five years old.