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The Genesis Group was founded in the early 1970s to help keep black members active even though they couldn’t hold the priesthood. Joseph became a member of that group. He wasn’t one of the original founders, but he will talk about some of his earliest remembrances of that group and will talk about an amazing member, Monroe Fleming. Monroe almost became the first black member ordained a decade earlier in 1969. You won’t want to miss this.
Joseph: By the time I came here in 1976, I didn’t know where the group was located. People had told me about the group, even when I was in Hawaii.
GT: Oh, really?
Joseph: But, how do you contact the group? There was no phone number in a phone book or anything like that. When I moved into this stake, Bishop Swain knew Ruffin Bridgeforth personally. When he first sat down with me, I met with him in his office. He then said, “Are you interested in meeting members of the group?” I said, “Yes, I’ve heard of it, and I don’t know anything how to find them. So, he says, I’ve got the number. He dialed Ruffin right then, called him up and then Ruffin invited me, gave me the address to where they were meeting. They met once a month on the first Sunday of the month. I think, maybe about seven o’clock in the evening. I took my family. We went to our first meeting, had a great time. From that time on, I was a member of the group. Every first Sunday, we were there.
GT: Is Ruffin still around here?
Joseph: Ruffin has passed away.
GT: Oh, bummer.
Joseph: Yeah, I think had sugar diabetes. I believe that that was probably one of the things that took him away. But Ruffin was such a wonderful man. The general authorities loved him a great deal. He became more like a father to me. I don’t remember now how old Ruffin was. But in those years that I moved here, I was about 25 when I received the priesthood. I met him before receiving a priesthood. So, I was either 24 or 25 when I met him, and he was probably, in his early 50s, about that time. He just kind of took me under his wing. He was just such a wonderful guy. He was great speaker. Ruffin shared with me a story. I think I told you some years ago that Brother Fleming had been asked by President Monson if he would write his testimony down.
GT: You’re talking about Monroe Fleming.
Joseph: Monroe.
GT: I definitely want to talk about Monroe Fleming. Now for those who don’t know Monroe Fleming, I did an interview with Matt Harris about a year ago. Monroe was almost in your shoes. He was almost the first guy, back in 1969.
Joseph: That’s right. Yeah.
GT: Tell us more about Monroe Fleming.
Joseph: When people were going on missions years ago, they would go to the mission home, and it was at the Joseph Smith Building, which is [the old] Hotel Utah. I never went to the Hotel Utah. It was just a big, marvelous building. I didn’t have anything to do with it. Well, Monroe worked there. So, when the missionaries would be trained, and they get to the end of their training, they would bring in Brother Fleming, and have him share his testimony. I’ve met many, many missionaries today, that are perhaps my age and that told me that they saw and met Brother Fleming years ago when they first finished the mission training, before leaving for their mission. They would just share with me how excited they were meeting a black man who had a great testimony and shared that testimony with them. After the priesthood was given, Brother Fleming contacted me. He said, “I’d like to hear your testimony.” So, a couple of times, we went out together and went to firesides where I was the speaker. He got to share and talk over the conversation of me receiving the priesthood, how I felt and everything, and how he felt. I didn’t get a chance to hear him speak before I left Salt Lake and moved away, though. But he was a wonderful guy. I didn’t know him personally. It’s been a long time, but I just love the guy. He’s just a really nice man. He had a beautiful testimony.
I wish I had been able to meet Monroe Fleming. (He passed away in 1982.) What do you know about the Genesis Group? Check out our conversation….
Don’t miss our previous conversations!
492: Instant Celebrity
491: Joseph’s Baptism
