may magazine

For three-and-a-half decades, the design, logistics and construction of the Salt Lake Temple were overseen by one Truman O. Angell.

My senior year of high school, my friends and I went out to the salt flats of the Great Salt Lake to watch an April sunset. We danced around on the crusted crystal salt, chasing clouds of brine flies and staring in awe at the sun, resting complete and red on the dusty pink horizon. I wore my favorite shoes that day, and the salt got into them in a real stubborn way. Despite my best scrubs, the shoes were forever altered, forever salted.

Recently I went to Temple Square in Salt Lake City to see what I could learn about the original construction of the temple as well as the status of earthquake retrofitting and other current renovations.