By Dennis Lythgoe
Deseret News staff writer

      Visiting Hugh Nibley's little green house in Provo, the family home since 1953, one is struck by its utter lack of affectation.

Hugh Nibley says his wife "goes through the roof every time I say I have a bright idea and plan to write something else. But I can't help it." Stuart Johnson, Deseret News

      The living room is in disarray, and the 92-year-old LDS scholar and lover of languages is sitting comfortably in his favorite easy chair with a quilt drawn around his legs. He seems tiny, with thinning hair standing straight up, but his eyes are sparkling and his mind is frisky.
      Before him, scattered on the floor, are several piles of documents and papers.
      He's working. "I'm doing an article about Joseph Smith," Nibley said. "Phyllis (his wife) goes through the roof every time I say I have a bright idea and plan to write something else. But I can't help it.
      "These papers contain the geometry of the Pearl of Great Price. Joseph Smith created all the basic structure with proper proportion! When I started listing the concrete acid tests of Joseph Smith's credibility, I was surprised at how extensive the list was."
      Boyd Petersen, Nibley's son-in-law, has written a fine biography of the scholar — "Hugh Nibley: A Consecrated Life." But Nibley hasn't read it. "Not yet. I might read it — when I'm properly stewed — after I've had a few extra drinks!" The comment was typical Nibley, who has always been noted for his keen and irreverent sense of humor. He doesn't drink, of course.
      That sense of humor has probably helped sustain him for more than nine decades, and he acknowledges being aware of his advanced years. "During the last two days I wondered if I had reached the end of the rope. Then suddenly, I said, 'What the hell is wrong with me?' So I dashed upstairs and took a bath. So here I am now, ready to go! Of course, I could quit at any time. But I don't want to cop out. I have to keep going, I guess."
      Nibley's massive writings on subjects relating to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been collected in 13 thick volumes — so far — by the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS) at Brigham Young University. They include studies on the Book of Mormon, the Book of Abraham and ancient Egypt.
      He has been working on a book-length study of the Book of Abraham, "One Eternal Round," for several years, but so far age has kept him from finishing that volume. He has also given numerous talks and lectures in LDS and academic venues around the world, which have demonstrated his erudition, wit and a dependable habit of calling a spade a spade.
      One of his best-known addresses was a 1984 commencement address at BYU. With the university officers and some LDS general authorities sitting behind him, Nibley cleverly contrasted "leadership" with "management." He noted that no one ever managed people into battle. "Leaders are movers and shakers, original, inventive, unpredictable, imaginative, full of surprises that discomfit the enemy in war and the main office in peace.
      "Managers, on the other hand, are safe, conservative, predictable, conforming organizational men and team players, dedicated to the establishment. . . . That is why the rise of management always marks the decline of culture."
      "That one caused a lot of trouble," Nibley said, "especially with the school of management. It stirred people up, and Rex Lee, BYU president at the time, hated it." At various times, Nibley said, other BYU administrators "would have preferred that I be at the bottom of the sea."
      How, then, did he spend his career teaching at BYU? "Well, in my first year at BYU, I just kept saying over and over to myself, 'Don't say it, Hugh! Don't say it!' So I survived!"
      But as the years went on, Nibley became more candid, especially about the "stupidity" he often found in Mormon culture. The secret of his stability after that was his "friendliness with the brethren," meaning the general authorities of the church. Plus, "I always quoted scripture and supported my positions with adequate sources."
      Nibley became the First Presidency's chief source for answers to difficult questions, and he was often asked to research a problem. He also spent a lot of time traveling with general authorities to LDS stake conferences, where he took his turn at the podium. "I spent a whole week with Spencer W. Kimball in Arizona, where he grew up. I had a very nice time with him. He used to do all the Indian dances and tell great stories. He knew all the plants down there. He was a 'Renaissance man' — President Kimball! He was nobody's fool. We got along famously."
      Nibley admits that there are a number of legendary folk tales about him. "Most are absolutely foolish. Just once in awhile one is true."
      For example, there is the story of Nibley meeting and marrying his wife at BYU. As the story goes, it was at the beginning of his career at the LDS Church-owned university, where he would teach history and religion. When he interviewed for the job, BYU officials expressed concern that he was 36 and not yet married. So he said to them, "I'll marry the first girl I see on BYU's campus." On May 25, 1946, two days after he was hired, Nibley met 21-year-old Phyllis Draper, an employee in the housing office. By the end of the summer he had proposed and they were married Sept. 18, 1946.
      "That story is true," said Nibley. "She was the last rose of summer. She was the first girl I saw. That was it. How lucky that was! I was obliged to marry her!"
      Nibley was an environmentalist long before Rachel Carson wrote "The Silent Spring," which sparked the movement. "Before my mission, I spent six weeks of the summer in a forest in Oregon — all alone. I met all the animals. I didn't see a soul the whole time. Wolves would sniff my feet. I wore nothing but crepe rubber tennis shoes and got two flat feet from walking all over the forest in them. The pack rats chewed on that crepe all night. That was insane! I wouldn't do that now — but I had been reading Emerson and Thoreau. I didn't realize that Thoreau had a nice home to go to every night!"
      A huge cougar Nibley saw the first night in the forest never attacked him. "He watched me roll up my stuff. I left him alone. The last day I was there, I saw two lights across the desert from the trees. It was two rangers driving a Ford. They gave me a ride. When I told them what I'd been doing, one of them said, 'I wouldn't spend the night in that forest for $100!'
      "I was insane! But that's the time that always comes back to me now. It was wonderful being there!"