Officials with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced Saturday, May 30, that Elder L. Tom Perry has died.
He died at his home just after 3 p.m. after a diagnosis of thyroid cancer. He was 92 years old. Elder Perry served as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles since 1974. For more info see KSL.com
Wheat & Tares 
Rough Day: Sister Missionary killed and companion is unresponsive following crash with semi-truck in Atlanta. See http://www.ksl.com/?sid=34859456&nid=968&fm=home_page&s_cid=toppick1
Condolences to the families Perry and Barnard, and hopefully a full recovery for young sister Beckstrom. With all due respect, with a Church and proselytizing force the size that it is, and with the age of the First Presidency and Qof12 members, hardly surprising, though always regrettable.
Prediction: someone from outside North America will be appointed, and though they won’t publicly discuss deliberations, the FP and Qof12 will seriously consider someone who is apparently not “Causcasian” or “European”. If I had to ‘bet’ on their pick (would be obviously inappropriate), I’d put the money on Pres. Ulisses Soares, who comes from Brazil.
Regardless of who ‘replaces’ Elder Perry in the Twelve, I’m sure that it’ll be inspired and he’ll make his mark in due time.