The second experience occurred in the Salt Lake Temple on May 4, 1978, at a meeting of the General Authorities. It is told in part by Elder Boyd K. Packer, upon whom it had a profound effect. Testimonies had been borne, Elder Richards first and then each taking his turn. Later, Brother Richards asked to speak. Elder Packer quotes him: "Brethren, I have something to tell you. A little while ago, I saw a man seated above the organ there and he looked just like that." (He gestured toward President Wilford Woodruff's portrait which hangs in the room.) He then added, "I saw him just as clearly as I see any of you Brethren."

Of the experience, Elder Richards said: "He was dressed in a white suit and was seated in an armchair. I thought at the time that the reason I was privileged to see him was probably that I was the only one there who had ever seen President Woodruff while he was upon the earth. I had heard him dedicate the Salt Lake Temple and I had heard him give his last sermon in the Salt Lake Tabernacle before he died. I thought it wonderful that the Lord could project, without mechanical means, the likeness of a man long since dead." As Elder Packer says of Brother Richards, "He links us back. Here is a man who rubbed shoulders with those who stood with the Prophet Joseph Smith."