“How grateful I am for the principle of presidency, and for Sister Anne Wirthlin and Sister Susan Warner,” stated the newly called ninth general Primary president, Patricia P. Pinegar (1994-1999). ‘In the multitude of counsellors there is safety' (Proverbs 11:14). I love these women; we will stand together in unity as we support our priesthood leaders in helping families and Primaries to teach and strengthen children.” ¹

Need for Counselors

No president ever serves alone; every president in the Church serves with two counselors, who contribute, balance, and strengthen the leader as well as who help carry out the tremendous work and responsibilities. Elder Joe J. Christensen, an emeritus member of the Seventy, said: “We are blessed with a remarkable organization within the Church. . . . There must be a special significance about the concept of presidency. The idea of an administrator with two counselors and the number three. In the Godhead there are three personages. There are three in the First Presidency, the Area Presidency, the stake presidency, the bishopric, the leadership of the priesthood quorums, and the presidencies of auxiliaries. There is something consistent and compelling about the idea that an executive in whatever organization in the Church has two counselors. There seems to be an underlying principle of presidency.” ²

Of her Relief Society presidency, Elaine L. Jack (1990-1997) commented: “I had strong counselors. I really appreciated their perspectives. Chieko N. Okazaki had a wonderful educational background and related so well to people. Aileen Hales Clyde had a lot of community experience and brought a perspective I had never seen. I am very grateful for them. Each one added perspective. They had both, of course, been Relief Society workers. But I think my general experience added a perspective they needed as well.” ³

Primary general president Dwan J. Young (1980-1988) said of her counselor Michaelene P. Grassli: “Michaelene is a very capable, creative woman. We used to laugh in our presidency because we had two left-brained people and one right-brained person. Virginia Cannon and I are very focused, and I would say for me, too restrictive in my vision. Michaelene is not restricted at all. She sees the whole picture. Nothing that has been done before encumbers her at all. She is able to put everything out and start afresh and try different approaches. I just admire that so much in her. I kept telling her we needed her because she gave a totally different perspective to everything.” ⁴ Michaelene followed as Primary president when Dwan was released in 1988.

An Unusual Calling

In 1914, Louise Y. Robison (1928-1939) began her service in Relief Society, first as a stake board member and then as first counselor in the presidency in the Granite Stake Relief Society. The way Louise was called as a counselor in the general presidency was very unusual, but with great faith she accepted the calling. At the general Relief Society conference in October 1928, President Heber J. Grant released Emmeline B. Wells as president and announced the calling of Clarissa Smith Williams, with whom Louise had become good friends during their World War I Red Cross work. Then President Grant announced Jennie Knight as first counselor and Louise Robison as second counselor. Louise raised her hand in approval, surprised that the second counselor had a name so similar to hers. “I had never heard of her but I voted for her,” Louise later said. “When I realized it was myself, I was so upset.” She did not think she had the ability or the background to fulfill this calling, and she worried for days. But the words of her good friend Anna Musser gave her comfort and courage: “True, many people have money, but it is the poor and humble that make up the Church.” ⁵

Working with Unity

Bertha S. Reeder (1948-1961), fifth general president of the young women organization, then known as YWMIA, was generous in giving credit for success to others. “I can't say enough for the counselors who worked with me and the general boards,” she remarked. “We worked together thirteen and a half years and we never had a cross word. Never [did] any of the workers ever [feel] like they were criticized; we never felt we had to get after anybody. They all seemed to want to do everything they could do and we just loved each other.

“A president never works alone, and she's only as good as her counselors and the workers she's with. The general president isn't good unless she gets the support of the wards and stakes. We felt we had the support of the wards and stakes because they were allowed to work on their own and a lot of them would come and ask to initiate a program.” ⁶

An Opportunity for Growth and Preparation for Future Service

Those who worked with Bertha Reeder responded to the love, the warmth, and the confidence she placed in them. LaRue C. Longden, who served as Bertha's counselor during her entire thirteen-year administration, said, ‘She loved us and she knew our potential, but we didn't until she called us to work with her. . . . She had the ability to know that God gave us talents but some of us might not have developed them if it were not for her.” ⁷

Trilba J. Lindsay, who served on the general board with Naomi M. Shumway (1974-1980) and as the general secretary of the Primary, felt the key to Naomi's administration was her preparation. She said Naomi carried out her responsibilities with a lot of expertise. A perfectionist and dedicated leader, she expected others to faithfully fulfill their assignments in the same way. But because of her experience on the general board and knowing what it was like to be a committee member and a committee chairman, she would not give an assignment that she wasn't willing to do herself. She was very thoughtful, generous, and concerned about others.” ⁸

Throughout the history of the three auxiliaries, many times a sister who had served as a counselor was later called as an auxiliary president.* Elaine L. Jack served as a counselor to Ardeth G. Kapp for three years, then was called in March 1990 as the Relief Society general president. In that general conference she said, “Sister Kapp is like a sister to me. I pay tribute to her as a great woman of vision, called by the Lord to lead the Young Women around the world at a most critical time. She has tutored me, encouraged me, and allowed me to grow. I have served happily as a counselor in the Young Women organization.” ⁹

Several years after her release, Elaine said, “The best preparation I had for this calling was working with Ardeth G. Kapp.” ¹⁰

*General presidents who previously served as an auxiliary counselor:

Relief Society Presidents:
Zina Diantha Huntington Young: counselor to Eliza Roxcy Snow (Relief Society)
Bathsheba W. Smith: counselor to Zina Diantha Huntington Young (Relief Society)
Louise Yates Robison: counselor to Clarissa Smith Williams (Relief Society)
Belle Smith Spafford: counselor to Amy Brown Lyman (Relief Society)
Elaine Low Jack: counselor to Ardeth Greene Kapp (Young Women)

Young Women Presidents:
Martha Horne Tingey: counselor to Elmina Shepard Taylor (YLMIA)
Ruth May Fox: counselor to Martha Horne Tingey (YWMIA)
Lucy Grant Cannon: counselor to Martha Horne Tingey and Ruth May Fox (YWMIA)
Ardeth Greene Kapp: counselor to Ruth Hardy Funk (Young Women)
Janette Callister Hales [Beckham]: counselor to Ardeth Greene Kapp (Young Women)
Elaine Schwartz Dalton: counselor to Susan Winder Tanner (Young Women)

Primary Presidents:
May Anderson : counselor to Louie Bouton Felt (Primary)
Adele Cannon Howells: counselor to May Green Hinckley (Primary)
LaVern Watts Parmley: counselor to May Green Hinckley and Adele Cannon Howells (Primary)
Michaelene Packer Grassli: counselor to Dwan Jacobsen Young (Primary)
Patricia Peterson Pinegar: counselor to Janette Callister Hales [Beckham] (Young Women)

Information for this article has been drawn from personal interviews and books co-authored by Janet Peterson and LaRene Gaunt: The Children's Friends: Primary Presidents and Their Lives of Service, Keepers of the Flame: Presidents of the Young Women, and the updated Relief Society presidents' book, Faith, Hope, and Charity: Inspiration from the Lives of General Relief Society Presidents.

¹ 

²Joe J. Christensen, “The Principle of Presidency,” Ensign, March 2001, 16.

³Personal interview with Elaine L. Jack, December 14, 2006.

⁴Personal interview with Dwan J. Young, May 26, 1993.

⁵Robison Family Scrapbook, compiled by Gladys R. Winter, Church Archives.

⁶Bertha S. Reeder Oral History, LDS Church Archives.

⁷Transcription of funeral service, December 30, 1982.

⁸Telephone interview with Trilba J. Lindsay, January 29, 1994.

⁹Elaine L. Jack, “I Will Go and Do,” Ensign, May 1990, p. 78.

¹⁰Personal interview with Elaine L. Jack, December 14, 2006.

Quotes from Church sources courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.