Remembering Marjorie Pay Hinckley, Part Two
A Photograhic Essay
By Maurine and Scot Proctor

Born Marjorie Pay on 23 November 1911, in Nephi, Utah, she was the first child of Phillip LeRoy and Georgetta Paxman Pay.  She had four sisters and two brothers, but one brother died in infancy.  The family moved to Salt Lake City in 1914 where Marjorie began her education.  She graduated from East High School in 1929 and went to work at the Owens Illinois Glass Company performing secretarial duties.

Sister Hinckley was nearly always by President Hinckley’s side on his many trips throughout the world.  Kirtland, Ohio.

As a young girl she was taught by her mother that the best husband for her would be one who loves the Lord.  Marjorie met a young man with that qualification living right across the street from her family home, but it was at the bottom of the depression when salaries were meager and jobs unsteady.

Sister Hinckley, always alert and attentive to the Saints she met.  Kirtland, Ohio.

"In those days," Marjorie explained later, "you didn't get married unless you had a job and could provide. But there was no question about whether or not we would get married. It was just a matter of when."

Sister Hinckley loved here grandchildren (seen here with granddaughter Sarah).  Kirtland, Ohio.

According to President Hinckley’s biography, Go Forward with Faith, “Gordon and Marjorie were attracted to each other's sense of humor, love for the gospel, innate optimism, and love of life.

Sister Hinckley poses with daughter Jane Hinckley Dudley and granddaughter Sarah.  Kirtland, Ohio.

“Through the years Marjorie would often say that the only way to get through life was to laugh your way through it, and even as a young woman she had a buoyant, cheerful disposition that was like an elixir to Gordon. It resonated with his native tendency to see the positive and to believe there was a solution to anything.

Sister Hinckley with President Hinckley in Kirtland, Ohio.

She had a light heart without being light-minded. In turn, Gordon's dry wit delighted Marjorie, who loved the fact that although her beau was practical, self-disciplined, and serious about the things that mattered to him, he didn't take himself very seriously and was often the first to poke fun at his own quirks. They enjoyed bantering back and forth.”

Sister Hinckley, always young at heart.  Kirtland, Ohio.

Marjorie published a book called Small and Simple Things this past year which is a treasury of her wit and wisdom.  Here she wrote, “Elder Neal a. Maxwell once said, ‘We are here in mortality, and the only way to go is through; there isn’t any around!’  I would add, the only way to get through life to laugh your way through it.  You either have to laugh or cry.  I prefer to laugh.  Crying gives me a headache.”

Sister Hinckley was always interested in everything around her.  Kirtland, Ohio.

Click here to continue with Part Three of “Remembering Marjorie Pay Hinckley”