Jesus Christ instructed,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love they neighbour as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets (Matthew 22:37-40).
Indeed, love is the essence of the gospel, and loving and serving others is an absolute indicator of the depth of love one has for God and Jesus Christ. One’s devotion to Deity is manifest through love for people: “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35).
Leaders in the auxiliaries are marvelous examples of giving service through love (see Galatians 5:13). These women, through lifetimes of service, illustrate that, “No one can assist in this work except he shall be humble and full of love, having faith, hope, and charity, being temperate in all things, whatsoever shall be entrusted to his care” (D&C 12:8).
The following are just a few representatives of the love exemplified by the Relief Society, Young Women, and Primary general presidents.
“I think I was born loving children,” said Michaelene Packer Grassli , the eighth Primary general president. Michaelene’s life has been filled with children. As Primary general president, whenever she visited with children, she knelt down, looked into their faces, and talked eye-to-eye, asking them questions about themselves, and particularly, how they would improve Primary. Children who came to her office found a friendly environment and were greeted by a huggable stuffed bear, a whimsical carousel horse, and a smile or hug from Michaelene.
Michaelene’s grandchildren call her “Grandma G,” and of them she said, “These little grandchildren are like dessert to me — they can be enjoyed openly and enthusiastically in all their sweetness …They lift my spirits, spice my life with joy, and generate in me great hope for the future.”
She has spent a lot of time with her grandchildren, but since they lived in Salt Lake City, sixty miles from her home in Pleasant View, she hungered to be with children and often said she needed to have “a kid fix.” One Christmas she and her husband, Leonard, held a neighborhood Christmas party at their home and included all the children in the neighborhood. Another time the doorbell rang and an eight-year-old neighbor girl said, “I came to visit. I thought maybe you were missing children and would like to have a child come and visit you.”
Following Dwan Jacobsen Young’s release as the seventh Primary general president, she and her and her husband, Tom, departed for Calgary, Canada, where he served as mission president. Dwan immersed herself in mission life with her characteristic energy and enthusiasm. By choosing to hire cooking help with the allowance provided to operate the mission home, she could be more involved with the missionaries and missionary work. Her gift with music drew missionaries around the piano when they came to the mission home for conferences or in small groups. She claimed, “Our missionaries were the best singers in the whole world!”
Dwan’s greatest contribution to the mission was her ability to express love to the missionaries. Tom said, “She has a capacity to love like nobody I have ever met. As she visited with the missionaries, she was an awfully good listener and very empathetic. Brant Taylor, a missionary said, “Sister Young has a great spirit and a great knowledge of the gospel and an amazing ability to work and accomplish things. But what I remember most is that whenever she walked in the room, you felt love. It was unlike any other person I have ever been around.”
Zina D. H. Young was a counselor to her close friend Eliza R. Snow and later served as the third general president of the Relief Society. Author Susa Young Gates said of this duo: “Some spoke of the two as the head and heart of the women’s work in Utah. Sister Snow was keenly intellectual, and she led by force of that intelligence. Sister Zina was all love and sympathy, and drew people after her by reason of that tenderness.” 1
Friendliness was as natural as breathing to Zina. She loved people and they loved her. She addressed letters to her family, ‘My dear sister Presendia,” “My loving son Zebulon,” and “My precious son Chariton” — often adding, “Give my love to those dear, dear children.”
When she stayed at the homes of Relief Society leaders, their families felt she was their “Aunt Zina.” Many baby girls were named Zina out of regard for her. On one occasion when Zina was told that a certain woman did not like her, she replied, “Well, I love her, and she can’t help herself.” 2
At Zina’s funeral, Emmeline B. Wells said of her, “No woman was ever greater loved than she,” and Elder Anthon H. Lund of the Council of the Twelve added, “She was ‘Aunt Zina’ to all Israel.” Fittingly inscribed on her gravestone is the Relief Society motto, “Charity never faileth.” 3
“You can’t say I’m an expert at anything except at loving people,” stated Elaine Anderson Cannon , who served as the Young Women general president from 1978 to 1984. “I’m so interested in people, and I do ache for everybody who is suffering.”
“People were always coming to the house for counsel,” remembered her daughter Holly C. Metcalf. “Even after their life crisis passed, they sought her as a friend. Household help, milk man, grocer, cleaners, the church maintenance person — all became Mother’s friends. They were important to her.”
Prior to her call as the fourteenth general Relief Society president, Bonnie D. Parkin , served with her husband, Jim, when he presided over the England London South Mission. “Sister Parkin has an incredible ability to love,” said Will Kruger, a former missionary. “I wanted to do my very best because of her love for me. She had that impact on every missionary! I still remember my monthly visits with Sister Parkin at zone conference. You would walk into the room and were greeted with the warmest smile and the most loving handshake. Those visits would lift me up for the next six weeks until our next zone conference.”
Another missionary, Jen Fauset, remembered a day when Bonnie tracted with her and her companion. She said, “After my companion and I had each attempted a door approach, Sister Parkin spoke at the third door. She bore her testimony with power and love, and we were let in and allowed to share the first discussion. Sister Parkin revived my spirit that day and gave me a new sense of the great work we were called to do.”
Reighlyn Rogers, a senior sister missionary and a widow of only four months when she arrived, related how Bonnie helped her. “Sister Parkin was so loving and sensed my need to talk. She took time to hear my life story and asked me questions to encourage me. It eased my burden and helped me give more to others.”
“Bonnie has a natural gift for connecting with people and making people feel valued,” said Jim. “She can create a meaningful conversation with anybody.
It is amazing how many people think Bonnie is their best friend. Hers is a genuine interest — nothing fake about it. The number of people she maintains connection with is large. She does that better than anyone I’ve ever seen.”
During the six weeks between being called and sustained, Bonnie had earnestly sought the Lord’s direction. She shared the answer she received as she bore her testimony at the Sunday afternoon session of conference in April 2002:
I know the Lord loves the women of the Church. If I could have one thing happen for every woman in this Church, it would be that they would feel the love of the Lord in their lives daily. 4
This would become the focus of her administration. Bonnie also desired “with all my heart to have enough charity to genuinely love every single sister in the Church … ‘to be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of His Son, Jesus Christ.’” (Moro. 7:48; emphasis added.) 5
“Bonnie has great enthusiasm,” said Anne Pingree, who served as one of Bonnie’s counselors. “She is a capable administrator, is very organized, and is an extremely hard worker. She has a great love for the Lord and for the sisters she represents. To know Bonnie is to love her. To even meet her and to feel her warmth and love and goodness is to love her.” General board member Judy Edwards simply summed up Bonnie’s way with people: “She reaches out with love.”
Information for this article has been drawn from three books co-authored by Janet Peterson and LaRene Gaunt: Elect Ladies: Presidents of the Relief; Society Keepers of the Flame: Presidents of Young Women; The Children’s Friends: Primary Presidents and Their Lives of Service and from personal interviews.
Some quotations previously published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints © by Intellectual Reserve, Inc.
1 Susa Young Gates, History of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1911), 21.
2 “ Centennial of President Zina D. Huntington Young,” Relief Society Magazine 8 (March 1921):131.
3 “Aunt Zina D. H. Young,” Young Woman’s Journal 12 (October 1901):473.
4 Bonnie D. Parkin, “Feel the Love of the Lord,” Ensign, May 2002, 84.
5 Bonnie D. Parkin, “Choosing Charity: That Good Part,” Ensign, November 2003, 104.
