...Sister Barbara B. Smith, former RS General President, passed away earlier this week:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50283193-76/smith-women-church-era.html.csp

and check out that spectacular bouffant:

http://www.sltrib.com/csp/cms/sites/dt.common.streams.StreamServer.cls?STREAMOID=5DclTOhOz3VmRB9nsbS7Y8$daE2N3K4ZzOUsqbU5sYuPzghCDFSBxiwjqBkS2ahxWCsjLu883Ygn4B49Lvm9bPe2QeMKQdVeZmXF$9l$4uCZ8QDXhaHEp3rvzXRJFdy0KqPHLoMevcTLo3h8xh70Y6N_U_CryOsw6FTOdKL_jpQ-&CONTENTTYPE=image/jpeg

There's a lively discussion on the obituary comments section, with many commenting on her work to deny equal rights to women.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/2010 09:19PM by ptloma.

that hair is redic

That's why they call it the BEEHIVE State!

So very Utahn.

...you can still see Big Hair nearly as big in some parts of Utah today.

The comment were interesting. A lot of people taking her to task for opposing ERA. Some apologists said "this is not the time or place to criticize" but others wrote "online obituary guest books are of course not an appropriate forum for debate, but since she entered the political arena with ERA, she is not immune from criticism for her political actions". Many of them likened her actions to the recent LDS support for 8.

Even when they were in style, I didn't have enough hair for the big bouffant and I was envious! OH well, that was then, this is now.
I don't remember much about Barbara Smith or the ERA. I think I was in a fog for years raising the family and taking care of the home,etc., as an active LDS mother, while hubby traveled for years. About 15 years of my life..... are a blur! :-)

Smith was RS Pres c. 1974-1984. Her predecessor was Belle Spafford, who served from the 1940s to 1974 (um, I think she was a little behind the times when she was released...).

As a child, I remember seeing fake acrylic grapes all over the house of my LDS best friend. I wondered if perhaps their religious beliefs included something about fake grapes. Only much later, as an RFM board reader, did I learn that fake grapes were de rigeur as an RS craft project in the mid to late 1960s. Supposedly in some parts of Utah, you could deduce the stake of the person who made the grapes based on the design.

I do remember my mother being asked by my friend's mom to save our Mrs Butterworth syrup bottles and plastic Clorox bottles for her. We presumed they were being recycled into some sort of arts and crafts project (I once used a creme de menthe bottle to make a paper maché penguin in fifth grade....). I now suspect that the Mrs. Butterworth bottles became pioneer dolls, and the plastic Clorox bottles became Santas.

Anyway, it appears that the vaunted fake grapes era was under the tutelage of Belle Spafford, prior to Barbara Smith being called to replace her.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2010 01:54PM by PtLoma.

I'll wait and see if anyone can answer this.

Amy Brown Lyman. How long after he was exed did she continue as RS GP?

I believe she continued (or slogged) on for a year or two. The Wikipedia article about her says she resigned in 1945, which is when Belle Spafford began her tenure (to 1974). Richard Lyman was ex'd about 1943.