For Patricia P. Pinegar, the phrase "catch the vision" is a way of life. And her vision of who she is and what she can become is simple.
"The gospel gives direction," she explained. "I've been blessed with a simple faith. Maybe to some people it's too simple. But I just know that I have a Heavenly Father. He knows my faults, and I know He still loves me. I know if I will follow His plan, that someday I will be with Him and with my sweetheart and with my family."This simple vision makes for a sweet life, in Sister Pinegar's estimation, regardless of the complications - and sometimes sorrows - of mortality.
As second counselor in the new Young Women general presidency, which was sustained April 4, Sister Pinegar hopes to help instill in the hearts of young women a vision of their potential. And she sees the Young Women theme and the Personal Progress program as vital tools in helping these youth understand who they are and what they can become.
During her first week in the general presidency, Sister Pinegar of the Oak Hills 6th Ward, Provo Utah Oak Hills Stake, pondered the Young Women theme and came to more fully comprehend its power. She yearns that all young women not only learn to repeat the theme, but also learn what it means in their lives.
Sister Pinegar said the theme reminds youth who they are and to whom they can turn for strength. "We all go through times when we struggle, but somehow if I can help young women know and feel that they do have that wonderful gift of the Holy Ghost to guide them and to direct them, and that our Heavenly Father is there for them, I think life can be sweet for them, even when all around them may be chaos and misery."
Gaining a focus on life is what the Personal Progress program is all about, Sister Pinegar said. She hopes young women "see that the program is just initial steps to having them learn how to have the vision of what they can become and then reaching for it."
Sister Pinegar's understanding of the purpose of life didn't come overnight for her. She has spent her life developing this quality. But she does remember a specific time when she sharpened her focus.
Several of her eight children were still small, and one day she found herself feeling frustrated at trying to balance the responsibilities of a wife and mother. About two days later, she arranged baby sitters for the children and headed to her parents' cabin near Provo, Utah, for the day.
"I took reams of blank paper, and a pencil. I went fasting. I prayed and thought: `What do I want for myself and what is life all about?' And so I wrote down what I wanted to accomplish in life. I even included on the list cleaning out a kitchen drawer. And I put down, `Live with my Heavenly Father and my family.' I made lists of things I wanted to get done. Then I went back and put a number one at the most important. I numbered down quite a few, but I never put a number on cleaning out that kitchen drawer."
Sister Pinegar then wrote down a weekly agenda and included on her agenda daily activities that would help her reach her ultimate goal - that of living forever with her Heavenly Father and her family.
"I went home elated," she recalled. "It gave me renewed focus in my life."
Sister Pinegar credits her parents, Laurence and Wavie Williams Peterson, for helping her set her direction early in life. "They raised me in the gospel, taught the standards and loved me. I had a wonderful childhood. I just remember happiness."
Her early years were spent living mainly in Provo, Utah, but when she was about 9 years old, Sister Pinegar's family moved to Hawaii and lived there six years. "I loved that," Sister Pinegar recalled. "I remember going barefoot to school and swimming every day."
The Peterson family then settled in Glendale, Calif., where young Patricia graduated from high school in 1955. From there, she headed to BYU, where she "fell madly in love" with a tall basketball player named Ed Pinegar.
She related how she sat in the front of a room during freshman orientation and listened to this young man give the honor code speech. "Our eyes met," she recalled, but he was a senior, so she guessed he was probably taken.
But a week later, while trying out for the school's drill team, she ran into him again. He introduced himself and asked her out for that evening. "We dated and were married six months later, on March 26, 1956, in the Salt Lake Temple."
Sister Pinegar emphasized the teamwork that is integral to their marriage. "I know one of the reasons that I am where I am is because of him, because he has been such a great influence in my life. Not just because I love him, but because we have grown up together in the gospel."
They began developing this bond early in their life together. After a year of marriage, and with their first child, the young couple headed to Los Angeles, Calif., where Brother Pinegar attended dental school at the University of Southern California. During a four-year stay there, Sister Pinegar helped bring in extra money by doing ironing for Deseret Industries.
Then in 1961, Brother and Sister Pinegar returned to Provo, where he began a private dental practice. They expected to settle down, but a year later he was drafted into the U.S. Army, and the family moved to Fort Lewis, Wash. In 1964, they were back in Provo and Brother Pinegar resumed his dental practice.
The gospel has always been central in the Pinegar home, and missionary work has been a big portion of their Church service. Brother Pinegar presided over the England London South Mission from 1985-88, and over the Missionary Training Center in Provo from 1988-90. The Pinegar's three youngest children accompanied them to England. Sister Pinegar described with admiration the adjustments the children made to the new schools and culture there.
She especially related the experience of their son Cory, who was then 17 years old. "Football was his dream," Sister Pinegar said. Cory played football at Provo High School during his sophomore year, but he willingly gave up his junior year of participating to accompany his parents to England.
During the Pinegar's second year in the mission field, Cory returned to Provo to complete his senior year and play his last year of high school football. Then tragedy struck. Cory was killed in a car accident that fall of 1986.
Sister Pinegar related that after Cory's death Heavenly Father gave them strength and courage to go forward with their work in England. She said that on Cory's grave marker is inscribed: "Like Nephi," because her son had always wanted to be like the Book of Mormon Prophet Nephi.
Sister Pinegar said that she learned from her son, and her other children, the strength of youth and their deep desire to do right. "I know that the young women in the Church have ties within them to pull them to Heavenly Father. Deep down they know they are His daughters."
As a member of the Young Women general presidency, Sister Pinegar wants to show these youth "that I love them," she said, with emotion. "And if I love them and yet don't know them personally, how much their Heavenly Father loves them! And He knows them personally."
She related how she and her husband sometimes take walks together and identify different varieties of wild flowers. "Sometimes you come upon a flower that is different. You look at it and think, `How unique. How wonderful.'
"I can see the beauty in all young women," she continued. "I think every young woman is bright and beautiful and unique."
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(Additional information)
Patricia P. Pinegar
Family: Born in Cedar City, Utah, to Laurence and Wavie Williams Peterson. Reared in Provo, Utah; Kailua, Hawaii; and Glendale, Calif. Married Ed Pinegar; eight children: Karie Bushnell, Steven, Kelly Hagemeyer, Kristin Gubler, Brett, Cory (deceased), Traci, Tricia; 12 grandchildren.
Education: Attended BYU in general education.
Community service/profession: PTA president, worked part-time as dental assistant during high school.
Previous Church callings: Member of Primary general board, served with her husband when he was president of the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, and as president of the England London South Mission, stake and ward Primary president and teacher, ward Relief Society president and counselor and teacher, stake Young Women counselor and adviser, and ward Young Women president and adviser.