Faith has carried Carol Burdett Thomas throughout her life - it is an integral part of her pioneer heritage.
It has helped her as a daughter, wife, mother of seven children, and grandmother.Faith is what she will continue to rely on as she faces new responsibilities as second counselor in the Young Women general presidency of the Church. She was sustained at general conference last April 5.
As a small child, Carol and her sister Lynn left their bike in a neighbor's back yard and set out to get it late one evening.
"It was dark and we were afraid," recalled Sister Thomas. "I can remember vividly, kneeling down in the bushes to pray and asking for help that we wouldn't be afraid."
Their neighbors came home just as they entered their yard. They helped them retrieve the bike, but Carol had already learned a valuable lesson - how to exercise faith in her Father in Heaven.
The same principle of faith was taught abundantly in their home. The first child of Karl G. and Gladys Jacob Burdett, Carol enjoyed a "wonderful childhood" growing up in Salt Lake City.
"My folks gave me a firm foundation in the gospel," Sister Thomas said.
After high school, Carol spent the summer working on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon at Grand Canyon Lodge.
While she was there she met the lodge's assistant manager, D. Ray Thomas - then a second-year medical student at the University of Utah.
Carol attended two years at the University of Utah before they were married March 23, 1962.
After graduation from medical school, Dr. Thomas received an internship and residency with the U.S. Army and the couple moved their young family to San Francisco, Calif. During the next several years they lived in Tacoma, Wash., and Leavenworth, Kan., - before settling in Fresno, Calif.
The family flourished in the "mission field," where both Sister Thomas and her husband had opportunities to serve in Church leadership positions. Most important, they learned "that people are wonderful wherever you go."
For this reason they have encouraged their married children to experience living outside the state of Utah.
In 1969 the couple returned to Salt Lake City, moving to the Holladay area, where Dr. Thomas opened a private practice as they continued to raise their family.
Reading and education have always been important parts of Sister Thomas' life. She remembers visiting, as a young girl, her grandparents' home and being so impressed with her grandmother's library of books.
"Grandma's love of books and reading was passed on to my dad and then to me," said Sister Thomas. "You are never lonely if you have a good book."
Sister Thomas has loved being a wife and mother. She also enjoys quilting and, until a few years ago, was an avid tennis player. Now she enjoys walking.
But what she loves most is working in the Church. "I have always had such a strong desire to serve," she explained. "I can't remember a time when I didn't have a testimony."
In fact, there have been times in Sister Thomas' life when she hasn't known what she would have done without the gospel.
In the spring of 1981, the Dr. and Sister Thomas were on a walk with their children when a car swerved off the side of the road - hitting their sons, Eric, then 13, and Spencer, 1, who was riding on his brother's shoulders.
"They landed side by side on the road and we ran up to them," Sister Thomas recalled. The boys were not breathing. "Had Ray not been there to start them breathing again, they both would have died."
Dr. Thomas gave both boys a blessing and then started mouth to mouth resuscitation, moving from one son to the other.
Eric was in a coma for 11 days, had both legs broken in two places and spent several months in a body cast. Spencer suffered a concussion and had to learn to walk again, but had no broken bones. Both boys made a full recovery.
"I felt the hand of the Lord comforting us in that situation," Sister Thomas said. "Our bishopric came immediately to the hospital and gave both Ray and me blessings. My father had already given blessings to the boys. That was an experience I will never forget. It helped me to understand more deeply the power of the priesthood because it was like electricity. . . . I felt so strongly the hand of the Lord in that."
During this experience, just as in other experiences throughout her life, Sister Thomas exercised faith. Now she hopes to pass some of that faith on to the young women in the Church.
Raising four daughters of her own - and watching them, as adults, serve in callings with the Young Women - has also helped her prepare for her new position.
She acknowledges that life is not easy for youth today. But she knows the youth of the Church have never been stronger.
"When my husband served as a Young Adult ward bishop," she said, "I saw first hand what marvelous young people we have. They read their scriptures, they are doctrinally literate and they have more confidence to teach and live principles of the gospel than I ever had at that age."
Sister Thomas said it is this positive attitude and confidence in youth that drives her commitment to make a difference in the lives of all young women.
"I would just like them to know how wonderful they are. I would like them to see their eternal worth and their potential. I would like them to have experiences where they feel the Spirit so they can learn to recognize it in their lives, so when the hard times come they will naturally turn to Heavenly Father, knowing that He will be there for them, always."
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Additional Information
Sister Carol B. Thomas
Family: Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, May 6, 1942, to Karl and Gladys Jacob Burdett. Married D. Ray Thomas March 23, 1962, in the Salt Lake Temple, seven children: Becky (Randy) Clyde, Jeff (Nancy), Eric (Terri), Cindy (Steve) Harris, Shelly (Rob) Nydegger, Jill, Spencer; 19 grandchildren.
Education: Attended University of Utah.
Church service: member of Relief Society general board, April 1990 to 1997; member of stake Relief Society board; Primary president, Stake Young Women president, Relief Society counselor and teacher.