Florence Smith Jacobsen led the YWMIA (forerunner to the church's Young Women program) from 1961 to 1972. But it was her longtime work in preserving church historic sites and artifacts that on April 21 garnered for her the Junius F. Wells Award presented annually by the Mormon Historic Sites Foundation.
President Thomas S. Monson and President Boyd K. Packer, president of the Quorum of the Twelve, were among those giving accolades to Jacobsen, 97, at a dinner in her honor at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City.
Among her accomplishments highlighted in the program were rescuing the Lion House from demolition and spearheading the restoration of it and the adjoining Beehive House. As church curator, she directed the interior restoration of the Manti Utah Temple and supervised restoration of such landmarks as Promised Valley Playhouse in Salt Lake City; the E.B. Grandin Building in Palymra, N.Y.; the Brigham Young home in St. George, Utah; and the Newell K. Whitney home in Kirtland, Ohio.
While serving as YWMIA president and as a member of the church's Arts and Sites Committee, she assisted with the restoration of several structures, including the Brigham Young and Wilford Woodruff homes in Nauvoo, Ill.See the full story on ldschurchnews.com.
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