What Michele Welch thought was just a thesis for her master’s degree turned out to be a couple decades of hard work and dedication for a larger project.
After graduating with a degree in American studies, Welch taught a Utah women’s history and biography course at Utah Valley University. With the help of her students, they began a project called the Utah Women’s Walk, which highlights 116 Utah women — and counting — who have made an impact on the state throughout its history.
“The story of Utah women is the greatest story never told,” she said in a phone interview with the Deseret News. “There are so many women who paved the way for all of us, and we stand on their shoulders."
Since the project began, students have been writing, interviewing and researching about Utah women who most inspire them. Many of the students have found a deep connection with the women they interviewed and researched.
“They interview these women and think, ‘You have done some really hard things and I have some hard things too. Because you have overcome, I have a chance to overcome, and I can make it through whatever I’m facing. I can excel in something that I didn’t think I could do,’” said Shelli Densley, co-director of the Utah Women’s Walk.
Welch was inspired by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., which lists the names of those who fought and died during the Vietnam War. She decided that Utah women needed to be honored in a similar way. The names of these 116 women will be honored and cast in bronze as part of a garden walk exhibit that will be at Thanksgiving Point’s Ashton Gardens, according to Densley. She said the exhibit is expected to open in fall 2017.
There are nine different areas of distinction, which marks where most of their service has been accomplished. The areas are science, education, religious roles, business, the arts, charity, public service, common roles with uncommon lives, and letters, which includes writers, authors and historians.
"My favorite featured group of distinction is common roles with uncommon lives, which is made of mothers who love their families and community so much they raise up a generation to go forward and to continue to strengthen people and families and communities in all walks of life,” Densley said.
A gala to raise awareness and funds for the Utah Women's Walk will be at UVU on Oct. 28. The event will honor Utah women from a variety of backgrounds, including Utah’s first lady Jeanette Herbert, stay-at-home mom and PTA president LaRae Savage, philanthropist Barbara Barrington Jones and UVU’s vice president of student affairs Michelle Taylor.
Along with recognizing this year’s honorees, the gala will feature entertainment, including a historical rendition of an all women Kanab City Council from 1912, UVU student groups, and musical artist and mother Carmen Rasmusen Herbert.
“The purpose of the Utah Women’s Walk is to share the stories of the tremendous influence these women have had on the state, in the lives of families and communities and beyond our borders," Densley said. "Michele said they are the greatest stories never told. That’s what we’re trying to do is help tell their stories for an influence of good to many people."
Although she spent decades of work to make the Utah Women’s Walk happen, Welch will not be present for the gala. She is currently serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with her husband in Cincinnati.
“I am so happy here,” Welch said of her mission. “What I’m doing now is so amazing and I love it. I love these missionaries. I love the work here. I love it. I love it. I would not want to be anywhere else.”
In Welch’s absence, Densley has been heading up the committee and overseeing the creation of the Utah Women’s Walk.
“I’ve been blessed to be able to continue and see her dream come true," Densley said. "It’s inspiring to read these women’s stories. It is a lot of goodness.”
The biographies, recordings and transcriptions of the interviews used for the Utah Women’s Walk will be stored in the George Sutherland Archives at Utah Valley University, according to utahwomenswalk.org. More information about the Utah Women’s Walk, including direct links to the archives, can be found online at utahwomenswalk.org.
Email: kadams@deseretnews.com