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Women played a large part in BYU becoming a school unlike any other, the university’s first lady said at this week’s campus devotional.
Sister Wendy Reese shared brief notes about women past and present who have made an impact on BYU, including Martha Jane Knowlton Coray, who joined the Brigham Young Academy’s first board of trustees 150 years ago in 1875.
“That was an unusual position for a woman in that day,” Sister Reese said.
Today, BYU’s board includes two women, Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson and Young Women General President Emily Belle Freeman.
Sister Reese said they help guide the priorities of the university.
“I’ve personally seen how their faith and commitment are invaluable to this university. All of these women follow in the footsteps of the Savior,” she said.
Coray, Sister Reese said, “understood the value of a full, Christ-focused education.”
Coray was a convert who crossed the American plains to be with the Latter-day Saints in Utah and, in her role on the board, supported and mentored BYA’s female students.
“I love how Martha captured the vision of (BYU as) a teaching institution that had a dual mission as a place of spiritual growth and of secular learning,” Sister Reese said. “In a letter to Brigham Young, she explained her view of education which included putting God and religion first and then the attainment of science and learning.”
She also shared the example of Alice Louise Reynolds, who in 1886 enrolled at Brigham Young Academy as a 12-year-old. She earned teaching credentials, joined the faculty and sacrificed her time and resources because she loved the school and its students.
“It was learning and teaching at BYU that Alice truly loved,” Sister Reese said. “For 19 years, she served as the chair of BYU’s faculty library committee and was instrumental in helping double the number of books in the library from 50,000 to 100,000 and even contributed 1,000 books of her own to reach the goal.”
Sister Reese said she loved how Reynolds personally invested in BYU. At her death, a colleague said, “For more than 40 years, the life of this school was her life; its problems, her problems; its triumphs, her triumphs.”
Sister Reese said Coray and Reynolds brought to mind the late President Boyd K. Packer’s statement about the need for women who can lead.
“We need women with executive ability who can plan and direct and administer; women who can teach, women who can speak out,” he said. “… We need women with the gift of discernment who can view the trends in the world and detect those that, however popular, are shallow or dangerous.”
Sister Reese said she also shared the love of BYU students she saw in former BYU first ladies, Sister Pat Holland and Sister Peggy Worthen.
She asked students during the devotional to consider a question: Are you a student at BYU, or are you a student of BYU?
“Becoming a student of BYU means service, study and discipleship,” she said.
“With an exciting year ahead,” she added, “we have a choice: We can be students at BYU, or we can draw on the heritage of the faithful women and men before us and become students of BYU.
“We can become disciples of Christ and divine children of heavenly parents who stand apart from the world. We can become students who take seriously our coursework and our covenants. Students who take notes and take charge. Students who know external persuasions cannot compete with eternal peace.”
Sister Reese said they, like Coray and Reynolds, are women of BYU and of discipleship.
When Sister Reese asked Sister Holland for advice in her new role at the university, Sister Holland told her, “Enjoy the ride.”
She also played a clip of Sister Holland talk to past BYU students:
“In a motherly sort of way, I plead with each one of you to understand that your opportunity to learn can greatly magnify your faith — faith in yourself, faith in your future, faith in a God who is your father and who loves you.”
Sister Reese said she feels the same for today’s students, whom she prayed would turn into covenant-keeping disciples because of their time on campus.
“I love your courage to come and study at BYU, to be different, to stand for Christ. I love your enthusiasm for learning,” she said. “... I love your examples of faith and your desire to serve and follow Jesus Christ.”
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