During my teen age years I had a few lessons with Leopold Godowsky, a famous pianist, who had a friendship with my teacher and visited Salt Lake City on a few occasions. He encouraged me to pursue a concert career and to study at a conservatory in the east. We thought long and hard about this possibility. My father said he would give me a blessing so I would know what I should do. With my parents we fasted before the blessing. Mother came in the room, and my father blessed me: ‘Your Father in Heaven wants you to continue with your work on the piano, but as for a concert career, He has other things in mind for you.” The way my life has unfolded, everything was based on that blessing.

Ruth Hardy was born in Chicago, IL on February 11, 1917 to Thomas Frederick and Polly Reynolds Hardy and raised in Salt Lake City where she began piano lessons when she was five years old. By the time she was in high school she was well known for her musical ability and often accompanied performers at East High School (‘34). In addition to performing for Godowsky, she also played for Helen Keller.

She was a student body officer in high school and college as well as president of her sorority, Pi Kappa Phi at the University of Utah (‘38). She graduated with a degree in music and married Marcus C. Funk in the Salt Lake Temple. They moved to Chicago where he attended dental school at Northwestern University. The couple had four children, 19 grandchildren and 39 great-grandchildren.

Sister Funk was called to the MIA general board (the original youth program) when she was only 29 years old. In 1962 she was called by Elder Harold B. Lee to be a member of his newly-formed Correlation Committee. For ten years she evaluated and wrote church curriculum, including materials for the Young Women’s program.

She began teaching at East High School in Salt Lake City in 1969 and continued until 1972, when President Lee, who had been called as the new Mormon prophet, appointed her to succeed Florence Jacobson as the General President of the Young Women. She served with her counselors Hortense Hogan Child Smith and Ardeth Greene Kapp until 1978 and was also on the executive committee of the National Council of Women during that time. While she was president, Personal Progress and the Young Women Recognition Award were implemented throughout the LDS Church.

Sister Funk was asked to speak in the Mormon general Women’s Conference just after she had been released as president. She testified:

Jesus Christ is our Savior, our brother, our friend. He is as near as we allow him to be. Our only ultimate joy and happiness is predicated upon our relationship with him. Our only peace, through disappointments, sorrow, and challenges, will come as we draw nearer unto him. With such love for our Redeemer, every difficult experience may be met with courage, acceptance, and even gratitude. His love for us is a gift beyond price. What does he ask in return? “Love one another; as I have loved you.” (John 13:34.)

Sister Funk was a member of the Utah State Board of Education from 1985 to 1992, where she served as chairman for a year. She also served as the chairman of the Governor’s Commission on the Status of Women in Utah and as a board member for Bonneville International Corporation. In addition, she was on the boards of Bonneville International and Promised Valley Playhouse.

In 2009, President Thomas S. Monson honored Sister Funk at a special Church luncheon. Mary N. Cook, first counselor in the Young Women general presidency, said this about Funk: “Always an optimist and with an incredible zest for living, she has shared that zeal with countless children and youth. She is known for her love of music and youth and those two loves were often combined during her service.”

Sister Funk died February 5, 2011, just a week before her 94th birthday. In a final tribute,  her obituary read:

She leaves us all with remarkable memories of those moments when as a mother, wife or grandma she shared many “one-on-one” adventures accompanying her on her travels to cities all around the world – from New York to Auckland. No obituary could ever embody the remarkable spirit and contributions of this uniquely loving, passionate and generous woman. But the lives of all those who were blessed to be a part of Ruth’s life were undoubtedly made “more marvelous” because of it.

Article written by Jan

Keith L. Brown

Keith L. Brown is a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, having been born and raised Baptist. He was studying to be a Baptist minister at the time of his conversion to the LDS faith. He was baptized on 10 March 1998 in Reykjavik, Iceland while serving on active duty in the United States Navy in Keflavic, Iceland. He currently serves as the First Assistant to the High Priest Group for the Annapolis, Maryland Ward. He is a 30-year honorably retired United States Navy Veteran.

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Ruth May Fox was a leader of young Mormon women for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (inadvertently called the “Mormon Church” by some). Ruth was called as the second counselor of the first presidency of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association (YLMIA), which is presently called the LDS Young Women’s organization (a divine organization led by a prophet of God who directs Mormon women to lead the female youth worldwide) (Caroline H. Benzley, “134 Years Young!”, New Era, November, 2003). Mormon youth attending the Young Women’s organization continue to grow strong testimonies of the Lord Jesus Christ. Weekly worship services occur on Sundays and youth can participate in community service projects and activities. As young women develop important characteristics (such as the young women values faith, good works, integrity, and virtue) they will become the future mothers and citizens our countries need.

Mormon Women Leaders:

Ruth served with various Mormon women such as the LDS woman leader Martha H. Tingey (the young women’s president from 1905-1929) and first counselors Mae Taylor Nystrom (1905-1923), and Lucy Grant Cannon (1923-1929). In 1929, Martha requested an honorable release due to poor health, and Ruth became the new YLMIA president with Lucy Grant Cannon as her first counselor, and Clarissa A. Beesley as her second counselor (Andrew Jenson, Latter-Day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, [1936], page 75).

During her presidency from 1929-1937, she accomplished a lot and blessed the lives of many Mormon women. She wrote the song “Carry On” for the Church’s centennial in 1930, which was sung by youth during a June conference. During her presidency, she replaced slogans with scriptural themes, converted the Lion House into a “social center for girls,” and held the first YLMIA dance festival (“Presidents of the Young Women Organization Through the Years,” Ensign, June 2008, pages 40–45).

She was a strong Christian woman, although her extended family was “unsympathetic towards Latter-day Saints. Ruth’s father highly encourage[d] her to join the Church at a young age, and her faith remain[ed] strong throughout her entire lifetime… Her poetry is used as an expression of the goodness in life and her deep faith in the Lord Jesus Christ” (Mormon Channel, “Poets of the Restoration”, Ruth May Fox- Episode 4). She said:

Ever since I could understand, the gospel has meant everything to me. . . . It has been my very breath, my mantle of protection against temptation, my consolation in sorrow, my joy and glory throughout all my days, and my hope of eternal life. “The kingdom of God or nothing” has been my motto (“Presidents of the Young Women Organization Through the Years,” Ensign, June 2008, pages 40–45).

Mormon Women: Biography of Ruth May Fox

Ruth was born on November 16, 1853, in England to Mary Ann Harding and James May. When she was 17 months old, her mother died in childbirth and Ruth lived with various relatives and Mormon families. In 1865, her father traveled to America before sending for Ruth and Mrs. Saxon (his second wife). They arrived in Utah in 1867, when she was 13 years old, and she recorded:

At last the long journey was ended. We had pulled up the hill out of Parley’s Canyon just as twilight had shrouded the valley. We could still catch a glimpse of the city below, but I confess to some disappointment as I asked, “did we come all this way for that?” This, however, was my first and last disappointment (Mormon Channel: Ruth May Fox-Episode 48).

This initial reaction to a first view of the Salt Lake Valley was common. The valley was blessed by being surrounded by timbered mountains, with rivers carrying melting snow to the valley, just awaiting irrigation systems to make the valley fertile. But the region is semi-arid, and trees only grew along the rivers at the time. It must have looked very barren compared to the green of England.

Ruth was a strong and hard worker throughout her life until her death on April 12, 1958, when she was 104 years old (Linda Thatcher, “Ruth May Fox, Forgotten Suffragist,” History Blazer, October, 1995). As a youth, she did housekeeping and factory work in Philadelphia to help finance the family’s journey to Utah, until they arrived safely in 1867. She worked in several Utah mills (Deseret Woolen Mill by Parley’s Canyon, the Ogden Woolen Mill, and her father’s mill in SLC):

She operated equipment meant to be run by a man and developed strong feelings about equality–especially equal pay. Running the jack was a man’s job, she later wrote, noting, “I should have had a man’s wages for this, but Father thought that his partner would object since I was a girl….I was given only $10.00 a week; but that was very good for a girl at the time.” At age 19 she quit to marry 20-year-old Jesse W. Fox, Jr., on May 8, 1873 (Linda Thatcher, “Ruth May Fox, Forgotten Suffragist,” History Blazer, October, 1995).

Unfortunately, her husband lost his business after five years of financial success, and they eventually lost their home after accumulating financial debt. Linda Thatcher wrote: “Ruth responded by doing what needed to be done; she let domestic help go and eventually took in boarders” (“Ruth May Fox, Forgotten Suffragist,” History Blazer, October, 1995).

Illnesses and deaths in her family and financial losses and hardships caused Ruth to sum up her philosophy about adversity: “Life brings some hard lessons. The sturdiest plants are not grown under glass, and strength of character is not derived from the avoidance of problems” (JanetPeterson, “Carry On! Carry On!”, Ensign,August 2004).

Ruth was a talented writer, typist, and poet and used her talents to increase Mormon women’s political rights. She attended John Morgan’s College in Salt Lake City (SLC) for four months and worked as a typist for the YLMIA (Linda Thatcher, “Ruth May Fox, Forgotten Suffragist,” History Blazer, October, 1995).

Lacking formal education in her youth, she took college and correspondence courses as an adult… Fox’s literary efforts include numerous poems published in the Young Woman’s Journal and Improvement Era, song lyrics, and a book of poetry, May Blossoms (1923). Her most familiar work is the Latter-day Saint hymn “Carry On” (Mormon Literature & Creative Arts: Ruth May Fox, 2003).

Although Ruth wasn’t interested in politics, she participated in the historical suffrage movement and impacted the rights of Mormon women in Utah:

In Utah’s history there have been many important women of whom little has been written; one such person is Ruth May Fox. Besides raising 12 children, she was active in the Utah Woman’s Press Club (president), the Reaper’s Club, the Utah Woman Suffrage Association (treasurer), the Salt Lake County Republican Committee, the Second Precinct Ladies’ Republican Club (chair), the Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing Society (board member), and the Traveler’s Aid Society (board member) (Linda Thatcher, “Ruth May Fox, Forgotten Suffragist,” History Blazer, October, 1995).

She worked hard for Utah women to get the right to vote and attended important 1895 suffrage meetings, interviewed Constitutional Convention delegates, traveled with Emmeline B. Wells to attend Republican meetings, and circulated petitions. She wrote of opponents such as Mr. Vanhorne who “did not think the constitution was the place for sufferage [sic] to come up” and B. H. Roberts whose “only argument was that he thought it would defer statehood.” She helped write “the suffrage memorial presented to the convention delegates… [of which she said,] ‘We all felt it a great day in the history of Utah’.” (See Linda Thatcher, “Ruth May Fox, Forgotten Suffragist,” History Blazer, October, 1995.)

Keith L. Brown

Keith L. Brown is a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, having been born and raised Baptist. He was studying to be a Baptist minister at the time of his conversion to the LDS faith. He was baptized on 10 March 1998 in Reykjavik, Iceland while serving on active duty in the United States Navy in Keflavic, Iceland. He currently serves as the First Assistant to the High Priest Group for the Annapolis, Maryland Ward. He is a 30-year honorably retired United States Navy Veteran.

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