Belle S. Spafford

I've been told that doing mental puzzles is healthy for the mind. I use this rumor to justify indulging in our daily newspaper's Sudoku. However, today my mental calisthenics were accomplished with a different kind of puzzle.

According to Wikipedia, a cousin is a relative with whom you share a common ancestor; if only it were that easy. Beyond that simple definition, there is a system of "degrees" and "removals" to describe the exact relationships between cousins. The list of possible types of cousins is extensive: first cousins, second cousins, etc., cousins once, twice, or three times removed, double cousins, half-cousins, step-cousins, cousins-in-law, maternal cousins, paternal cousins ...

Belle with two of her brothers

Nevertheless, when I saw the name Spafford on my family tree, I simply had to establish a connection to a cousin I greatly admire, Belle S. Spafford. After mapping out our common ancestry, I was very tempted to simply state that we are "distant cousins". If you are not satisfied with that general term, she is my second cousin-in-law, three times removed. Distant cousin sounds better, don't you agree? We're related! I claim her as my cousin.

Maybe, if you are in the younger set, you wondering who this is and why proving that the branches of our family trees are entwined is so enticing. My mom adored this woman; her name was spoken with reverence in our home. Probably every Mormon woman in the 40's, 50's, 60's, and 70's loved Belle Spafford!  Read on to know why.

Marion Isabelle Sims Smith was the seventh child born to Hester Sims and John Gibson Smith. Her father, however, had died suddenly seven months before she was born, leaving Hester to raise seven children, the youngest of which was known simply as Belle.

“Mother never allowed us to feel that we were without a father,” Belle said. “She would often say to us, ‘You have a father. He’s not with us, but he is taking care of us, I’m sure. And you have a Heavenly Father, and you have the father of the ward who is the bishop.’”

Grandma Sims

Her Grandmother, Isabella M. Sims, for whom she was named, was very involved during Belle's youth. She loved the beautiful gold watch that her grandmother wore pinned to her black silk dress, and one day asked her, “When you die, will you will me your gold watch?” Isabella gently replied that the watch was of “small worth, but I’ll will you something else that I brought all the way from Scotland that will serve you into the eternities; I’ll leave you my testimony of the gospel.”

Belle met Willis Earl Spafford at BYU shortly after he returned from World War I. A handsome and athletic basketball player, he swept her off her feet and they were married in the Salt Lake Temple.

Belle was a wonderful mother to her two children, Mary and Earl, who described her as, “a warm and affectionate woman who always seemed to have time for the little things."

She was known for her good humor and had the unique ability to tell the same old joke over and over again and get a laugh every time. She laughed in 1926 when her bishop called her to be a counselor in the Relief Society presidency, responding, “That organization is for my mother, not for me.”

She obediently accepted the call, but she didn’t like it and after three weeks she told her bishop that she wasn’t comfortable there, but he asked her to “try a little longer.”

So the complaining stopped because she believed that “if a thing is worth doing, I want to put all I’ve got into it.” This decision carried through decades of service in the Relief Society.

During the Great Depression Belle and her Relief Society sisters would pick up the windfall peaches and apples that were left in the orchards after harvest. Then they would gather at the church, bringing their pressure cookers and canning jars, which they would spend the day filling and processing. When the canning was done, even before the bottles were cool, people from the ward would be standing in line, waiting to receive what they had produced. 

This service converted Belle to Relief Society; she liked it! Her vision of it grew as she served on the Relief Society General Board from 1935 to 1942, as second counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency from 1942 to 1945, and as the ninth Relief Society General President for nearly thirty years, from 1945 to 1974. As you can see, she followed the counsel of her bishop to “try a little longer”.

When Belle was sustained in the April, 1945, general conference, she had no idea that she would work under the leadership of six Presidents of the Church. The organization would evolve under her leadership.

In 1945, women paid annual dues to join Relief Society. Visiting teachers visited sisters with the goal of gathering money for charity. Relief Society had their own budget and raised money for it, including homemaking bazaars. The Relief Society produced its own church magazine containing poems, stories, and pictures of Relief Society activities, as well as lessons. The auxiliary functioned quite independently.

Belle was asked to reached out to the world in her calling, which she did through her involvement with the National Council of Women (NCW), where she definitely made her influence felt, even serving as president for a two-year term.

One of her well known church projects was the construction of the Relief Society Building in Salt Lake City, east of the temple, built from the $500,000 donations collected from Relief Society sisters who were each asked to give $5.00.

By the time Belle was released, much had changed. Sisters no longer paid dues or raised money. Visiting teachers were directed to go to the sisters’ homes as friendly visitors and help build the spirit of the home; they were to give service instead of gather money. The Relief Society magazine had been replaced by a combined publication for all church adults, “The Ensign”.

Overshadowing her decades of service, the legacy Belle would want us to remember is her testimony of the value of the gospel and Relief Society in the home. She understood the challenges faced by women. She had learned from her widowed mother’s example while raising seven children. In her own life, Belle learned empathy for others from her personal losses. In 1963 her beloved husband, Earl, died of a heart attack, and within a year her daughter, Mary, also died. Yet these enormous losses didn't diminish her dedication and unfaltering service or erase her smile.

It is important to me to know that Marion Isabelle Sims Smith Spafford is my second cousin-in-law, three times removed. The cousin designation may be distant, but she is near to my heart.