Former Young Women General President Ardeth Greene Kapp died Saturday, March 30. She had turned 93 years old only a few days earlier.
Sister Kapp served as the ninth Young Women General President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1984 to 1992 and became a mentor to hundreds of thousands of Latter-day Saint young women. Her presidency was highlighted by the introduction of the Young Women values and the strong growth of the Personal Progress program that concluded in 2019.
Funeral services are pending.
Early Years
Sister Kapp was born March 19, 1931, to June Leavitt and Ted Greene. She grew up in the small town of Glenwood in Alberta, Canada. As a child, she worked in her family’s country grocery store, and she was also called to teach in Primary at an early age.
“I was raised in a family which placed a high priority on obedience,” she told the Ensign magazine in 1984. “I feel comfortable taking counsel from and following Church leaders.”
Though Sister Kapp’s town consisted of only about 250 people, it is where she met her future husband. Heber Blaine Kapp was a missionary in the Western Canadian Mission from 1947 to 1949, and served in the ward where Ardeth’s father was the bishop. He described the then-16-year-old in his journal as “cute and fun, but kind of young.”
Sister Kapp later attended Brigham Young High School (which ceased operation in 1968) in Provo, Utah. Now-President Dallin H. Oaks was a fellow classmate and wrote in her high school yearbook that she has “a wonderful soul that is your most prized possession,” LDS Living reported.
Of leaving her small town to attend high school in Utah, Sister Kapp said, “I had never excelled in school, but ... I had a strong impression I should get an education, though many people told me that was foolish. ... People sometimes have a lot of counsel for you. But finally you have to follow your own promptings, even though it may not make sense to others until later. You have to dare to walk it alone, sometimes. ... It was kind of like climbing a ladder. I had to let go with one hand before I could take the next step. ... [It] was a blessing in disguise.”
During her time at Brigham Young High School, she reconnected with Heber Kapp, the former missionary who had served in her hometown. They were married June 28, 1950, in the Cardston Alberta Temple.
The couple was unable to have children, which Sister Kapp said was her “greatest challenge.” However, in a 2022 LDS Living interview, she shared a blessing she received from President Gordon B. Hinckley, in which she was promised that she would raise her children during the Millennium.
“And I just remember thinking, ‘Oh, if I’d have just known that 30 years sooner, it would have been so much easier,’” Sister Kapp said. “But I needed to be tried and tested. And it continues.”
Despite failing two grades in public school, Sister Kapp became a teacher who earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah and a master’s degree in curriculum development from Brigham Young University.
She was a teacher in the Davis County School District, wrote TV programs for the Utah Network of Instructional Television, taught in the BYU College of Education where she coordinated the Student Leadership Development program, and served on many boards and committees such as the Church Curriculum Planning Committee, the Church Educational System, and Deseret Book Company.
She is also the author of multiple books, including Better Than You Think You Are, Doing What We Came to Do, and The Joy of Believing.
Read the full article about Sister Ardeth Kapp at Church News.
Find Ardeth Kapp’s interview with the All In podcast here: Ardeth Kapp: Tried and True Marriage Advice.