Ida Smoot Dusenberry

Who is Ida Smoot Dusenberry?

Ida Maline Smoot Dusenberry was a Utah educator and a leader in the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Ida Smoot was born in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory to Abraham O. Smoot and Anne Kirstine Mauritsen. She was the sister of Reed Smoot and Brigham Smoot. She married George A. Duseberry in 1891.

Dusenberry attended Brigham Young Academy in Provo, graduating in 1897. Ida Dusenberry was also trained as a kindergarten teacher at Chauncy Hall School in Boston, followed by three years of graduate school at Columbia University. She also received a bachelor of pedagogy degree from Brigham Young University in 1906.

In 1901, Dusenberry became a member of the general presidency of the Relief Society; she was the second counselor to Bathsheba W. Smith. Dusenberry served in this capacity until Smith's death in 1910, when the presidency was dissolved. Dusenberry remained a member of the Relief Society general board until 1921. As a member of the general presidency and general board of the Relief Society, Dusenberry represented the Relief Society to the National Council of Women of the United States and to the International Council of Women.