Barbara B. Smith

Who was Barbara B. Smith?

Barbara Bradshaw Smith was the tenth general president of the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1974 to 1984. She was the first Relief Society president to have been born in the 20th century.

Born on January 26, 1922 in Salt Lake City, Utah, Smith was the third of six children born to Dorothy Mills and Dan Delos Bradshaw. Smith graduated from South High School in 1940. In 1974 Smith succeeded Belle S. Spafford, who had been the Relief Society president for nearly thirty years, having taken up the position in 1945. Prior to her becoming president of the Relief Society, Smith had served on a variety of general boards in the same organization.

As Relief Society President, Smith spearheaded the LDS Church's opposition to the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Smith also used her position to actively oppose the recruitment of women into the United States military and the spread of abortion, which had been legalized in the United States in 1973.

Smith was succeeded by Barbara W. Winder in April 1984.

Smith married Douglas H. Smith in the Salt Lake Temple on June 16, 1941. They were the parents of seven children. Smith died on September 13, 2010 after suffering from pulmonary fibrosis for a number of years.