This story appears here courtesy of TheChurchNews.com. It is not for use by other media.
By Church News staff
New Relief Society and Primary General Presidencies were sustained by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday, April 2.
Presented by President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency, the leaders joined six new General Authority Seventies also sustained during the Church’s 192nd Annual General Conference. The new Relief Society and Primary leaders will begin their service on August 1.
Relief Society General President Jean B. Bingham and her counselors, Sister Sharon Eubank and Sister Reyna I. Aburto, who were sustained in April 2017, will complete their service as the Relief Society general presidency on July 31.Brief biographies about each member of the general presidencies are included below. A more in-depth profile on each leader will publish in coming weeks.
President Camille N. Johnson, Relief Society General President
Camille N. Johnson has “always felt at home” in Relief Society.
“I found sisterhood among women who were different than me,” she said of her experiences in Relief Society, including 30-plus years in family wards in the United States and Peru. “I love the vitality and wisdom of the women in Relief Society.”
She has found mentors and friends in Relief Society, including some who are older and younger than she is.
“We are all sisters with a shared experience in our desire to return to our heavenly home but with diverse experiences that we can draw upon to help one another,” Sister Johnson said.
Sister Johnson has been serving as Primary General President for the past year. She will begin her service as Relief Society General President on August 1.
One of her favorite callings has been to teach in Relief Society.
“I have loved the opportunity to engage the sisters and to be taught by the Spirit and each other during that sacred hour in Relief Society. It is there that we talk of Christ and rejoice in Christ and address matters of the heart.”
Camille Neddo was born in September 1963 to Hal and Dorothy Neddo in Pocatello, Idaho, USA. She married Douglas R. Johnson on July 31, 1987, in the Salt Lake Temple. They have three sons and five grandchildren.
She graduated from the University of Utah in English in 1985 and from the University of Utah S. J. Quinney College of Law in 1989. She worked for more than 30 years as a lawyer and was president of the Snow Christensen & Martineau law firm.
A former ward Young Women president, Sister Johnson has also served as a member of ward Relief Society and Primary presidencies and as a Gospel Doctrine and Relief Society instructor. She also served with her husband from 2016 to 2019 while he presided over the Peru Arequipa Mission.
— by Christine Rappleye
Sister J. Anette Dennis, First Counselor, Relief Society General Presidency
After spending her childhood in different locations throughout the United States, Sister Jeannie Anette Dennis thought her dreams had come true when her family moved to Cottonwood Heights, Utah.
“I thought everybody in Utah was a member of the Church and that it was going to be a haven here,” she said.
During her first few days in ninth grade, she was excited to be invited to a party. But a girl who became her best friend warned her that people at the party would be using drugs.
“I learned very quickly that the world is everywhere,” she said. Her testimony and a gospel-centered home, however, kept her strong throughout high school.
Born in Provo, Utah, in June 1960, Jeannie Anette Herrin is the oldest of Curtis Lamar and Patricia Joanne Herrin’s seven children. Her father’s career took the family to Mississippi, Tennessee, Iowa, Nebraska, and Utah.
She studied elementary education at Brigham Young University and minored in Spanish. During a class trip to Mexico, she met Jorge Dennis, and the two began corresponding.
When he moved to Salt Lake City a year later to study English, they began dating. Within a few months, they were engaged. They married in the Salt Lake Temple on September 4, 1980. They have four children and nine grandchildren. They live in Bountiful, Utah.
Sister Dennis, sustained on April 2, will begin serving as First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency on August 1. She serves on the Primary general advisory council and with her husband on the Davis County communications council.
From 2013 to 2016 she served with her husband as he presided over the Ecuador Guayaquil West Mission. She has also served as assistant to the matron of the Guayaquil Ecuador Temple, stake Relief Society secretary, ward Primary president, ward Relief Society and Young Women presidency counselor, Relief Society teacher, and temple ordinance worker.
— by Valerie Walton
Sister Kristin M. Yee, Second Counselor, Relief Society General Presidency
In a world increasingly marked by division and isolation, Sister Kristin M. Yee has seen healing remedies to those social ills through the gospel of Jesus Christ and Relief Society.
“Relief Society unites us under Him,” she said. “Wherever I have traveled in the world, I look for my Relief Society sisters, and I instantly feel loved and known. There is a commonality of Christ and in our testimonies of Him.”
Sister Yee, who had been serving on the Primary general advisory council, approaches her new calling as Second Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency with a certainty that she does not work alone.
“The Lord is in charge, and I trust Him,” she said. “I also feel strongly that we need everyone in His work. We all have a role to play, and we can be a part of this work together. I am so grateful for an opportunity to serve.”
Kristin Mae Yee was born May 5, 1981, in Sacramento, California, USA, to Ryan R. Yee and Jaydean Fox McKay. She later moved to Idaho, USA, and then to Utah.
She discovered at an early age both a love of and talent for art, which have guided her educational and professional paths. She holds undergraduate degrees in fine arts from Brigham Young University–Idaho and Brigham Young University. In 2019 she earned a master of public administration from BYU.
Sister Yee’s artistic skills and focus led her to a position as an artist and producer at Disney Interactive Studios, where she worked for 13 years. She now manages the Church’s animation team. Her gospel-themed paintings include portraits of the Savior’s mortal ministry.
Sister Yee has served in many Church callings, including as stake Relief Society president, ward Relief Society presidency counselor and teacher, ward Young Women president, Gospel Doctrine teacher, ward missionary, and temple ordinance worker.
— by Jason Swensen
President Susan H. Porter, Primary General President
“One thing that’s been impressed on our mind over the past year is, how can we strengthen children spiritually?” said Sister Susan H. Porter. “When we talk about strengthening the faith of the rising generation, that has to start in Primary.”
Sister Porter sees the blessings that come to baptized children as they participate as covenant members of the Church.
“It’s often in doing and serving that our testimonies are increased,” she explained. “Children can learn to seek inspiration from heaven.”
Before her call as Primary General President, President Porter had served as First Counselor in the Primary General Presidency for a year.
She said that many children could not participate in Primary during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also saw, and knows, the challenges single women faced. Her husband, Elder Bruce D. Porter of the Seventy, passed away in 2016.
“There were many Sundays when I did not have the sacrament,” she said.
As she has shared her experiences, other women have told her, “The fact that you are serving in the Church gives me a better vision that the Church needs me too.”
Susan Elizabeth Holland Porter was born July 31, 1955, in Ponca City, Oklahoma, USA, to Hans J. and Charlene Coleman Holland and was raised in New York, USA.
She married Elder Porter on February 2, 1977, in the Washington D.C. Temple. They raised their four children in the eastern United States, Germany, and Utah and fulfilled Church assignments in the Europe East Area.
Sister Porter graduated with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Brigham Young University. She has worked as a lab assistant for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and as a math teacher. She has also volunteered with various community and civic organizations.
Sister Porter has served on the Relief Society general advisory council, and her other previous callings include stake Relief Society presidency counselor, ward Relief Society and Young Women president, Gospel Doctrine teacher, and Primary music leader.
— by Mary Richards
Sister Amy A. Wright, First Counselor, Primary General Presidency
Sister Amy A. Wright remembers a night several years ago when she was undergoing treatment for stage 4 ovarian cancer. She was in so much pain that she was past feeling. Despite her testimony and her faith in Heavenly Father, the Savior, and the plan of salvation, she was in need.
As a young child, Sister Wright had been taught by her mother and Primary leaders that when feeling afraid, lonely, or in need of the Spirit, she should sing a Primary song.
“But that’s for children,” she thought now. “Does that really apply to me?”
Then came the answer—and the song.
“I am a child of God too,” Sister Wright remembered. “So, in my mind, I started singing, ‘Heavenly Father, are you really there?’( “A Child’s Prayer,” Children’s Songbook, 12).
“That’s as far as I got. Every fiber of my being was enveloped with the love of God. It was tangible, which was strange because I couldn’t feel anything else. I knew He was there, that He knew exactly what I was going through, and that He was a loving God.”
Amy Eileen Anderson was born January 6, 1972, in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, to Joy Bailey and Robert Anderson. She married James McConkie Wright on June 24, 1994, in the Salt Lake Temple. They have three sons.
She graduated with a bachelor of science degree in human development and family studies from the University of Utah in 1998. She worked in the student media department at Marquette University’s College of Communication while her husband attended dental school.
Sister Wright served as Second Counselor in the Primary General Presidency for the past year and on the Young Women general advisory council for three years before that. Past callings include stake and ward Primary president, ward Relief Society and Primary presidency counselor, Relief Society teacher, Gospel Doctrine teacher, and Cub Scout leader.
— by Scott Taylor
Sister Tracy Y. Browning, Second Counselor, Primary General Presidency
Tracy Y. Browning was about 15 years old when her mother saw a Book of Mormon advertisement on a late-night television infomercial and requested a free copy.
Within a short time, Latter-day Saint missionaries knocked on her door, presented the Book of Mormon, and began teaching her the gospel of Jesus Christ.
At the time, Tracy lived in New Jersey, USA, with her father, but she often visited her mother in New York, USA. While visiting, Tracy observed with curiosity as her mother progressed toward baptism.
With her grandmother, Tracy had attended a Christian church, where she learned foundational Christian beliefs. Soon Tracy began attending Latter-day Saint Sunday worship services with her mother.
The culminating experience came when mother and daughter attended the Hill Cumorah Pageant. Standing in the Sacred Grove, attending church, and listening to messages of the gospel in new ways moved her. Tracy told her mother she was ready to learn more about the Church.
“She put me in front of the missionaries very quickly after that,” Sister Browning said.
Tracy Yeulande Browning was born in New Rochelle, New York, on October 9, 1976, to Clive Adams and Sharon Cox. She grew up in Jamaica, New Jersey, and New York. She married Brady Browning in the Salt Lake Temple on May 2, 1997. They have two children.
Sister Browning studied at St. John’s University. She has worked in financial services for 15 years and is now a director in the Church’s Publishing Services Department. Sister Browning has also volunteered with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Habitat for Humanity, and the United Way’s Day of Caring.
Sister Browning has served as a ward and stake Relief Society presidency counselor, as a Relief Society and Sunday School teacher, and in the Young Women organization. She was serving on the Relief Society general advisory council when she was called to the Primary General Presidency.
— by Trent Toone
Copyright 2022 Deseret News Publishing Company.