Elder Holland Dedicates Heber Valley Camp Pavilion Named for Sister Ardeth G. Kapp

 
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By Sarah Jane Weaver, Church News

Standing in front of colorful flags at a camp created to strengthen the faith and testimony of young women, Sister Ardeth G. Kapp, former Young Women General President, spoke of the rising generation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

They are a “mighty force for righteousness,” she said, moments before a new pavilion at the Heber Valley Camp was named for her life and service on June 20.

Sister Kapp served as General President of the Young Women from 1984 to 1992 — the time the Young Women theme, the Personal Progress program, the value colors and the Young Women motto were developed and rolled out across the world.

With the naming of the pavilion in her honor, Sister Kapp joins the ranks of other valiant women recognized at the camp — Lucy Mack Smith, Esther, Abish, Eliza R. Snow, Rebekah, Marjorie Pay Hinckley, Sariah and Bertha Stone Reader.

Current and former general women leaders, as well as campers and volunteers at Heber Valley Camp, attended the ceremony, held on a cold, windy afternoon at the entrance to the 9,000-acre camp located in the mountains above Heber, Utah.

Sister Kapp said that all God’s children have a special mission — with challenges and opportunities to grow.

“We give thanks for this camp that helps young women — and older women — understand the following: ‘Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy way acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths’ (Proverbs 3:5-6),” she said.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated the new pavilion, recalling moving his young family to Bountiful, Utah, almost five decades ago and being greeted by Sister Kapp riding her bicycle. Sister Patricia Holland would later serve as Sister Kapp’s counselor in the Young Women General Presidency.

Elder Holland said the work accomplished under the presidency of Sister Kapp, Sister Holland and Sister Maurine Turley was foundational for all that has followed for Latter-day Saint young women. “In that short period, the young women of the Church took on an identity and a destiny — and the significance of that will always be attributed to the Ardeth Kapp era.”

In dedicating the campground, Elder Holland thanked the Lord for “the beautiful campground and the devoted workers who care for it” for the “benefit of the marvelous young women and others who bless this Church by their faithful membership in it.”

It is fitting, he said, the name Ardeth Greene Kapp will be the first young women will see as “they come to this dedicated space and the last that they will see as they tearfully bid it goodbye. She whose name will now be associated with this pavilion will — with a radiant, contagious and ever-enthusiastic smile — remind entire generations of campers that they should stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things and in all places.”

Young Women General President Bonnie H. Cordon called it fitting to name the pavilion — which will be a place of gathering for generations of young women — after Sister Kapp, who is a gatherer. “She has gathered the multitudes and gathered the one,” she said.

President Cordon said just a few years ago after being called as Young Women General President, she visited Sister Kapp. “She opened her door and gathered, gathered me in and gave me great words of counsel. In my heart I will never forget that as I left there I knew the Savior better.”

Church News What former Young Women General President Ardeth G. Kapp told well wishers on her 90th birthday