By Keri Adams
A loving mother, an intelligent woman and a devoted wife, Sister Marjorie Pay Hinckley, whose funeral will be Saturday, has been an inspiration and example to many throughout the world.
“Marjorie Hinckley was a leading light to women worldwide, especially wives and mothers,” Utah Gov. Olene Walker said. “Her warmth and kindness will be missed. Our love and prayers go out to President Hinckley at this difficult time.”
Gordon B. Hinckley, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, identified his wife as the lodestar of the family in a recent LDS Church news release.
“We”ve walked together side-by-side through all of these years, coequals and companions through storm and sunshine,” President Hinckley said in a tribute to his wife during general conference on Sunday.
Marjorie Pay was born on Nov. 23, 1911, in Nephi, Utah, the first child of Phillip LeRoy and Georgetta Paxman Pay. She had four sisters and two brothers, but one brother died in infancy. The family moved to Salt Lake City in 1914, where Marjorie began her education. She graduated from East High School in 1929 and went to work at the Owens Illinois Glass Company performing secretarial duties.
As a young girl, Sister Hinckley”s mother taught her the best husband for her would be one who loved the Lord. Sister Hinckley met a young man with that qualification living right across the street from her family home – a man named Gordon B. Hinckley.
In an interview published in her biography, Sister Hinckley told Deseret Book CEO Sheri Dew that she had been impressed from the beginning with the young man who shared her sense of humor but also demonstrated a more serious, studious side.
“After we dated and then became engaged to be married, something became obvious to me,” Sister Hinckley said. “I knew that he loved me … but I also knew that I would never come first to him. I knew Gordon was going to devote his life to the Lord. And I couldn”t think of anyone I”d rather have him devoted to.”
After dating steadily, with a two-and-a-half year interruption because of President Hinckley”s church mission to Europe, the couple married in the Salt Lake Temple on April 29, 1937.
They began their married life in Salt Lake City in a small farmhouse in East Millcreek and then built a home down the lane from their first house as the family increased in size. President Hinckley worked at the LDS Church headquarters in downtown Salt Lake City, and Marjorie continued her employment at the glass company until the birth of their first child.
The Hinckleys had five children: Kathleen, Richard, Virginia, Clark and Jane. They also had 25 grandchildren and 41 great-grandchildren. According to the news release, Sister Hinckley loved being a mother and delighted in every moment with her children.
“She loved having us home after school and couldn”t wait for summer vacation to arrive,” Jane Dudley, Sister Hinckley”s youngest daughter, said in the June 1995 Ensign. “Other mothers were only too happy to see school start again in the fall, but not Mom — she would weep! She would grieve that we were leaving her.”
Although the Great Depression interrupted her own formal education, Sister Hinckley encouraged her children to seek degrees of higher education, and she continued learning throughout her life. She enrolled in many institute classes, was an avid reader and was described by Elder Bruce Hafen of the Quorum of the Seventy as having a natural gift for writing.
“Since college was not an option,” Sister Hinckley said in her biography, “I decided, ”Well, if this is my life, I”d better educate myself.” And I worked hard at it.”
Sister Hinckley has been recognized numerous times for her accomplishments. In April 2003, BYU named the Marjorie Pay Hinckley Chair in Social Work and Social Science. Sister Hinckley also received an honorary doctoral degree in Christian Service from BYU in 2000 and an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Utah Valley State College in 2001. The same year, she received the Heritage Award during the centennial celebration of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers.
Throughout her life, Sister Hinckley traveled extensively all over the world. According to the news release, she visited nearly every continent and conversed comfortably with dignitaries like the queen of Thailand and the prime minister of the United Kingdom. She developed a special appreciation for the people in the Far East, with Hong Kong being one of her favorite cities.
“We have traveled far and wide together,” President Hinckley said in his wife”s biography. “With your familiar words you have won the love of all who have heard you. Your down-to-earth good sense, your sparkling and refreshing wit, your quiet and unfailing wisdom, and your tremendous and ever constant faith have won the hearts of all who have listened to you.”
In the April 1995 general conference, Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke of the example Sister Hinckley had been and would continue to be as a worthy role model for LDS and non-LDS women alike in a world struggling with the role of women.
“You are an inspiration to all of us,” Elder Perry said. “You can look back on a life filled with accomplishment, growth, understanding, faith, support, and fulfillment.”
