LDS Scene

Sister Sharp Honored at BYU Commencement

Sister Marianne C. Sharp, first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, was recently honored as being the first woman ever to give a commencement address at Brigham Young University.

In addition, Sister Sharp received an honorary doctorate of humanities during BYU’s summer commencement exercises August 16.

Daughter of the late President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Sister Sharp was appointed first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency and editor of the Relief Society Magazine in 1945, having previously served as associate editor of the magazine and as a member of the Relief Society general board.

A graduate of the University of Utah, Sister Sharp has been a delegate to the International Council of Women, and is presently a member of the General Deseret Industries Committee, a member of the Presiding Bishopric’s Training Committee, a consultant to the Ensign Magazine, and a member of the board of governors of the LDS Hospital and Primary Children’s Medical Center.

Thai Youth Meet

At the first youth conference of the Church held recently in Thailand, more than 60 participants, some traveling over 500 miles, attended the three-day event.

The theme for the conference was taken from a statement of former Church president Harold B. Lee, “Be guided to fulfill your highest destiny. Be prepared to become leaders.”

Activities included devotional meetings, seminars, workshops, a talent show, and a testimony meeting.

Topics ranging from music to missionary work were discussed to help those attending develop leadership and teaching skills. A talent show, with singing and dancing around a bonfire on the beach, was featured one evening. Each day the group prepared their own meals, taught the classes, organized their own entertainment, and supervised themselves.

Active Tasmanians

Five members of the Harry Triffitt family recently participated in the ordination of the youngest son Kim to the office of elder. Assisting Brother Triffitt, who serves as elders quorum president in the Devenport Branch, Australia South Mission, were his other sons, Howard, Chayne, Tyrone, and Nick.

Two of the sons currently serve as branch presidents and the others hold district or branch positions. Brother Triffitt and his wife Shelia also have a daughter, Wanda, whose husband is in the branch presidency of another branch. Three of the Triffitt’s sons have served missions, and the marriages of their three married sons have all been solemnized in the temple. All of the sons but Chayne, who is a police constable, work on the family farm.

LDS Athlete to Coach U.S. Team

A young LDS woman, Dixie Grimmett, has been selected by the U.S. College Sports Council to coach the American women’s volleyball team that will compete at the World University Games in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in September 1975.

A graduate of Brigham Young University, Sister Grimmett is an assistant professor of physical education at Long Beach State University in California, and has coached the school’s women’s volleyball team to a first place national ranking for the past two years.

Sister Marianne C. Sharp

Rock painting became an absorbing task for some participants of the first youth conference in Thailand.

An open-air setting for a discussion group