Relief Society Counselor Named

Ann Stoddard Reese, a Relief Society General Board member for nearly thirteen years, was sustained as second counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency during the opening session of the Church’s 153rd semiannual general conference.

Ann S. Reese

She succeeds Sister Shirley Ann Wilkes Thomas. Sister Thomas is serving with her husband, Robert K. Thomas, who was appointed president of the Australia Melbourne Mission this past summer.

The new counselor said she is looking forward to the rich rewards that come through association with Latter-day Saint women throughout the world. “It is very gratifying to see dedicated women helping their sisters, wherever they may be,” she said. “With the pressures and problems of today, our women need strengthening. We strengthen each other through Relief Society.”

Sister Reese has served on the Relief Society General Board under former general president Belle S. Spafford and under Sister Smith. She is the daughter of Blanche Stoddard, who earlier served on the Relief Society General Board for twenty-four years.

Sister Reese was chairman of the general board’s Visiting Teachers committee when she was called to her new position. She had previously served for several years as a member of the Mother Education committee.

She was born in LeGrande, Oregon, where her father, A. Lester Stoddard and his family were in the lumber business. While she was a girl, the family mill burned and her father moved to Utah, where he started a lumber business in the Uinta Mountains. The family lived in Salt Lake City and Sister Reese attended the University of Utah before marrying Lester G. Reese. The Reeses have three married children and nine grandchildren.