Ardeth G. Kapp

Ardeth Greene Kapp served as the ninth General President of the Young Women organization of the Church from 1984 to 1992. During her tenure, she spearheaded efforts to enhance the organization’s programs and activities, as well as the experiences of young women across an increasingly international landscape.

In 1931, Ardeth was born into a close-knit community in Glenwood, Alberta, Canada, where her family operated a farm and a general store. Throughout her childhood, her parents, Edwin and Julia Greene, enjoyed few material comforts but showed great generosity. Although Ardeth felt she had not excelled much as a young student, she developed a love of education. At age 16, she underwent major ear surgery, which disrupted her schooling. Edwin and Julia helped her move to Provo, Utah, to enroll at Brigham Young High School. Before graduating, she began dating Heber Kapp, whom she had met previously when he, as a missionary, had occasionally joined her family for dinner. Ardeth and Heber were married in 1950.¹

Ardeth G. Kapp

Ardeth G. Kapp holding the updated Personal Progress manual standing beside an embroidered emblem of the Young Women organization.

Ardeth Kapp worked professionally in human resources and education until furthering her studies in elementary education and curriculum development. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah in 1964 and a master’s degree from Brigham Young University in 1971. Between 1972 and 1978, she served as second counselor to Young Women General President Ruth Hardy Funk. During this time, the organization experienced many significant changes. The Church’s youth organizations, including those for young women, were brought under direct priesthood leadership with a new, short-lived unit called the Aaronic Priesthood Mutual Improvement Association. Five years later, Kapp assisted Funk in preparing and introducing a new achievement program, My Personal Progress.

In 1984, Kapp was called as the Young Women General President. Research at the time indicated that young women’s church attendance had been declining. So at the very start of her service, Kapp and her counselors united in prayer to seek inspiration for how to support young women in developing a strong sense of personal identity as daughters of God and preparing to serve in God’s kingdom.² Kapp encouraged leaders to broaden activities and programs to include young women of all backgrounds. Based on her previous career experience with values-based management, Kapp brought to her counselors an idea of creating a set of values for young women. The presidency hoped these values would serve to ground each girl’s sense of herself as a daughter of God with a divine nature and help her prepare for sacred opportunities to make covenants in the temple.³

Kapp also looked to technology to create memorable multimedia events and interactive experiences for young women across the world. On November 10, 1985, her presidency hosted the Church’s first satellite broadcast for young women, which featured some participants as representatives of their various nations as they introduced the organization’s values and theme. Kapp hoped that, along with the updated Personal Progress program, camaraderie across the organization could help young women prepare to enter the temple and live covenant-enriched lives. Her presidency sought to strengthen worldwide sisterhood through a global celebration titled “The Rising Generation.” On October 11, 1986, thousands of young women across the world attached their written testimonies to the strings on helium-filled balloons and released the balloons to the skies. Other changes during Kapp’s presidency included a new motto, “Stand for Truth and Righteousness,” and a new emblem for the organization bearing a young woman’s profile in the shape of a lit torch symbolizing the light of Christ. Kapp was also instrumental in updating the pamphlet For the Strength of Youth in 1990 and publishing a new camp manual in 1992.⁴

Ardeth Kapp’s presidency was the last to serve longer than a five-year term. Changes she and her counselors introduced remained the basic program for the young women’s organization for the following three decades, fostering a legacy experienced by millions of young women throughout the world. Ardeth Kapp passed away in March 2024 at the age of 93.

Church Resources

Ardeth G. Kapp, General Conference Talks, ChurchofJesusChrist.org/study/general-conference/speakers/ardeth-g-kapp.

Bibliography

The following publications provide further information about this topic. By referring or linking you to these resources, we do not endorse or guarantee the content or the views of the authors.

Anita Thompson, Stand as a Witness: The Biography of Ardeth Greene Kapp (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2005).

Mary Jane Woodger and Jessica Wainwright Christensen, “Ardeth Greene Kapp’s Influence on the Young Women Organization,” in David J. Whittaker and Arnold K. Garr, eds., A Firm Foundation: Church Organization and Administration (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2011), 443–62.

Jennifer Reeder and Kate Holbrook, eds., At the Pulpit: 185 Years of Discourses by Latter-day Saint Women (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2017), 193–203.

Related Topics: Young Women Organizations, Broadcast Media

1. Anita Thompson, Stand as a Witness: The Biography of Ardeth Greene Kapp (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2005), 9, 18–24, 42, 45, 48, 64–73, 95; Ardeth G. Kapp, “Drifting, Dreaming, Directing,” in Jennifer Reeder and Kate Holbrook, eds., At the Pulpit: 185 Years of Discourses by Latter-day Saint Women (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2017), 193.

2. Thompson, Stand as a Witness, 212, 262–63; Mary Jane Woodger and Jessica Wainwright Christensen, “Ardeth Greene Kapp’s Influence on the Young Women Organization,” in David J. Whittaker and Arnold K. Garr, eds., A Firm Foundation: Church Organization and Administration (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2011), 450–52.

3. Thompson, Stand as a Witness, 262–305; Woodger and Christensen, “Ardeth Greene Kapp’s Influence,” 443–59.

4. Thompson, Stand as a Witness, 273, 297–99; Brent D. Fillmore, “Promoting Peculiarity: Different Editions of For the Strength of Youth,” Religious Educator, vol. 8, no. 3 (2007), 80; Young Women Camp Manual (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1992).