Silvia H. Allred

First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency

When she was just 16 years old, Silvia Henriquez Allred, recently called as first counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, gained a love for Relief Society.

“Shortly after she was baptized, my mother was called as the Relief Society president in our branch in El Salvador,” Sister Allred explains. “She was overwhelmed, but my sister and I [who were also recent converts] told her, ‘It will be OK. The Lord will help you.’ And He did.”

As Sister Allred served as the Relief Society secretary alongside her mother, she was impressed by the opportunities that Relief Society offered in leadership, education, homemaking skills, and service—opportunities Sister Allred says are available “to every woman who embraces the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Sister Allred was born to Carlos Florentino Henriquez and Hilda Alvarenga on October 11, 1944, in San Salvador, El Salvador, the fourth of eight children. She attended the University of Arizona, Brigham Young University, and the General Francisco Morarzan Institute in El Salvador, studying mathematics and languages.

She married Jeffry A. Allred on September 7, 1966, in the Salt Lake Temple. They are the parents of eight children.

Sister Allred has served as a full-time missionary in the Central America Mission, as a Relief Society and Primary president at the ward and stake levels, and as a member of the Young Women general board. She also served with her husband when he presided over the Paraguay Asuncion Mission and most recently as he presided over the Missionary Training Center in the Dominican Republic. The Allreds were also public affairs missionaries in Madrid, Spain.

Sister Allred says that throughout her life, she has relied on what she learned in her first Relief Society calling: “Heavenly Father is aware of our needs. I know He gives us strength.”