J. Anette Dennis

First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency

After spending her childhood in different locations throughout the United States, Sister Jeannie Anette Dennis thought her dreams had come true when her family moved to Cottonwood Heights, Utah.

“I thought everybody in Utah was a member of the Church and that it was going to be a haven here,” she said.

During her first few days in ninth grade, she was excited to be invited to a party. But a girl who became her best friend warned her that people at the party would be using drugs.

“I learned very quickly that the world is everywhere,” she said. Her testimony and a gospel-centered home, however, kept her strong throughout high school.

Born in Provo, Utah, in June 1960, Jeannie Anette Herrin is the oldest of Curtis Lamar and Patricia Joanne Herrin’s seven children. Her father’s career took the family to Mississippi, Tennessee, Iowa, Nebraska, and Utah.

She studied elementary education at Brigham Young University and minored in Spanish. During a class trip to Mexico, she met Jorge Dennis, and the two began corresponding.

When he moved to Salt Lake City a year later to study English, they began dating. Within a few months, they were engaged. They married in the Salt Lake Temple on September 4, 1980. They have four children and nine grandchildren. They live in Bountiful, Utah.

Sister Dennis, sustained on April 2, will begin serving as First Counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency on August 1. She serves on the Primary general advisory council and with her husband on the Davis County communications council.

From 2013 to 2016 she served with her husband as he presided over the Ecuador Guayaquil West Mission. She has also served as assistant to the matron of the Guayaquil Ecuador Temple, stake Relief Society secretary, ward Primary president, ward Relief Society and Young Women presidency counselor, Relief Society teacher, and temple ordinance worker.