Barbara Bradshaw Smith was the tenth general president of the Relief Society

Relief Society

The Relief Society is a philanthropic and educational women's organization and an official auxiliary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . It was founded in 1842 in Nauvoo, Illinois, USA and has approximately 6 million members in over 170 countries and territories...

 of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1974 to 1984. She was the first Relief Society president to have been born in the 20th century.

A native of Salt Lake City, Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

, Smith graduated from South High School

South High School (Salt Lake City)

South High School was a high school in Salt Lake City, Utah, which operated from 1931 to 1988. The school was located on the southern end of Salt Lake City proper, at 1575 S. State Street...

 in 1940. In 1974 Smith succeeded Belle S. Spafford

Belle S. Spafford

Marion Isabelle Sims Smith Spafford was the ninth general president of the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from April 6, 1945 until October 3, 1974. She served longer in this capacity than any other woman in the history of the Relief Society. Spafford was also...

, who had been the Relief Society president for nearly thirty years, having taken up the position in 1945. Prior to her becoming president of the Relief Society, Smith had served on a variety of general boards in the same organization.

As Relief Society President, Smith spearheaded the LDS Church's opposition to the proposed Equal Rights Amendment

Equal Rights Amendment

The Equal Rights Amendment was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution. The ERA was originally written by Alice Paul and, in 1923, it was introduced in the Congress for the first time...

 to the U.S. Constitution. Smith also used her position to actively oppose the recruitment of women into the United States military and the spread of abortion

Abortion

Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...

, which had been legalized

Roe v. Wade

Roe v. Wade, , was a controversial landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion,...

 in the United States in 1973.

Smith was succeeded by Barbara W. Winder

Barbara W. Winder

Barbara Ann Woodhead Winder was the eleventh general president of the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1984 to 1990....

 in April 1984.

Smith married Douglas H. Smith in the Salt Lake Temple

Salt Lake Temple

The Salt Lake Temple is the largest and best-known of more than 130 temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the sixth temple built by the church, requiring 40 years to complete, and the fourth operating temple built since the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo,...

 on June 16, 1941. They were the parents of seven children. Smith died on September 13, 2010 after suffering from pulmonary fibrosis

Pulmonary fibrosis

Pulmonary fibrosis is the formation or development of excess fibrous connective tissue in the lungs. It is also described as "scarring of the lung".-Symptoms:Symptoms of pulmonary fibrosis are mainly:...

for a number of years.