Laura Liona Rees was born in Brigham City, Utah, in 1876, to LDS parents (her father had emigrated as a convert from England; her mother was born at Council Bluffs). With only an eighth grade, district school education, she studied for and passed the test to be licensed as a grade school teacher. Then she became one of the first women to attend Utah State Agricultural College (now Utah State University) at Logan.

She married Lorin Asa Merrill (son of Apostle Merriner Wood Merrill) in 1900. One of her eight children died in infancy; most of the others were still very young – one only eight months old – when Laura was widowed in 1919. With a family to support, Laura returned to public life Continue reading Laura Rees Merrill: Replacing Fear with Peace →