{"id":1516,"date":"2009-11-11T15:34:15","date_gmt":"2009-11-11T21:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ldswomenofgod.com\/blog\/?p=1516"},"modified":"2019-01-25T15:42:37","modified_gmt":"2019-01-25T21:42:37","slug":"louise-yates-robison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reliefsocietywomen.com\/blog\/2009\/11\/11\/louise-yates-robison\/","title":{"rendered":"Louise Yates Robison"},"content":{"rendered":"

Louise Yates Robison is one of our lesser known Relief Society Presidents, but you will learn to love and value her after reading this short life sketch.<\/span><\/p>\n

First, we need to start with the story of her remarkable mother; Elizabeth Francis Yates.\u00a0 Elizabeth was born and raised in England.\u00a0 She even married there and had four beautiful daughters.\u00a0 When she learned of the church, she readily accepted it\u00a0<\/span>but was abandoned by her husband as her activity grew.\u00a0 When her husband saw how happy she was with the church, he kidnapped all of her daughters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter years of fasting and prayers, and many tears, the Lord opened the way for me to come to Zion,\u201d she wrote.\u00a0 She left the country with the Yates family, whose son she would later marry on the plains heading west.\u00a0 Later in life,\u00a0<\/span>she would be reunited with two of her lost daughters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elizabeth and Thomas Yates would be part of a group of people sent to establish Millard County.\u00a0 The town of Scipio was as far away as could be from big city life.\u00a0 In danger of Indian attacks, the family would hide in the cellar for protection.\u00a0 Sarah Louisa Yates (always known as Louise) would be born days after her mother fell down the stairs during one such attack.<\/span><\/p>\n

Louise, as a young girl, was large and awkward for her age.\u00a0 Her older sister Lizzie admitted to crying herself to sleep over Louise\u2019s homeliness.\u00a0 While walking home together one day, and enjoying a rare treat of sugar cane stalks, the girls came across a cow in the field.\u00a0 The cow took Lizzie\u2019s stalk and the girls ran screaming home.\u00a0 When asked how she was able to save her\u2019s, Louise replied, \u201cI fell on it.\u201d\u00a0 Years after, her parents would laugh at the recollection, to Louise\u2019s bemusement.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Louise was sixteen, everyone was getting ready for the first stake conference to be held in town.\u00a0 The building was shining inside and out except for an ugly stain on the ceiling.\u00a0 Hoping no one would notice, Louise was \u201chopping mad\u201d when the cute boy with dashing sideburns looked up and said something about it.\u00a0 This young man was Joseph Lyman Robison.\u00a0 From this unimpressive first impression, came a happy marriage, including six children.<\/span><\/p>\n

Serving mostly in the MIA, Louise was beloved by her girls.\u00a0 When she was first called as YWMIA President, the bishop disregarded her selection of two friends as counselors, and called women she did not know.\u00a0 She found these women to be ideal counselors and dear friends.\u00a0 This was a great lesson in trusting the inspiration of her Bishop.\u00a0 But, at a Stake Dance, when the Waltz was strictly prohibited because of its close contact with the partner, Louise cornered the Bishop, keeping him occupied long enough so the youth could dance, just once, the forbidden dance.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Louise was serving as a counselor in her stake Relief Society Presidency, she attended a General Relief Society Meeting where Emmeline Wells was released as the General Relief Society President.\u00a0 She heard Clarissa Smith Williams announced as the new President with her two counselors, Louise Y. Robison and Jennie Knight.\u00a0 She even raised her hand to sustain this woman with the same name as her own, not realizing that she was the very one being called into the General Relief Society Presidency.\u00a0 Later, she would be called as President with Amy Brown Lyman and Julia A. Child serving as her counselors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not only was Louise a fabulous pie maker, seamstress, and gardener, she also had the reputation of being loving, gentle, and sympathetic.\u00a0 Her son stated that she was \u201cone of the most widely beloved women in the Church\u201d.\u00a0 Back when women wore hats, it was encouraged that large hats be removed during meetings.\u00a0 Women tended to be a little stubborn about that suggestion, so to further encourage the women, Louise announced, during one meeting, that everyone should remain seated as they sang.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sure you have books and papers and your hats on your laps, and I\u2019m afraid it would be hard for you to hold all of them if you stand.\u201d\u00a0 This very subtle reprimand got the message across.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of her greatest accomplishments as President of the Relief Society organization were:<\/span><\/p>\n