Introduction 11

spell German). How we used to sit for hours and never tire of telling each other of our love for each other. (Letter 59)

During the first few years of their married life, Helen and Owen frequently traveled together in Utah, Wyoming, and Canada on church assignments. Owen ministered as an apostle, and Helen assisted the Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Association (YLMIA), beginning in May of 1898. Because Helen represented the YLMIA General Board, she had her own leadership status, apart from being an apostle’s wife. Helen’s responsibilities also required her to serve on various committees, such as the Library Committee, where the board members devised plans to help various branches of the church set up “Traveling Libraries” to provide books for study and reference. As May Boothe Talmage wrote in a 1904 memorial to Helen, those who served with the Woodruffs in their church callings could easily observe their loving relationship:

None who have ever been fortunate enough to be intimately acquainted with Brother and Sister Woodruff could ever doubt that they were given each other of God. No outward demonstration was necessary. There was something so genuine, so frank and sincere, yet, withal, so tender and affectionate in their bearing toward each other that their unostentatious devotion was often commented kindly upon by their friends.

Although their travels provided leadership and social opportunities, which both Helen and Owen enjoyed, the early years of their marriage were also marked by their worry over their inability to conceive a child. As Owen recorded in his journal:

The past two years have been the most eventful, substantial and best of my life. My good, faithful Helen has been the chief factor in the hands of God in making the past two years the best of my life. She has always been full of faith and equally anxious with me that I may be successful in the service of my God and fellow men. We have as yet not been blessed with children, but the Lord has heard our united prayers and at last blessed us with “good Prospects.” I am contented, happy and thoroughly satisfied with my Helen.

Their fears proved unwarranted, and the “good prospects” to which Owen referred — Wilford Owen Woodruff — was born to Owen and Helen on