38 Post-Manifesto Polygamy 

covered while a sorrowing band of brethren and sisters looked on in silence. It was a terrible blow to Bro Woodruff but he stood it bravely and manfully and reconciled himself to the ordeal.

Because of feared contamination, Mexican law prevented moving Helen’s body to Utah for twenty years, although Owen had planned to bring her home to Salt Lake City. Unfortunately, he was also afflicted with smallpox just after Helen’s death. To get Owen better medical attention, his companions privately and unlawfully moved him to El Paso, Texas, where he seemed to regain his strength and move toward recovery. However, on June 20, 1904, Owen died suddenly, shocking friends and family. Family members today recall the promise reportedly made to Helen in 1896 by President Woodruff: Owen and Helen would not be separated in death by more than two weeks.

Countless memorial services, letters of condolences, resolutions of respect, and commemorative articles appeared immediately in honor of both Helen and Owen. Owen’s mother, Emma, received an outpouring of love and support from friends, family, and church leaders. However, symbolic of the public/private conflict of post-Manifesto polygamy, Avery and her daughter, Ruth, received no public consolation. Initially left with three orphaned children, a newborn baby, and her private grief, Avery struggled as might be expected. She later wrote in her autobiography: 

The sorrow that filled my heart can’t be described. It seemed I wept buckets of tears in the days that followed. Two wonderful people who left me well and happy never returned and their four children made orphans. My own child fatherless. I was now a widow.

Strongly encouraged by church authorities to remain in Mexico for another year, Avery worked to make a new life for herself and her daughter. The other Woodruff children traveled to Salt Lake City to be with their grandmother and other relatives, while Avery and Ruth’s existence remained secluded.

Helen’s friend, Ruth May Fox, memorialized her in a sentimental, overly wrought memorial poem:

Helen

Pure as the fragrance of lilies,

Fair as the roses of June,