It was 22 years ago this weekend when Ardeth Kapp and her husband, Heber, walked into the Tabernacle on Temple Square with a secret between them that would shortly become a news story.

Sitting on the front row of the Tabernacle during the opening session of the LDS Church's annual general conference, she prepared to hear her name read from the pulpit, then took what she remembers as "a long walk" to the stand as the new general president of the church's Young Women's organization.

She was only the eighth woman to hold the post since The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had called the first president of the Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association in 1880. Times had changed radically since then, and young women in the church needed a structured program to help foster spirituality and service in their lives.

As the church's 176th Annual General Conference opens Saturday in the Conference Center, Sister Kapp will watch those who now preside over the Young Women's organization take their place on the stand, knowing that much of what she and her presidency put in place more than two decades ago remains to guide young girls.

And though she spends her time these days in pursuits that are much less visible to the church's general membership, thousands of LDS women who came of age during her administration recall her as a role model for effective leadership in a church overseen largely by men.

Before her call as president, she had served as a counselor in a former general Young Women presidency under Ruth Hardy Funk in the 1970s, at a time when female leaders were much less visible to the church as a whole. But in April 1984, things had begun to change.

"By the time I was called, we were invited to sit on the stand in the red seats. While that might not seem like much today, it was a visible change then," she told the Deseret Morning News. "I also experienced an increased opportunity to sit in some of the councils of the church where our insight was not only accepted, but seemed to be appreciated."

She recalls a conversation with Elder Marvin J. Ashton, then a member of the Council of the Twelve, who told her presidency "we were the eyes and ears that represented the women and that (church leaders) needed to hear" a female perspective from them. "I don't ever remember when I didn't feel like we were heard, respected and appreciated," she recalls.

That didn't mean everything they proposed was approved on their time schedule, she added, noting they once had a satellite broadcast scheduled for a certain date and then were told it would be postponed. "I remember asking 'how do I explain this,' and then having the feeling that he (the church president) was speaking as the prophet. We understand the priesthood line," she said, affirming her belief that the church is led by inspiration.

She spoke in general conference only twice during her time as president — the day she was called and the day, eight years later, when she was released. Yet her voice was heard by hundreds of thousands during satellite broadcasts for young women that began during her administration, making her one of the most visible female leaders that many Latter-day Saints remember.

As a firm believer that "good information makes for good inspiration," she urges women to teach their daughters that their voices are important, that their input is needed within the church in concert with priesthood leadership.

"Sometimes as women, we're the victims of our own response to opportunity. Some will go into a meeting

with their priesthood leaders and think they are there simply to listen and be taught. We need to say, 'this is our observation and our concern,' and always be prepared to give a recommendation for their consideration."

Women must be willing to provide wisdom and resources 'that help to make right decisions," she said. "We have a responsibility to speak up . . . to be knowledgeable and to be useful."

Even so, she said, LDS women realize they play a different role and have different primary responsibilities than men in the church do, with motherhood and nurturing children at the top of the list. Yet the irony of her life, she said, is that she has spent much of her adult years leading young women though she was never able to have children of her own.

Adding to deep youthful feelings of inadequacy, the realization that she and her husband would never be parents left Sister Kapp wondering early in their marriage whether she was acceptable in God's eyes. Yet those who know her say the details of her personal struggles have helped endear her to many who have come to know her through a public life that might not have been possible had she born children of her own.

A new biography, recently published by Deseret Book, provides insights into the woman who served for 23 years at the headquarters of the church. "Stand as a Witness" came out of a request by the publisher to write about her life, she said.

Though hesitant, she realized it would be one of only a handful of biographies on LDS women, so she agreed to open her personal journals and correspondence, including some of her "ministry by mail" which includes thousands of letters and cards, most of them handwritten to recipients she has never met.

Deseret Book CEO Sheri Dew said of her, "One would have to look far and wide to find a woman who has left a more indelible mark on a generation, who has strengthened and inspired more people, or whose impact has been more far-reaching that has Ardeth Kapp's."

The sentiment likely derives in large measure from adherence to Sister Kapp's motto, which she said continues as part of her foundation for whatever assignment she undertakes: "Never give in, never give up, never give out. Give all!"

E-mail: carrie@desnews.com