President Elaine L. Jack, who served as the 12th general president of the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1990 to 1997, died Tuesday, June 10, 2025. She was 97.
In an interview when she was first sustained as a general officer in 1987, Sister Jack recalled being a young girl and standing on a dirt road near her home in Cardston, Alberta, Canada. Gazing at the snow-capped peaks of the Rocky Mountains in the distance, she wondered, “Will I ever travel to the other side of those mountains?” (Church News, June 13, 1987, p. 5).
As the wife of a surgeon, and then as a counselor in the Young Women general presidency starting in 1987 and as Relief Society general president starting in 1990, Sister Jack lived and served in many states and traveled extensively throughout the world, experiencing and appreciating a diversity of cultures.
She recognized that the Church is “full of diverse, interesting, faithful women,” she said. But she also recognized the tremendous unity that comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“Relief Society is glorious because we join as sisters who come unto Christ. In all our roles, as sisters, wives, mothers, daughters, friends, roommates, teachers, leaders and on and on, we strive to come to the Savior. I know how rich our Relief Society sisterhood can be because of what each of us brings to it. Think about how unified we feel and yet how individual we are” (“Charity: How We Treat Each Other,” BYU devotional, March 10, 1992).
Latter-day Saint women everywhere — from the Philippines to Japan, from England to New Zealand, and from Paris to St. Petersburg — are part of a grand whole, she taught.
“We need each other to make our sisterhood complete. When we reach out to clasp the hands of our sisters, we reach to every continent, for we are of every nation. We are bonded as we try to understand what the Lord has to say to us, what He will make of us. We speak in different tongues, yet we are a family who can still be of one heart. We work, play, give birth, nurture, dream dreams; we cry, pray, laugh, sometimes clap for joy and find that mortality teaches us our need for our Savior, Jesus Christ,” Sister Jack said (Relief Society Sesquicentennial Satellite Broadcast, “Charity Never Faileth,” March 14, 1992).
Born on March 22, 1928, Elaine Low descended from stalwart Latter-day Saint pioneers. Growing up in the small farming town of Cardston, Sister Jack lived less than a block from the Cardston Alberta Temple. On Sundays she played the organ and often transcribed patriarchal blessings for her grandfather, who served as a patriarch.
Her father, Sterling O. Low, taught her the “dignity of hard work,” while her mother, Lovina Anderson Low, added refinement to her life, she said (“Optimism, joy assets of new president,” Church News, May 12, 1990).
She became her high school valedictorian and went on to major in English at the University of Utah. There she met her future husband, Joseph E. Jack. They married in the Cardston Alberta Temple on Sept. 16, 1948. They have four sons, 16 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren.
Brother Jack described his wife as someone who was happy and optimistic. “She has an ability to uplift. People feel good when they are around her,” he said.
In her last general conference address in April 1997, Sister Jack expressed appreciation to her husband for his “steadiness, his sense of humor and good judgment and his righteous hands,” as well as her four sons, who “have followed his lead as loyal supporters.”
Their favorite family outings included golfing, skiing and hiking. “We love to get together to play,” she said of raising four sons.
Brother Jack passed away in 2017, after the two had celebrated 68 years of marriage.
Due to Brother Jack’s medical career, their family lived in New York City, Boston and even two years in Alaska, where their nine-person branch seemed more like a “twig,” Sister Jack recalled. The branch met in the Jack home, and it was “a time of testimony-strengthening” (Ensign, May 1987).
Sister Jack served on the Relief Society General Board from 1972 to 1984, then was called as the second counselor in the Young Women general presidency under Young Women General President Ardeth G. Kapp.
“While [Elaine] can dream of the ideal and set her sights on the stars, she has the ability to be realistic and practical as she keeps her feet on the ground,” Sister Kapp said of her.
When she was set apart as the new leader of the Relief Society in 1990, Sister Jack became the first Relief Society general president originating from outside of the United States.
Under her leadership, the Relief Society launched a gospel literacy effort, a service endeavoring to help sisters worldwide learn how to read.
“The ability to read is more than just an earthly skill. It’s important to our eternal progression as well,” Sister Jack said. “If we’re going to bring souls to Christ, they must be able to understand the basic commandments and gospel principles that are in God’s word — the scriptures” (“Goal of learning to read: To expand the horizons of gospel understanding,” Church News, Oct. 1, 1994).
Also during her tenure, the organization celebrated its 150th birthday. As part of the celebration, President Jack encouraged sisters worldwide to serve in their communities. In an interview with Julie Beck, who served as the 15th general president of Relief Society, Sister Jack recalled how one ward Relief Society president in California responded to the invitation by asking the city council what service was needed in the community.
The council asked, “You mean 20,000 groups throughout this world are going to be doing the same thing?” When the Relief Society president affirmed his question, he said, “You’ll change the world.”
“And I think we did,” said Sister Jack, “for the better.”
Her general presidency — including counselors Chieko N. Okazaki and Aileen Hales Clyde — was the driving force behind changes in the organization’s curriculum and organized the Relief Society Sesquicentennial Satellite Broadcast, the first live broadcast to women in 10 major cities around the world in addition to those in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean.
“With this broadcast,” said Sister Jack, standing at the pulpit on March 14, 1992, “we join as we never have before. Never in the history of the Church have the women of Zion been linked so closely together. This is symbolic, reminding us that we come together in the greatest of all causes — the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Upon Sister Jack’s release as Relief Society general president in 1997, she and her husband served as the temple president and matron of the Cardston Alberta Temple until 2000. Besides her general Church callings, Sister Jack served in many capacities, including as stake Relief Society president’s counselor, ward Relief Society president, Young Women president and organist.
Sister Jack described the gospel of Jesus Christ as the “greatest guiding force” in her life. “When I say that this is a joyous gospel, I mean it,” she said (Ensign, May 1990).
According to her obituary, one of Sister Jack’s favorite expressions was, “Aren’t we blessed?” Among her blessings were her siblings, Bruce (Ruth), Jean (Owen), and David (Jerry). She is survived by her sons David (Gayle), Bill (Madeline), Eric (Karen) and Gordon (Jill), 16 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren.
A viewing will be held from 6-8 p.m. Friday, June 13, at Wasatch Lawn Mortuary, 3401 South Highland Drive, Salt Lake City. Memorial services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 14, at the Holladay 18th Ward meetinghouse, 2625 East Milo Way, Holladay, Utah.
