PALMYRA, New York — At the next Fox family gathering, a fun trivia question could be: Which three family members each attended one of three dedications at the Hill Cumorah Historic Site?
Hill Cumorah is the place where the prophet Joseph Smith met annually with the angel Moroni from 1823 to 1827 and obtained the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon would be translated. Faith Elizabeth Holmes Young Wolf was there when President Heber J. Grant dedicated a monument featuring the angel Moroni on July 21, 1935.
Wolf’s great-granddaughter, Marjorie Brown, attended when President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the Hill Cumorah Visitors’ Center on July 1, 2002.
Wolf’s great-grandson and Brown’s brother, Philip Fox, was there when Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles rededicated the Hill Cumorah Historic Site on Sept. 21, 2025.
Fox works in broadcast and video with the Publishing Services Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and learned a few months in advance that he would be working at the rededication. While researching his family history, Fox found old photos revealing that his great-grandmother had attended the 1935 dedication.
Fox knew his sister had been at the 2002 dedication, but neither sibling had known about Wolf’s attendance. The discovery thrilled them.
“This is amazing,” Fox said. “It was exciting to be here, to have those family ties to the site. It was cool to go up the hill and wander up the beautiful trails and through the woods. It was a really cool experience.”
Brown served in the New York Rochester Mission and at New York Historic Sites from April 2002 to October 2003. At the 2002 dedication, she sang with a small choir of sister missionaries. She has fond memories of the experience and remembers the joyful expressions on the faces of President Hinckley and his wife, Sister Majorie Hinckley.
“Sister Hinckley gave me a thumbs up, like ‘you did a good job,’ and she winked at me. It was so endearing,” Brown said. “I was honored to be there.”
Brown recalled President Hinckley discussing how he attended the 1935 dedication on his way home from his own mission in England.
“Thinking about my great-grandma being there at the same time as President Hinckley, it felt like this kinship with the prophet,” she said.
While Fox was helping set up for the rededication broadcast at the Hill Cumorah Historic Site, he did a live video call with his sister and the siblings shared a meaningful moment together.
For years, Brown had thought her great-grandmother was not active in the Church. Learning more about Wolf, including her attendance at the 1935 dedication, has given Brown new insight into her ancestor’s faith.
Ultimately, uncovering this special family link to the Hill Cumorah’s dedicatory events was deeply meaningful for both Fox and Brown.
“It means to me that God is merciful and loving, that He provides evidence that believing in Christ unites families and [that He] wants us to be connected with those from the past,” Brown said. “My grandma Faith, myself and my brother Philip were there at those dedications because we believe in Christ and therefore we are united in a way that we weren’t before. I feel honored to just be a part of this triad of believers.”
