Richard E. Turley Jr. and Brittany A. Chapman - Seek by Deseret Book

Diantha Morley Billings (1795–1879) 13
strewn with roses, but were full of thorns and fiery trials and
needed their encouragement. 37
Diantha’s service as a nurse, midwife, and Relief Society sister
continued as long as her health would allow, even in her later years
after she moved to Provo. The love and respect accorded her by her
brothers and sisters in the Church is evident in the numerous references
to her in records and journals as “Mother Billings.” Many
admired her and called her “friend.” In a letter to his daughter Helen
Mar Kimball Whitney, Heber C. Kimball referred to Diantha: “I
want you to read this to . . . Sister Billings, who I hold as one of my
bosom friends. A friend in these days is more precious than gold,
and I esteem her as a mother in Israel, and she has my prayers and
blessing.” 38
After her death in 1879 at the age of eighty-three, an obituary in
the Woman’s Exponent included these lines:
Sister Diantha Morley Billings departed this life at
Provo on the evening of May 14, at fifteen minutes to ten
o’clock. She was familiarly known as “Mother Billings,” and
was truly a mother in Israel, beloved and respected by all.
She was amiable, gentle, tender, truly benevolent, and her
kindness and deeds of mercy extended to the stranger, as
well as the friend or neighbor. . . . Her life has been a most
exemplary one and worthy of imitation. Her name will
ever be held in honorable remembrance, and she will be esteemed
as a woman of God. 39
Diantha’s life path was certainly not an easy one. The strength
37. Emmeline B. Wells, “History of the Relief Society,” Woman’s Exponent 32
(June 1, 1903): 6.
38. Helen Mar Whitney, “Scenes and Incidents in Nauvoo,” Woman’s Exponent
11 (September 15, 1882): 58.
39. “In Memoriam,” 251.