In addition to being an avid reader, Sister Hinckley also wrote three inspirational books, rich with encouragement and expressions of her faith. Her most recent book, "Is this what I was born to do?: Mother's Day Booklet," was released last month. According to an online review at deseretbook.com, it tells the biblical story of Esther and the encouraging words of Mordecai, who asked, "Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"

She also wrote "Small and Simple Things" and "Mothering: Everyday Choices, Eternal Blessings."

As a general authority's wife, she had the opportunity to bear testimony to many at home and in foreign lands.

"I believe my testimony was anchored when, as a child, I attended general conference with my parents in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. I thrilled as I listened to the vibrant voice of President Heber J. Grant bearing his testimony to the membership of the church," she said.

President Hinckley explained how his wife's testimony affected others in August and September 1995 when she accompanied her husband on a busy 10-day visit to England and Ireland.

"Whenever she goes in these conferences and speaks, people enjoy listening to her," President Hinckley said in a Church News interview near the end of the trip. "She has a quiet kind of folksy way of saying things in an informal tone and speaks of the problems of the people in a way that they believe that she's been through what they're experiencing. They love to hear her. It has been a wonderful thing to see the response to her when she speaks."

After he was sustained to the Twelve, President Hinckley wrote in a memo to Elder Mark E. Petersen: "I have been blessed with a great wife. You know her. She was a bright and capable girl when she was growing up and has done a great service in the church and elsewhere, having served as ward Primary president, MIA president and in the Relief Society presidency over a number of years. No one ever had a better companion."

In February 1996, she received the Exemplary Womanhood Award from Brigham Young University. She received the Pioneer Heritage Award in July 1997 and the Distinguished Service to Humanity Award in April 1998. She also received the Utah Heritage Award from the Utah-California Women later that year.

In April 2001, she and her family were honored by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, and a week later she and her husband received honorary doctorates from Utah Valley State College. In April 2003, BYU established the Marjorie Pay Hinckley Chair in Social Work and Social Sciences. The chair was established to help the school focus on the family through research and education, to expand learning by lectures, to increase community involvement in family issues and to provide service.

In tribute to his wife on Sunday, President Hinckley said of her, "We've walked together, side by side, all these many years, co-equals and companions through storm and sunshine."

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Material taken from a Church News interview, May 23, 1964; Deseret News files; the June 1995 Ensign; the April 1997 New Era; and Church News files.