Pres. Hinckley extols women

President Gordon B. Hinckley paid tender tribute to his late wife, Marjorie, on Sunday during the 174th Semiannual General Conference of the LDS Church, extolling women while chastising men who "in a spirit of arrogance" think they are better than women.

"Before I married her, she had been the girl of my dreams, to use the words of a song then popular. She was my dear companion for more than two-thirds of a century, my equal before the Lord, really my superior. And now in my old age she has again become the girl of my dreams."

The 94-year-old leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints described how he and his children were at Sister Hinckley's bedside when she died April 6. "As I held her hand and saw mortal life drain from her fingers, I confess I was overcome."

Sister Hinckley did not attend general conference in April for the first time in 46 years, having taken ill after a long temple dedication trip to Ghana. President Hinckley spoke somberly of her absence then, noting she had been at his side through "storm and sunshine." She died two days after the gathering adjourned. She was 92.

The two-day October conference concluded Sunday with President Hinckley urging church members to hold Family Home Evening and to more frequently attend the temple.

On Saturday, he announced new temples will be built in Twin Falls, Idaho, and at an undisclosed site in the Salt Lake Valley. Also, two new apostles — Elders Dieter F. Uchtdorf and David A. Bednar — were named to the Quorum of the Twelve. Both spoke to church members during the Sunday morning session.

Saying his marriage has been "as idyllic as anyone's could possibly be," President Hinckley said marriage between a man and a woman meets the grand designs of God. "Their complementary relationships and functions are fundamental to his purposes. One is incomplete without the other."

He called Eve the "grand summation" of all God's creations, yet women through the ages frequently have been put down, denigrated, enslaved and abused.

"There are some men, who in the spirit of arrogance, think they are superior to women. They do not realize that they would not exist but for the mother who gave them birth. When they assert their superiority, they demean her.

"It has been said, 'Man cannot degrade woman without himself falling into degradation; he cannot elevate her without at the same time elevating himself.' "

Divorce is one of the results of that degradation, and "the fact is that it is predominantly men who bring about the conditions that lead to divorce," President Hinckley said.