Tad Talk As a journalist, most every day is interesting and fulfilling, but I can think of two distinct times this year that I got up from writing a story and just felt like it was a good day to work on my beat.
Today was one of those days, when leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced a change in policy that was more inclusive for women, who now can act as official witnesses at baptisms and temple sealings, two of the very most important ordinances, or sacraments, in the church.
Women long have officiated in the temple for initiatories, which is part of the endowment, and served as witnesses during the rest of the endowment, which is a learning and covenant-making ordinance Latter-day Saints believe is necessary for salvation. And in the church’s history, some have served as official witnesses. I found two important ones today.
Vienna Jacques witnessed the first proxy baptism in church history. And in 1961, Sister Camilla Kimball, the wife of future church President Spencer W. Kimball, served as an official witness to a baptism he performed in a river in India, according to a 2016 Ensign article. Church records show women served as witnesses for endowments in some temples in the 1950s, but as policies were normalized across the church as it grew, that changed or ended. | 
