Dencker, Bernina Layama Ward Petrone

Biography

Bernina Layama Ward was born on September 8, 1914, in Chicago, Illinois. She was the only child of Martha Keller (a white woman) and Dahoma Lorenzo Ward (a Black man). Although she spent most of her adult life passing as white, her birth certificate listed her race as “Black.”[1]

Bernina’s mother, Martha, was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Martha was born on July 10, 1889, in Winterthur, Switzerland. Her parents, Konrad Heinrich and Elizabeth Mueller Keller, joined the church in 1874 but did not gather with the main body of Latter-day Saints in the Great Basin region.[2] Still, they were active in the church, and Martha was baptized on January 2, 1901, in Switzerland.[3] When Martha’s father died in August 1909, she and her mother immigrated to the United States to live with her sister Ida, who had moved to Utah in 1908.[4] Martha and her mother arrived in Salt Lake City in August 1911.[5] They lived at 1017 Lowell Avenue and became members of the Emigration Ward.[6] However, for unknown reasons, Martha soon moved to Chicago.

Bernina’s father, Dahoma, had been living in Chicago for a short time before Martha. He was born on May 3, 1884, in Shawnee, Oklahoma. He was one of six children born to Emmett W. and Rozetta Ella Rodgers Ward. He spent most of his childhood in Paris, Texas, before attending Roger Williams University in Nashville, Tennessee, between 1903 and 1905.[7] Like many Black men and women of the Great Migration era, Dahoma sought better employment and housing prospects in the growing cities of the northern and midwestern United States. By 1910, he was living in Chicago and working as a postal clerk.[8]

It is not known how and when Dahoma and Martha met, but on March 2, 1914, they were married in Chicago.[9] Martha may have been pregnant before the marriage, as just six months later Bernina was born on September 8. Little is known about the Ward family over the next several years. Martha would have belonged to the University Branch of the church in Chicago, but it is not clear how often she attended meetings. Local unit records from the time and place are sparse. According to a church census from decades later, Bernina received a baby blessing but not until July 2, 1916, and she was blessed not in Chicago but in Salt Lake City—by Bishop John Vetterli of the Emigration Ward.[10] Martha often visited family in Utah during the summers.[11] She must have arranged for Bernina to be blessed on one of those occasions.

It is also unclear how Dahoma felt about Martha and Bernina’s membership in the church—at least early on. He may have been a Baptist at some point in his life. The university he attended in Nashville had connections to the American Baptist Home Mission Society and required students to take Bible courses. Over time, however, Dahoma showed interest in the Latter-day Saint message. He began attending worship services with Martha and Bernina in the University Branch in the summer of 1919. Yet, his attendance lasted only a short time, as some Latter-day Saints took exception to his race. Specifically, “four families from the southern states,” who had joined the church and moved to Chicago, “entered strong protests against Mr. Ward fraternizing with the branch because of his negro blood.” They complained that Dahoma “took such great pleasure in making himself perfectly at home with the branch,” and they threatened to “remain away from the meetings if Mr. Ward persisted in coming to them.”[12]

The complaints from members of the University Branch were neither sudden nor unexpected. They appear to have grown out of the heightened racial strife plaguing the Windy City at the time. Just as Dahoma began attending Latter-day Saint meetings, a seventeen-year-old African American boy named Eugene Williams was killed while swimming near a “whites-only” beach on Lake Michigan. His drowning sparked the infamous Chicago race riots between July 27 and August 3, 1919, resulting in thirty-eight deaths, hundreds of injuries, and thousands of Black men and women being harassed and displaced.[13] Much of the violence took place in the vicinity of Dahoma and Martha’s home at 6514 S. Evans Avenue. No doubt they were affected by the conflict. Indeed, the timing of both the riot and the complaints against Dahoma at church suggest the possibility of a causal relationship. Perhaps the racial tension in the broader community had crept into the University Branch and that Latter-day Saints—in their own struggle for public acceptance—embraced white anxieties about the changing social order of Chicago. Dahoma was a victim of these racist leanings by church members.

Martha raised the issue with local church leaders. At one point, she met with German E. Ellsworth, president of the Northern States Mission. Ellsworth “had no objections whatever to Mr. Ward,” but he also “sympathized with those southern Saints.” Before his release as mission president and return to Utah on August 7, 1919, Ellsworth counseled Martha and Dahoma to attend meetings in the neighboring Chicago Branch, “where their presence would not be noticed and no objections would be raised to them.”[14] It is doubtful that the Chicago Branch had a more racially diverse Latter-day Saint congregation, given the church’s race-based priesthood and temple ban at the time. More likely, its boundaries included more working-class neighborhoods with larger Black populations, whereas the University Branch, as its name suggests, was near the University of Chicago in Hyde Park, which was a predominately white middle-class neighborhood at the time and had become the front lines of the race riots.[15] Martha and Dahoma lived less than half a mile from the University Branch meeting hall at Cottage Grove and 62nd Street. To attend meetings in the Chicago Branch, located fifteen miles north, would have required much sacrifice.[16]

But a change in meetinghouse was only meant to be a short-term solution. Ellsworth had more drastic plans for the Ward family. He privately advised Martha to “prepare herself to have a legal separation” from Dahoma “purely on account of his being a negro.” He explained to her “the great and serious mistake she had made in marrying Mr. Ward and bearing children by him,” because his “negro blood would be perpetuated through his children.”[17] Ellsworth subscribed to the so-called “one-drop rule,” or the idea that any trace of Black African ancestry barred a person from full citizenship in the nation and the full blessings of the gospel. Martha and Dahoma’s daughter Bernina fell under this classification. She would have to spend the rest of her life trying to pass as white to avoid second-class status.

Martha was unsatisfied with the counsel she received from Ellsworth. Feeling “much aggrieved,” she appealed to President Heber J. Grant in a letter on August 29, 1919, protesting the racial prejudice against her husband. Although her letter has not been found, Grant responded to Martha in a November 1919 letter from his personal secretary, George F. Gibbs, to the new president of the Northern States Mission, Winslow F. Smith. “President Grant wished you to know,” Gibbs wrote to Smith, “that this sister and her husband have a perfect right to attend the meetings of the Saints, and that the objections of the members of the University Branch should not prevail against Sister Ward and her husband, and that the Saints of the University Branch should be so informed.”[18] Despite the church’s racial restrictions, the prophet showed sympathy toward Martha and Dahoma. It is unclear, however, how and when the message was conveyed to members of the branch and how they responded. It is also unknown if Dahoma continued to attend church meetings. There is no record that he was ever baptized.

In his letter, however, Gibbs went beyond the counsel of President Grant, offering his personal feelings on the matter. Gibbs explained that he agreed with the advice of former mission president Ellsworth about Martha divorcing Dahoma. Indeed, Gibbs was much more explicit in denouncing interracial couples, criticizing their “awfulness” for “perpetuating in their children the curse of Cain.” He added, “It matters not how much she may think of her husband or how much she may love him for the reason that he is a negro and he belongs to that class.” To Gibbs, Martha needed to be sealed in the temple to a white priesthood-holding man for a chance at reaching the highest order of heaven. Otherwise, “she must go with him [Dahoma] where he belongs.”[19]

Before sending the letter, Gibbs counseled with Bishop John Vetterli of the Emigration Ward in Salt Lake City—the congregation in whose boundaries Martha’s mother and sister still lived. In a postscript to the letter, Gibbs added that Vetterli “fully agrees with everything in it” and that the bishop would work with Martha’s mother and sister to encourage divorce.[20]

Despite admonitions from church leaders and possibly from family members to separate herself from Dahoma, Martha stayed married to him for the next six years. The 1920 United States census shows them still living together in Chicago.[21] Although it is unknown if Dahoma continued to attend Latter-day Saint meetings, Martha remained an active member of the University Branch, and she raised her daughter in the church. Bernina was baptized at age eight on December 10, 1922.[22]

Over the next several years, however, the relationship between Martha and Dahoma grew strained. Dahoma’s business ventures repeatedly failed, and he continued to face racial discrimination in other public settings.[23] As his frustrations mounted, Dahoma became physically abusive toward Martha, including at least two violent assaults in 1923 and 1924. By April 1925, Martha had filed for divorce from Dahoma with the Cook County courthouse, citing “extreme and repeated cruelty”—not his race or religion—as reasons for the split.[24] A church census from January 1926 shows Martha and Bernina as members of the University Branch. Martha is listed as “divorced,” and there is no mention of Dahoma.[25] By 1928, Dahoma was living in Los Angeles, California, and the 1930 United States census lists him as married to a woman named Beatrice.[26] He later moved back to his childhood home in Paris, Texas, in 1940.[27] The 1950 United States census shows him married to a woman named Geneva.[28] He died in 1963.[29]

The divorce must have been traumatizing for both Martha and ten-year-old Bernina. In addition to the physical and emotional wounds left by Dahoma, they suddenly became a family of two at a time of uncertainty and racial violence in the city. Interestingly, the mother and daughter chose to remain in Chicago rather than relocate to Utah, where they seemingly had family support. Martha simply shouldered on, working as a seamstress and raising Bernina alone in the Windy City. Over time, they both abandoned the surname “Ward,” choosing instead Martha’s maiden name, “Keller.”[30] Martha is also sometimes noted in historical records as “widowed” rather than divorced, while Bernina later appeared to claim that both her parents were from Switzerland.[31] They seemed to want to sever all ties to Dahoma. 

Martha and Bernina ended up finding community in the church that had once pushed their husband and father away. In the ensuing years, the two of them appear in the University Branch records more than ever. Martha is listed among those who paid a regular fast offering.[32] She also frequently contributed to the meetinghouse building fund and to the Relief Society temple fund.[33] She held a number of callings in the University Branch, including as first counselor in the Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Association from 1927 to 1928 and as a teacher in the Relief Society from 1928 to 1930.[34] In 1931, she was put “in charge of magazine work” for the Relief Society.[35] She often bore her testimony in fast meetings, including on one occasion where she “spoke of the goodness of God to her.”[36]

Bernina attended church meetings with Martha and even found herself participating at a young age. Early in her childhood, Bernina developed a talent for musical performance, which she often shared with the University Branch. In December 1922, at age eight (while Dahoma and Martha were still married), Bernina performed a vocal solo for a Sunday School Christmas program.[37] She continued to render special musical numbers in Sunday School meetings over the ensuing years.[38] As she grew older, Bernina began contributing to branch sacrament meetings. In November 1927, for example, at age thirteen, she accompanied a vocal soloist on the piano for the first time.[39] Two months later, she sang a duet with her mother.[40] Indeed, Bernina performed in at least twenty other branch sacrament meetings and district conferences during her teenage years between 1928 and 1934.[41] After she turned eighteen and aged out of the youth programs of the church, Bernina accepted a calling as the organist in the children’s Primary organization, where she served for a short time from October 1932 to January 1933.[42]

As Bernina matured, she began to take her craft more seriously. Beyond her involvement in drama and theater at school, she also lied about her age to audition for and successfully join the Chicago Civic Opera Company. She showcased her vocal talents in several productions before graduating from Hyde Park High School in 1932.[43] She would eventually turn her hobby into a career.

Martha and Bernina’s lives take a somewhat elusive turn during this period. Latter-day Saint records show them attending meetings in the University Branch in Chicago through at least September 1934. However, at some point between 1934 and 1936, they moved to Lyon, France, likely residing with Martha’s brother Friedrich and his wife Marie.[44] Martha already spoke French from her childhood in Switzerland, and Bernina had been a member of the French Club at Hyde Park High School.[45] It is not clear why they went or how long they stayed, but by the time they returned in 1936, they had adopted new names: Martha and Diane Denise. Although Martha might have remarried in France, no confirming records have been found. It seems more probable that the name change was connected to Bernina’s burgeoning music career. “Diane Denise” might have been Bernina’s stage name, and after garnering some minor fame in France as “Diane” (pronounced “dEE-AWn”), she carried this identity back to the United States, where she continued to perform as a singer and actress in hotels, theaters, casinos, night clubs, and short films. Indeed, Bernina embraced this embellished French persona, presenting herself as a Parisian artist, speaking with a French accent, and earning titles like “French Nightingale” and “Paris songbird.”[46]

Martha and Bernina moved frequently in subsequent years, chasing entertainment opportunities for Bernina. While they mainly resided in New York City and Chicago, they traveled extensively, including stops in Boston, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Miami, Minneapolis, Montreal, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Cuba, and Utah.[47] Their church activity is difficult to determine during this period of constant mobility. However, in 1942, amid World War II, Bernina performed for Latter-day Saint servicemen stationed in Chicago, a program sponsored by the Northern States Mission. A newspaper article promoting the event mentioned that Bernina “is a member of the Church.”[48]

Again, the details are not entirely clear, but around 1943, Bernina married Dominic Victor Petrone of New York City. It is unknown how, when, or where they met, but over the next several years, Bernina settled into a more conventional lifestyle, scaling back her performing career and giving birth to two daughters: Linda in 1944 and Michelle in 1949. The 1950 U.S. census shows the Petrone family living at 24 St. John Place in Hempstead, New York. Martha was also living with them at this time.[49]

Although Dominic was not a Latter-day Saint, Bernina was active in the church after their marriage. Her membership record was moved to the Oceanside Branch in the New York Stake in December 1946.[50] Over the years, she held callings, such as music committee member and music director in the Primary. She also performed a special musical number at the dedication of the local meetinghouse in 1954.[51] By 1955, the Petrone family, as well as Martha, had moved to 85-67 Hollis Court Boulevard in Queens, New York, but they remained in the same Latter-day Saint congregation, which had been renamed Uniondale Ward in 1951.[52] As far as available records show, Bernina continued to raise her daughters in the church.[53]

In 1959, Martha died while living with the Petrone family in New York.[54] She was buried in Salt Lake City, Utah.[55]

Little is known about Bernina’s later life. It appears that at some point she and Dominic moved to Palm Beach, Florida, where Dominic died in December 1981.[56] On January 4, 1983, Bernina entered a Latter-day Saint temple for the first time, in Jordan River, Utah, where she received her initiatory and endowment.[57] Dominic’s vicarious temple work was performed in October 1986 in the Atlanta Georgia Temple, the closest temple at the time to Palm Beach, Florida.[58] The timing of these events suggests that it was probably never Bernina’s race that prevented her from entering the temple before the church discontinued the race-based ban on priesthood and temple work in 1978. Despite a darker complexion, she passed as white throughout her life. Her birth certificate is the only historical record that listed her race as “Black,” and she seemingly never spoke about her father and his racial background.[59] More likely, the reason she had never been endowed was that the church often discouraged single women or women married to non-Latter-day Saints from receiving their temple ordinances—a policy that has changed in recent years.[60]

In November 1991, Bernina married again, this time to a man named John Peter Dencker, a Latter-day Saint and a widower from Utah. They lived at 475 13th Avenue in Salt Lake City, belonging to the Ensign 1st Ward, until John’s death in 2004.[61] Bernina passed away on February 12, 2012, in Palm Beach, Florida.[62]

By Justin Bray

[1] Bernina Layama Ward birth certificate, September 8, 1914, Cook, Illinois, United States, certificate no. 139087, microfilm 1,288,334, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[2] Flora Salm Butts, “Konrad Heinrich Keller and His Wife Elisabeth,” on FamilySearch, “The Family Tree” database, Konrad Heinrich Keller (KWJL-ZXC), Memories. Konrad Heinrich went by “Henry,” and Elizabeth was often referred to as “Lisette” or “Lizzette.”

[3] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Record of Members Collection, Emigration Ward, CR 375 8, Box 1938, Folder 1, Item 40, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[4] Flora Salm Butts, “Konrad Heinrich Keller and His Wife Elisabeth,” on FamilySearch, “The Family Tree” database, Konrad Heinrich Keller (KWJL-ZXC), Memories.

[5] “Martha Keller,” Liverpool to Montreal, August 4-6, 1910, Netherlands Mission Emigration Registers, 1904-1914, no. 4416, in Saints by Sea: Latter-day Saint Immigration to America database, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah; “Martha Keller,” Liverpool to Montreal, August 6, 1910, British Mission Register, no. 25694, volume 1826-1828, in Saints by Sea: Latter-day Saint Immigration to America database, HBLL.

[6] Record of Members Collection, Emigration Ward, CR 375 8, Box 1938, Folder 1, Item 40, CHL.

[7] Nashville city directory, 1903, p. 1013, Ancestry.com; Nashville city directory, 1905, p. 1162, Ancestry.com. See also “Wilberforce and Roger Williams,” Chicago Whip, May 7, 1921, 5.

[8] United States, 1910 Census, Illinois, Cook County, Chicago.

[9] Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871-1968, Dahoma L. Ward and Martha Keller, March 2, 1914.

[10] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Record of Members collection, Emigration Ward, ca. 1936, CR 375 8, Box 1938, Folder 3, Item 377, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[11] Martha’s sister and brother-in-law owned a “summer cabin” in Parley’s Canyon near Salt Lake City, and Martha and Bernina often visited in the summer. On one tragic occasion, Martha accidently started a large wildfire in the canyon—an event that made a number of local headlines. See “Woman Who Started Parley's Fire Sorrowfully Tells Her Story,” Salt Lake Telegram, August 2, 1940, 5; “Fire,” Salt Lake Tribune, August 3, 1940, 19; “Patrols Guard Canyon Fire Ruins to Prevent New Flare-Up,” Salt Lake Telegram, August 3, 1940, 1; “Judge Advises Not Guilty Plea as Hearing on Blaze Opens,” Salt Lake Telegram, August 8, 1940, 13; “Woman’s Trial Delayed in Canyon Fire Case,” Salt Lake Telegram, August 13, 1940, 11; “Forest Fire Defendant Goes Free,” Salt Lake Telegram, August 20, 1940, 13.

[12] George F. Gibbs to Winslow F. Smith, November 19, 1919, in Ronald W. Walker Papers, XIV S 6 B, Harold B. Lee Library, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young, University, Provo, Utah.

[13] See William M. Tuttle, Race Riot: Chicago and the Red Summer of 1919 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1970), 173–180.

[14] George F. Gibbs to Winslow F. Smith, November 19, 1919, in Ronald W. Walker Papers, XIV S 6 B, Harold B. Lee Library, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young, University, Provo, Utah.

[15] In the fall of 1918, the Hyde Park-Kenwood Property Owners’ Association made headlines for its campaign to “make Hyde Park white.” In March 1919, the group was quoted as saying, “Every colored man who moves into Hyde Park knows that he is damaging his white neighbors’ property.” As late as 1930, the Hyde Park neighborhood was reportedly 98 percent white, while the rest of Chicago had grown to nearly 10 percent Black. See Conor Bolger, “White Flight and the Gentrification of Hyde Park, Chicago,” Student Economic Review 31 (2017): 130–137. William M. Tuttle, Race Riot: Chicago and the Red Summer of 1919 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1970), 173–180.

[16] Dahoma, Martha, and Bernina could not be found in Chicago Branch records from the time. It should be noted that in January 1920, just weeks after it was suggested that Dahoma and Martha attend the Chicago Branch, Reverend G.H. McDaniel, a Black minister, was invited to speak in a Chicago Branch sacrament meeting about his work among African Americans in the city. See Chicago Branch general minutes, January 9, 1920, LR 11086 11, Image 36, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[17] George F. Gibbs to Winslow F. Smith, November 19, 1919, in Ronald W. Walker Papers, XIV S 6 B, Harold B. Lee Library, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young, University, Provo, Utah.

[18] George F. Gibbs to Winslow F. Smith, November 19, 1919, in Ronald W. Walker Papers, XIV S 6 B, Harold B. Lee Library, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young, University, Provo, Utah.

[19] George F. Gibbs to Winslow F. Smith, November 19, 1919, in Ronald W. Walker Papers, XIV S 6 B, Harold B. Lee Library, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young, University, Provo, Utah. 

[20] George F. Gibbs to Winslow F. Smith, November 19, 1919, in Ronald W. Walker Papers, XIV S 6 B, Harold B. Lee Library, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young, University, Provo, Utah. 

[21] United States, 1920 Census, Illinois, Cook County, Chicago.

[22] See “News from the Missions,” Liahona: The Elders’ Journal 20, no. 15 (January 16, 1923): 296.

[23] Over the years, Dahoma worked several jobs. For a time, he was a “night garage man” at Walker Vehicle Company. See United States, Illinois, Chicago, World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917–1918, Dahoma Lorenzo Ward, 12 September 1918, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, DC. For several years, he appeared to own or manage a company called Apex Rotapex Electric Shop, which sold household appliances. See Apex Rotapex Electric Shop advertisement, “Who Am I?” Chicago Whip, September 17, 1921, 5; Apex Rotapex Electric Shop advertisement, “A Hint to the Husbands,” Chicago Whip, December 31, 1921, 3; “Salesmen,” Chicago Tribune, January 29, 1923, 29. In June 1923, Dahoma and a coworker at Apex Rotapex Electric Shop made headlines for being refused service at a local restaurant. The two men were told that all the empty seats in the building were reserved and that the restaurant “did not cater to Colored trade.” See “Chinese Restaurant in Loop Draws Color Line,” Chicago Defender, June 30, 1923, 1.

[24] Martha K. Ward and Dahoma L. Ward divorce record, April 25, 1925, S-415586, Cook County Circuit Court Archives, Chicago, Illinois. I would like to thank Steven Wright for his assistance in locating the record in the Cook County Court Circuit Archives.

[25] “Ward,” Presiding Bishopric stake and mission census, 1914–1960, University Branch, 1925 Census, Film 008434427, Image 02556, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. 

[26] See Pasadena, California, City Directory, 1928, Image 371, City Directories, 1822–1995; United States, 1930 Census, California, Los Angeles County, Los Angeles.

[27] United States, 1940 Census, Texas, Lamar County, Paris.

[28] United States, 1950 Census, Texas, Lamar County, Paris.

[29] Texas Death Index, 1903–2000, Dahoma Ward, Certificate Number 26117.

[30] Martha and Bernina carry the last name “Ward” in University Branch records for several years after the divorce, but they both gradually begin to use the last name “Keller.” They have the last name “Keller” in the 1930 U.S. census, but they have the last name “Ward” in the 1930 church census. They are then listed under “Keller” in the 1935 church census. The last names appear to have been used interchangeably. See United States, 1930 Census, Illinois, Cook County, Chicago; “Ward,” Presiding Bishopric Stake and Mission Census, 1914–1960, University Branch, 1930 Census, Film 008434427, Image 2557; “Keller,” Presiding Bishopric Stake and Mission Census, 1914–1960, University Branch, 1935 Census, Film 008623014, Image 1778, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. 

[31] See United States, 1930 Census, Illinois, Cook County, Chicago; “Keller,” Presiding Bishopric Stake and Mission Census, 1914–1960, Oceanside Ward, 1950 Census, Film 008623273, Image 497, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah; “Opera Singer Rests in S.L.; Will Forget Work for Awhile,” Salt Lake Telegram, January 4, 1938, 12.

[32] University Ward general minutes, LR 9590 11, Volume 6, p. 145–148, Images 130–133, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[33] University Ward general minutes, LR 9590 11, Volume 6, p. 145–148, Images 130–133, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. Martha is listed among women in the University Branch who contributed to the Relief Society temple fund but who were “not members of Relief Society” in 1928. See University Ward Relief Society minutes and records, LR 9590 14, Volume 5, p. 128, Image 68, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. See also University Ward general minutes, LR 9590 11, Volume 7, p. 184–192, Images 116–124, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[34] University Ward general minutes, September 18, 1927, LR 9590 11, Volume 6, p. 140, Image 127, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. Martha does not attend a Relief Society meeting until October 1928, when she is called as a class leader. At that point, she becomes a dues-paying member and teaches a lesson about once a month. See University Ward Relief Society minutes and records, LR 9590 14, Volume 5, Images 86–88, 133, 139, 163.

[35] University Ward general minutes, September 27, 1931, LR 9590 11, Volume 8, p. 5, Image 29, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[36] University Ward general minutes, October 2, 1927, LR 9590 11, Volume 6, p. 137, Image 124, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. For other instances in which Martha bore testimony, see entries for November 7, December 5, 1926; January 2, March 6, April 3, 1927; January 1, February 5, March 4, April 1, May 1, June 12, July 3, August 6, September 11, October 2, November 6, 1928; March 4, June 3, September 16, October 7, November 4, 1928; and January 5, 1929; in University Ward general minutes, LR 9590 11, Volume 7, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[37] University Branch Sunday School minutes and records, December 24, 1922, LR 9590 15, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[38] See, for example, University Branch Sunday School minutes, May 13, June 17, September 2, 1923, LR 9590 15, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[39] University Branch general minutes, November 20, 1927, LR 9590 11, Volume 6, p. 128, Image 119, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[40] University Branch general minutes, January 22, 1928, LR 9590 11, Volume 7, p. 108, Image 55, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[41] See, for example, entries for October 12, 1930; July 12, August 9, August 22, October 25, November 22, 1931; May 22, 1932; March 12, March 19, May 21, May 28, October 29, 1933; January 21, July 29, August 26, September 23, 1934; in University Ward general minutes, LR 9590 11, Volume 7–8, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. See also “News from the Missions,” Liahona: The Elders’ Journal 26 (1928): 525; “Mormon Group Will Dedicate Chapel Dec. 15,” Chicago Tribune, November 3, 1929, 84; “In and Around Washington,” Deseret News, September 19, 1931, 18.

[42] University Ward Primary Association minutes and records, LR 9590 18, Volume 1, Image 4, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. See also University Ward Primary Association minutes and records, October 7, 1932, LR 9590 18, Volume 1, Image 10, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[43] The Aitchpe: The Yearbook of the Hyde Park High School (1932), 190, 209, in the U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900–2016, Ancestry.com; “Hyde Park High School,” Chicago Tribune, June 19, 1932, 54. “Opera Singer Rests in S.L.; Will Forget Work for Awhile,” Salt Lake Telegram, January 4, 1938, 12.

[44] When Martha’s mother died in Salt Lake City, Utah, in July 1936, a notice in the local newspaper mentioned that Martha and her brother were living in Lyon, France. See “L.D.S. Worker dies of Heart Attack,” Salt Lake Telegram, July 25, 1936, 94.

[45] United States, 1930 Census, Illinois, Cook County, Chicago; The Aitchpe: The Yearbook of the Hyde Park High School (1932), 156, in the U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900–2016, Ancestry.com.

[46] United States, 1940 Census, Illinois, Cook County, Chicago. See also “Opera Singer Rests in S.L.; Will Forget Work for Awhile,” Salt Lake Telegram, January 4, 1938, 12; Norwood Fur Farms advertisement, Daily Herald (Chicago), January 28, 1938, 14; “Diane Denise Soloist Today on Stokes’ Show,” Chicago Tribune, February 13, 1938, 37; “On New, Remaining Programs at Hotels and Dance Clubs,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 30, 1939, 32. In October 1943, Martha applied for Social Security under the name Martha Denise, with an alias listed as “Martha Keller.” See “Martha Denise,” in United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files, 1936–2007, database, FamilySearch.org.

[47] See “French Star at Casino” newspaper clipping, “Clover Club” advertisement, “Hi-Hat Club” advertisement, on FamilySearch, “The Family Tree” database, Bernina Layama Ward (KWCZ-R8P), Memories; “French Revue Is Novelty on Palace Stage,” Chicago Tribune, May 3, 1935, 94; “Normandie Roof” advertisement, The Gazette, June 16, 1937, 3; “Opera Singer Rests in S.L.; Will Forget Work for Awhile,” Salt Lake Telegram, January 4, 1938, 12; Norwood Fur Farms advertisement, Daily Herald (Chicago), January 28, 1938, 14; “Buddy Rogers Bill Clicks; Judy Garland Steals Show,” Indianapolis Star, March 5, 1938, 4; “Headliners in Variety Club Show on Sunday,” Cincinnati Post, April 20, 1938, 22; “Variety Show, Contrast in Film Fare at Roxy,” Salt Lake Tribune, April 2, 1939, 63; “On New, Remaining Programs at Hotels and Dance Clubs,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 30, 1939, 32; “Singing Star,” Minneapolis Star, January 1, 1941, 16; “Ben Marden’s Winter Room” advertisement, Daily News (New York), November 12, 1941, 286; “‘Priorities of 1942’ Opens at Forrest,” Philadelphia Inquirer, September 8, 1942, 34.

[48] “Utahns in Chicago to Be Honor Guests,” Deseret News, December 7, 1942, 9. Martha and Bernina’s church membership records were moved from the University Branch in Chicago to the Emigration Ward in Salt Lake City in May 1936. It doesn’t appear they were ever moved to France. The records remain with the Emigration Ward, even though Martha and Bernina were living in Chicago by 1938. See “Keller,” Presiding Bishopric Stake and Mission Census, 1914–1960, Emigration Ward, 1940 Census, Film 008623151, Image 1475, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah; Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Record of Members collection, Emigration Ward, ca. 1936, CR 375 8, Box 1938, Folder 3, Item 377, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. 

[49] United States, 1950 Census, New York, Nassau County, Hempstead.

[50] “Petrone,” Presiding Bishopric Stake and Mission Census, 1914–1960, Oceanside Ward, 1950 Census, Film 00843445, Image 2907, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. Martha’s membership record was also moved to the ward. See “Keller,” Presiding Bishopric Stake and Mission Census, 1914–1960, Oceanside Ward, 1950 Census, Film 008623273, Image 497, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[51] Uniondale Ward Chapel Dedication Souvenir, November 28, 1954, p.12, M255.84 U58n, Folder 1, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah; Uniondale Ward meetinghouse dedication collection, LR 9522 21, Folder 1, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah; Oceanside Branch manuscript history and historical reports, April 24, 1955, LR 9522 2, Folder 1, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[52] See also “Ward,” Presiding Bishopric Stake and Mission Census, 1914–1960, Uniondale Ward, 1955 Census, Film 008676160, Image 322, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah; “Keller,” Presiding Bishopric Stake and Mission Census, 1914–1960, Uniondale Ward, 1955 Census, Film 008624331, Image 2914, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. 

[53] See “Petrone,” Presiding Bishopric Stake and Mission Census, 1914–1960, Queens Ward, 1960 Census, Film 008676160, Image 323, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. Linda shows up in at least some local records of the newly renamed Queens Ward. In 1961, the seventeen-year-old was called as a member of the Ward Youth Missionary Committee. She also performed a “Spanish dance” at a ward event that same year. See Queens Ward manuscript history and historical reports, July 9, 1961; November 3, 1961; LR 7283 2, Folder 1, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[54] “Notice to Creditors,” Salt Lake Times, June 26, 1959, 5.

[55] “Martha Denise Keller” in NamesinStone.com.

[56] “Don V. Petrone,” in “Florida Death Index, 1877–1998,” Certificate Number 107949, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

[57] See FamilySearch, “The Family Tree” database, Bernina Layama Ward (KWCZ-R8P), Ordinances.

[58] See FamilySearch, “The Family Tree” database, Dominic Victor Petrone (KZQD-8PV), Ordinances.

[59] Bernina is listed as “Black” on her birth certificate but listed as “white” in the 1920, 1930, 1940, 1950 census records. See Bernina Layama Ward birth certificate, September 8, 1914, Illinois, Cook County, United States, certificate no. 139087, microfilm no. 1,288,334, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah; United States, 1920 Census, Illinois, Cook County, Chicago; United States, 1930 Census, Illinois, Cook County, Chicago; United States, 1940 Census, Illinois, Cook County, Chicago; United States, 1950 Census, New York, Nassau County, Hempstead.

[60] “Policies and Procedures,” New Era (March 1971): 7.

[61] Judy Ann Dencker, “The Expanded History of My Father, John Peter Dencker,” on FamilySearch, “The Family Tree” database, John Peter Dencker (KWCZ-R8G), Memories; “Diane D. Petrone,” in U.S. Public Records Index, 1950–1993, Volume 1, Ancestry.com.

[62] “Funeral Notices,” Palm Beach Post, February 15, 2012, B4.

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