Lucile C. Reading

Lucile Cardon Reading was the managing editor of the Friend Magazine since its inception in 1971. She published many stories and books about and for children.

Lucile was born on August 16, 1909, in Logan, Utah. She graduated from Utah State University (then Agricultural College of Utah) with a degree in English. She owned and operated a children’s store, The Mother Goose Shop, for over 20 years in Bountiful, Utah.

She served as a member of the Primary General Board for eight years prior to her service as second counselor in the Primary general presidency from 1963 to 1970.

She created the Lucile C. Reading Scholarship for Students of Children’s Literature, awarded to English majors at Utah State University who want to become writers and teachers of juvenile literature.  In her honor, the Lucile C. Reading Elementary School opened in Centerville in 1984.

She was active in her community with the South Davis Welfare Council, the Utah State Federation of Women’s Clubs, and the Utah Division of the American Cancer Society. She was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Primary Children’s Hospital for several years. She was the first woman elected as president of the Davis County Board of Education and was serving her third term at the time of her passing. She died on March 22, 1982, at her home in Centerville, Utah.

She and her husband Keith Reading had two sons.