Wynetta Willis Martin Clark — Spiritual Conversion and Deliverance from Darkness

While recovering from surgery in a hospital, Wynetta Willis Martin Clark engaged in a five-day spiritual discussion with a roommate who was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. During this time, Wynetta read the account of Joseph Smith's First Vision. Upon reading about Joseph Smith's experience with the adversary in the Sacred Grove, Wynetta recognized a parallel to her own past harrowing experience with a 'suffocating darkness.' This realization served as a pivotal moment in her conversion to the gospel, leading to her baptism in 1966.

Fuller account of this event (as retold in LDS Living, 'When 2 talented converts became the first Black members of the Tabernacle Choir'):

Wynetta stumbled upon such a religion in the unlikeliest of ways. Following a minor surgery on her leg, Wynetta had to recover in a post-op unit. At first, she felt nervous; she worried the patient who shared her room would object to her skin color. Barbara was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and spoke briefly about her beliefs. Intrigued, Wynetta asked Barbara to tell her more about her church, and for the next five days, they talked about this religion endlessly. They even avoided taking their sleeping pills so they could continue their discussions late into the night. Wynetta felt truly converted to the gospel when she read the account of Joseph Smith. As she read about his experience with the adversary in the Sacred Grove, she immediately thought of her own harrowing experience with the suffocating darkness. Two months after leaving the hospital, Wynetta was baptized [in 1966] and learned more about the God she had been searching for since her childhood.