Joleen G. Meredith

Joleen G. Meredith is a pianist, composer, and lyricist of songs published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which she is a member. Her beloved hymn “Where Can I Turn for Peace? (#129) was included in the 1985 Hymns of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

With text by Emma Lou Thayne and music by Joleen G. Meredith, the hymn was actually created as part of their mutual calling as members of the Young Women’s General Board. The year was 1971 and there was to be a special Young Women’s Conference. Whatever song Thayne and Meredith created would be performed as the closing number. . . .

“We determined this was a mental illness hymn,” Meredith would go on to say when telling the story behind the hymn. “Emma…was struggling with the mental illness of a one of her daughters at the time this was written, and I was struggling myself personally with mental illness. And so we lovingly call it “The Mental Illness Hymn.””[1]