In 1897, a Swiss teenager left her family and came penniless and alone to Utah. As Elise Furer stood on the train platform in Salt Lake City at four o'clock on a dark winter morning, she watched the other immigrants go home with friends and family -- until she was alone on the platform.

At that moment, no one could have predicted that this lone girl -- who had joined the LDS church against her family's wishes -- would have a large influence on the social and political landscape. The issues she was passionate about have particular resonance for us today.

Young Elise had spunk, ambition, and the ability to make her own way. She worked as a governess, and she went to business college, "because I thought I could better myself a little."

All through her life, she made it a point to "better herself a little." Because of this, she showed that preparation plus opportunity really can be powerful. "I have always felt that if one is prepared, there will be places to be useful," she said.

So when she and her new husband, Burton Musser (the "sweetest, most lovable young man that ever was"), moved to Washington, D.C., she attended classes and lectures and paid attention to politics. Later, in Salt Lake, she went back to school.

One fateful day, she was invited to join the board of the Neighborhood House, an organization that served immigrant parents and children. There, she organized volunteers to care for the children of working mothers. She helped people find jobs. Perhaps most important, she helped the new immigrants -- especially women -- gain confidence and initiative to "better themselves a little."

Her work expanded during the Great Depression. Always she was growing in her understanding and skills.

In the 1920s opportunity had met preparation again. After she gave a paper on Russia to a women's group, a member of that group praised the paper to Gov. George Henry Dern's wife. Charlotte Dern asked Elise to present the paper to the Democratic Women's Club. And a little later, she asked Elise to be chairwoman the State Democratic Women.

"I laughed because I had never thought of doing anything of the kind," Elise remembered. It didn't matter; life had led her here. She threw herself into the job. She "was sincerely interested in accomplishing something."

Next, she ran for the state senate and won, paving the way for other women. She went to the national Democratic Convention in 1924. She kept learning. And accomplishing. She introduced and pushed through Utah's first child-labor law.

"It is strange," she wrote, "how things that seem not too important at the time sometimes turn out to be really crucial." For instance, she became friends with a friend of Franklin Roosevelt. This friend told FDR about Elise's language skills. It also helped that Gov. Dern, who had become Secretary of War, praised her to FDR as "the most brilliant woman in Utah."

So she became one of 14 women to advise the Democratic Platform Committee, and Roosevelt asked her to attend the international peace conference in Buenos Aires in 1936 -- as the lone woman on the delegation. In 1938 she represented the United States at the International Conference of American States in Lima.

She continued this peace work, continued in politics, became a Unitarian, acted as "a combination of mother-confessor, guardian angel, friend, and trouble-shooter" for immigrants and underprivileged people, entertained countless groups and dignitaries, advised students, worked for war relief for Europe, championed the cause of refugees, served on the national board of the YWCA and board of trustees of the Utah Agricultural College and much more.

It's kind of exhausting just to list her work.

The bottom line: Elise Furer Musser kept improving herself, and she was "sincerely interested in accomplishing something." So she was able to take advantage of the opportunities that came her way. Such a person can't help but change the world.

Kristen Rogers-Iversen can be reached at kristenri@yahoo.com