Happy Birthday J. Spencer Cornwall

J. Spencer Cornwall, dad's grandpa, was born on February 23, 1888.  He was featured in the October 1984 Friend Magazine as part of a Sharing Time.  Check out the link.  Thought you would enjoy his passion for music which started at a young age.

When Spencer Cornwall was only four years old, he learned to play music on a pump organ. He couldn’t reach the pedals, so his brother pumped them for him. Spencer was so eager to learn that he would have a lesson in the morning, practice in the afternoon, and then go running back the next morning for another lesson.

When Brother Cornwall was older and had become an accomplished musician, he became music supervisor of the Salt Lake School District and then later the Granite School District. He also directed the Tabernacle Choir for twenty-three years. He thought making music was a wonderful reason for people to get together. He said, “My greatest pleasure was in teaching children to learn to sing and to discover the joy of making their own music.” Music was his life, and he was still composing when he was ninety-five years old.

When the song book, The Children Sing was being compiled, there was a need for songs with specific Mormon themes. The compilers contacted Rose Thomas Graham, a poet, for possible texts. “The Golden Plates” was selected from a collection of her poems. Brother Cornwall was asked to write music for her words.