Hinckley Blog

The legendary Jay Welch passed away on Sunday, and his funeral was held today at the Bonneville Stake Center. Brother Welch was a professor of music at the University of Utah, led the Jay Welch Chorale, the Mormon Youth Symphony and Chorus, and for 17-plus years was associated with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir as organist, assistant conductor, and conductor. His family estimates that he either taught or conducted over 50,000 different people in the course of his career. He was a member of the Yale Ward for many years. The Bonneville Strings occasionally performs one of his compositions, "Pavane", in the prelude for stake conference. The Bonneville Stake Choir and Strings also use some of his arrangements.

Needless to say, the music at the funeral was incredible. A granddaughter played "Redard Variations", composed by Jay while a young missionary in Switzerland (then part of the Paris France Mission). The Redards were a family he taught and baptized, the the piece is essentially a series of variations on Chopsticks which the young Elder Welch would improvise on the Redard's piano as Sister Redard was preparing dinner. Quite incredible, really. This was a kid who graduated at age 19 from UCLA in math with a minor in music and was class valedictorian. He stayed in Paris after his mission to study at the Paris Conservatory.

But the main music was provided by members of the Tabernacle Choir with Mack Wilberg conducting and Richard Elliott at the organ. I love it when the Tabernacle Choir performs at the Bonneville Stake Center! And what made it even more fun was the gathering of past directors of the Choir. Donald Ripplinger (also my chorus teacher at Skyline High School),Gerald Ottley (from East Millcreek), and Craig Jessop were all in attendance. It was a great reunion of every living Choir director!

JT, Lizzie, and Jackson Pollock

The Lesan Family

QEII

Matthew Bryant Lesan

Because you asked for more photos:

12 September 2008
7 lbs 4 0z
19"

Early this summer Kathleen set a goal to sell the Avalon in August (before it had 50,000 miles), so we have been researching options for several weeks. Not wanting to offend Al Gore - and under the duress of $4/gallon gasoline - fuel efficiency was an important criteria. The Toyota Prius is, of course, the category king here, but it is also a compact car and we wanted something where we could take the grandparents in back seat down to Steve's cabin, etc. And not only were Prius' very hard to find (Mark Miller Toyota does not even have a demo to drive, and their waiting list is about six months; used models are virtually unheard of), they sell for a premium that is hard to justify.

So we began looking at other options, and came across the Camry Hybrid. Although one category smaller than the Avalon, it is considerably more roomy than most of the high fuel efficiency cars we could find (which are, in fact, tiny). The premium for Hybrid on a Camry is relatively small (compared to the very large premium for a Prius over a similarly-sized Corolla). And it avoids making a pro-Gore statement while still allowing one to do his part for the environment.

Being a whiz at the Internet (with her new green laptop), Mom finally found a viable candidate: a metallic silver 2008 Camry Hybrid with - get this - less than 1500 miles on it. That's right, 15 hundred miles. The car was owned very briefly by a man whose wife contracted an eye disease and can no longer drive - they traded in a Honda mini-van and this new Camry for a single Acura. The Camry is fully loaded: leather seats, sunroof, navigation system, remote entry, Homelink, you-name-it.

So after the priesthood leadership meeting this morning (part of our 73-stake conference), she convinced me to go down to Jody Wilkinson Acura and take a look.

The sales rep Mom had dealt with on the telephone was James Taylor - not that James Taylor, but a very nice, clean-cut guy about 30. Grammie would have immediately pegged him as being honest. We asked him to have his used car buyer give us a trade-in value on the Avalon, and when he saw our address he was dumbfounded: his parents are the Taylors at 1458 Harvard (next to the Plumb's)! He grew up in the neighborhood, and recently sold his condo and is living temporarily with his parents while he looks for a new house.

It was meant to be. We drove home a beautiful 2008 silver Camry Hybrid, listening in wonder to the silence at every stop sign, and somewhat smug in the knowledge that we had actually purchased a (nearly) new Hybrid below MSRP! Spencer helped us get Mom's cell phone connected to the built-in Bluetooth, and now all we argue about is who gets to drive.

As you know, we acquired a wonderful Veloy Eaton painting of Cove Fort, but to make it look right in the dining room, we really needed to repaint the walls. One step leads to another and we are now living in a construction camp where everything is coated with a layer of fine, white dust. While the mud crew was working patching holes in the dining room, kitchen, basement, and Lizzie's old bedroom, the painting crew has busied themselves painting the exterior of the house. Meanwhile, the kitchen is closed, the dining room furniture has been divided between the living room and the garage, and Lizzie's bedroom furniture has been divided between the landing and our bedroom.