Ora Pate Stewart (1910-1990) - Find a Grave Memorial

Author. She was a 20th-century author, composer, lecturer, and entertainer who was recognized as Composer of the Year in 1982, which was the first-ever presentation of this award. She wrote twenty-nine books, some including "Pages from the Book of Eve," "Branches Over the Wall," "God Planted a Tree," "A Letter to My Son," and "A Letter to My Daughter." Many of her novels were best-sellers, and the book "Gleanings" was honored by a New York publishers' organization as the "Best Poetry Book in the Nation." A member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she graduated from Brigham Young University. While giving music lessons at the Long Island Conservatory of Music, she met her husband, Robert, a United States Air Force career man. They married on October 13, 1935 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and were deployed around the world during his 38-year military career. Upon his retirement, Stewart and her husband served two LDS missions, to England and Michigan. The couple had four sons and two daughters, and she placed second in the California "Mother of the Year" competition. The couple had a daughter, their seventh child, who died shortly after birth. She continued to teach music and give lectures, including at Oxford University in England. As a composer, her religious piece, "To a Child," was published in seventeen languages and sold over 1 million copies. Besides her religious pieces, she composed symphonic works, choral arrangements, and pop and children's music. Among her many accolades, U.S. presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson honored her for her many accomplishments. In 1982, the year she was named Composer of the Year, the World Congress of Poetry named her poet laureate. She died of heart failure.

Bio by: Linda Davis