Helen Talmage Parry
October 24, 1902 - 1991
I’ll Walk the Way With Beauty
In a box of filigree
I shall treasure carefully
The beauty and the loveliness of earth.
Safe within my box I’ll hold
pink of dawn, glint of gold
And waters stirred by
winds to sudden mirth.
Then in some far future year
when I’ve grown old, my dear
And life has slipped into a groove of duty
I shall open wide my box,
Spilling all my treasured thoughts
And once again
I’ll walk the way with beauty.
Beauty was a way of Life for Her These are her words and they describe in part the character and quest of Helen Parry. Beauty was a way of life with her, flavored with a sometimes sparkling, sometimes wry sense of humor. She made her home and surroundings comfortable and pleasant to see. She delighted in bringing joy and happiness into the lives of others with her generosity and hospitality. And she knew just how to do it.
Seventh child of James E. Talmage Born October 24, 1902, in Salt Lake City, Utah, she was the fourth daughter and seventh child of Dr. James E. Talmage and Merry May Booth. He was an Apostle in the L.D.S. Church, author, instructor and a president of the University of Utah. A gentle advisor to those who sought insight into the principles of the LDS Church. Helen’s education included the Salt Lake City school system, Brigham Young University, Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, and the University of Utah.
To Europe and Back She accompanied her father and mother when Dr. Talmage was appointed president and presiding church official of the L.D.S. Mission in England in the early 1920’s. During that time she toured the continent with two friends, Gertrude and Virginia. In response to several urgent requests from her fiancé, Roland, she then left the mission home and sailed across the Atlantic, then by train to Salt Lake City before her parents returned.
Marriage, Children and Writing She married Roland C. Parry on April 2, 1925 Most of the rest of her life was spent in Ogden then later in Odgen Canyon, Utah. She raised two children, Gloria and James. In quiet moments she wrote lilting lyrics there by the rushing Ogden River and among the Rocky Mountains.
She wrote sonnets and poetry. There is a book of her poems, “Helen” including selected letters to her from her father. She collaborated as lyricist with her husband, Roland Parry, and wrote the words to most of the songs in “All Faces West”, the great music drama which was a story of many treks across the plains in covered wagons, hand carts, and on foot, by the Mormon Pioneers. Sometimes Roland would write the music and she would find words to fit, but usually the words came first, then the music. It was a productive and joyful union, and the world is better for its existence.
Roland C. Parry
1897 - 1976
Musician, Composer and Teacher
Roland Parry, musician and composer of a wide variety of music forms and professor of music at what is now Weber State University, was born in 1897 in Ogden, Utah.
He attended the University of Utah, and then was called for four years to New Zealand as an L.D.S.. missionary. While there, the urge to create and arrange new music became very strong, and that urge never left him.
Returning home from his mission, he met Helen Talmage, daughter of James E. Talmage, and they were soon married. He obtained his Master of Arts Degree from Brigham Young University and became a teacher at Weber State College in 1930.
Teaching and Composing while at Weber
Roland Parry pioneered the development of a music department at Weber As the school expanded, and when several other capable musicians joined the faculty, Mr. Parry left his administrative position and became a full time composer and teacher.
A Child is Born
His oratorio, A CHILD IS BORN began to take shape in those early years. It was a different texture of music---seven choirs placed distantly apart from the stage, from the balcony, from the sides of the auditorium, and from the orchestra pit, each unit singing its unique arrangement.
University of Southern California and then Columbia
A year of intensive study was spent at the University of Southern California, then two years of special postgraduate work at Columbia University. During this time he attended every professional performance he could, sharpening his composition and voice knowledge and musical skills. He became a full professor in 1960, and membership in the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) was earned that year.
Musical Accomplishments
There has been a consistent flow of compositions throughout the years---more than one hundred songs of wide variety, three musical comedies, two cantatas, two overtures, one symphony, and the two major productions:
A CHILD IS BORN has been presented more than fifty times throughout northern Utah.
ALL FACES WEST has been presented forty-seven times in Utah.
David O. McKay, President of the L. D. S. Church when ALL FACES WEST was being performed, saw the show in 1959. He was so taken with it that he made arrangements to have Roland return to Hastings, New Zealand, where Roland went on his Mission, with Helen. Igor Gorin played the part of Brigham Young as he had done in Utah.
Gorin and a New Zealand cast performed the show nine times, under the direction of Mr. Parry. He and James Elkington translated several Parry songs to the Maori language.
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