Memorials › Gordon Bliss Childs
Gordon Bliss Childs
22 Oct 1927 – 2 May 2023
| Birth | 22 Oct 1927 |
| Death | 2 May 2023 |
| Cemetery | Orem City Cemetery Orem , Utah County , Utah , USA |
| Added by | Annie Duckett Hundley on 07 May 2023 |
| FaG | https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/253289040 |
Gravesite details
Interment 15 May 2023
Bio
Gordon Bliss Childs 1927 - 2023 Gordon Bliss Childs passed away in Orem, Utah, on May 2, 2023, surrounded by his loved ones. Gordon was born in Springville, Utah, on October 22, 1927, to Eleanor Prows Childs and Bliss Gudmundson Childs. Gordon devoted his entire career to music. He graduated from Brigham Young University with a master's degree in music in 1953. He received a doctorate in music education from the University of Montana in 1976. Gordon played the violin, viola, and viola d'amore and performed in hundreds of concerts and other musical events, either as a soloist, as part of a small ensemble, as a member of an orchestra, or as an orchestra conductor. In the 1950s, he taught high school orchestras in Milford, Utah; Pocatello, Idaho; and Missoula, Montana. While he was in Missoula, he also taught music at the University of Montana. In the 1960s and 1970s, Gordon was a music professor at Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado. In the 1980s he was a music professor at the University of Wyoming. After retiring to Orem, Utah, in 1993, Gordon was the conductor of the American Fork Symphony from 1994 to 2002. He then became an assistant conductor of the New Horizons Orchestra sponsored by Brigham Young University from 2002 to 2020. The New Horizons Orchestra is for older adults, both those with no musical experience and those who played in school music programs, who want to play a stringed instrument. Gordon was also a world-renowned expert on the viola d'amore, a viola-like instrument with fourteen strings that was popular in the 17th and 18th centuries and is still played today. He was a member of the International Viola d'amore Society and was active in the congresses of that society both in the United States and in Europe. He hosted two of those congresses in Utah. Gordon married his sweetheart, Elaine Finlayson, on March 1, 1951. She passed away in 2012. Gordon is survived by four siblings: Douglas Childs (Karma), Gerry Childs (Colleen), Diane Chipman, and Jane Schofield; his two children, Larry Childs (Geniel) and Leslie Wilson (Howard); his five grandchildren, their spouses, and his eighteen great-grandchildren. Gordon loved God and was a member of the House of Aaron. His kindness and generosity to those in need was a hallmark of his life. Services: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Chapel Location: 620 Heather Road, Orem, Utah Interment: Orem City Cemetery — Walker Sanderson Funeral Home | 2023
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Married Mar. 1, 1951 Children: Larry Gordon & Leslie Elaine
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