Los Angeles
County
Biographies
LOIS ENID WILL
A
second generation Californian, Lois Enid Will is the music supervisor for the
Alhambra elementary schools, and has held that position since 1944. She came to Alhambra in 1939 as a traveling
teacher between Marguerita and Granada Elementary Schools, teaching seventh
grade academic subjects and upper grade music.
As music supervisor Miss Will started the instrument instruction program
which is now used in the elementary schools, and has expanded the music
teaching department. She also founded,
developed, and directed the Alhambra All City Chorus of boys and girls of the
fifth and sixth grades.
Miss
Will was born in San Mateo, California, on November 13, 1907. Her mother, Frances Helen (Redding) Will was
born in Nevada City, California, and her father, John August T. Will, a
butcher, was born in Germany; his great-uncle was Kapell
Meister to the court of Kaiser Wilhelm I.
Miss Will’s parents are both still living in Mentone, California, and on
October 16, 1961, celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary. Miss Will has one brother and one sister.
Lois
Enid Will attended grammar school in Kerman and Palmdale, both in California,
and high school in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Her organ concert work in high school began an excellent musical education
for Miss Will. She was auditioned for a
musical scholarship at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York,
accepted and sponsored by the local Civitan Club. At Eastman she received a Bachelor of Music
degree, majoring in the pipe organ, and a Master of Music degree, majoring in
musicology. She received extra training
and post graduate work at the University of Redlands, the University of
Southern California, and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio.
In
1927 Miss Will returned to California upon her graduation from the Eastman
School of Music and was organist and musical director for the First
Congregational Church and First Baptist Church in Corona. Immediately prior to coming to Alhambra in
1939, she spent three years as a special music teacher in the two elementary
schools in Baldwin Park. In addition to
her present position as music supervisor in Alhambra, Miss Will does musical
extension work in elementary school music education for the University of California
at Los Angeles, and is organist at the Michillinda
Presbyterian Church in Pasadena. She was
formerly church organist and musical director at the Marengo Avenue Methodist
Church and the First Church of Christ Scientist in Alhambra.
In
1945 Miss Will was given an honorary life membership in the Parent-Teachers’
Association of Granada Elementary School in Alhambra. In 1961 in recognition of her special work on
the Alhambra PTA Council’s music scholarship committee, the council gave her an
additional honor, the Nancy Pauline Turner Music Scholarship Fund Award. It is given only to life members of the
Parent-Teachers’ Association and is in the form of a grant of money given to a
music student in Miss Will’s name.
A life member of
the National Educational Association, Miss Will is also a member of the
American Guild of Organists and is affiliated with Delta Kappa Gamma sorority
and is a life member of Delta Omicron, a national honorary musical
sorority. She is past president of the
Alhambra Soroptimist Club and past musical chairman
of the Pacific region of Soroptimist Clubs. Past president of the Ramona District of
Campfire Girls, she is also past president of the Alhambra Musicians’ Club and
is currently president of the San Gabriel Valley Junior Symphony Orchestra
Patrons’ Association.
Miss
Will is interested in helping young people in music. She enjoys gardening and caring for her pets,
and is a collector of antique dishes, bells, and odd musical instruments. She has traveled widely in the United States.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Historical Volume & Reference Works Including Alhambra, Monterey Park,
Rosemead, San Gabriel & Temple City, by Robert P. Studer,
Pages 789-791, Historical Publ., Los Angeles, California. 1962.
© 2013 V. Gerald Iaquinta.
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