Clara McMaster
"Clara Elizabeth Watkins McMaster was born at Beaver Dam, Box Elder County, Utah, the youngest of eleven children. Music played an important part in her early life - her talented parents and family shared many musical experiences with her. She sang in the Tabernacle Choir for twenty-three years and served as a member of the Primary General Board for fourteen years. Over a period of more than sixty years, she and her husband, J. Stuart McMaster, sang thousands of duets before church and community gatherings. In 1978 they were presented with the Franklin S. Harris Fine Arts Award from Brigham Young University in recognition of their service. They are the parents of four children. She has maintained a lifelong interest in children's music, and her songs are well known to Latter-day Saint children."
Source for photo and biography: Clara McMaster. Sing a Happy Song: Beloved Children’s Favorites. Bountiful, Utah: Horizon Publishers and Distributors, 1992.
Clara and her family lived at 1420 East Kensington Avenue from 1935 until she passed away on March 18, 1997.
Following are two interviews with eldest child, Diane McMaster McCoun, who shares memories of her mother and the composition of some of her well-known children’s songs. A summary and index file is available for each interview and may be accessed by clicking the link.
Note: This is the second interview with Diane. Go to her page in the Oral History Project section of this website for Interview 001.
Interviews
Access the Summary and Index file for this interview
Access the Summary and Index file for this interview
Additional Content
Here are links to some of the Children's somge written by Clara McMaster. To listen to the words with music, after accessing the link, click "Audio" and select "Words and Music"
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Documents
Here's a pdf file of a newspaper article profiling some of the contributions Clara made to the Salt Lake Community. Click the article title to open it.
Talent Makes Friends (document provided by Brent McMaster)
Photos
Here's an image of Clara and her husband Stuart. (Photo provided by Brent McMaster)
