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Edgar Toot Williams (1889-1978) was born in Emery, Utah, to a musically trained mother and a cattle-ranching father. After initially rejecting music, he grew to love it. He enrolled at Brigham Young Academy in Provo in 1909 after finishing eighth grade. Following a near-fatal ruptured appendix in 1913, his doctor advised him not to return to farm work, so he began teaching summer music school in Cleveland to finance his education. He married Udella Killpack, a fellow musician, in 1913. Williams began his formal career as the first band teacher at Morgan High in 1918, where he successfully built a program from scratch. In 1923, he accepted a position to teach music at Carbon County High School in Price, a larger school with an increased salary, after receiving a surprise call from the Superintendent of Schools of Carbon County. At Carbon County High, he once again built a program from the ground up, starting with only nine students and inadequate instruments. By 1930, his 44 well-trained students won the Western Colorado Regional Band Contest, beating larger, more experienced bands. Price, Utah, hosted state marching band competitions for several years in the mid-1930s under his leadership. The Carbon County High School Band was invited to perform at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933, and the community raised $5,800 (or $142,000 USD in 2025) to send over 80 students, where they earned top honors. Williams taught in Carbon County for thirty years. He described the decision to move to Price as a wise one, noting that he attained the highest achievements of his career there and that his family grew and thrived. He and Udella later moved to Clarkston, Washington, where they continued to teach music privately into their eighties. |
