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Show Nettie Grimes Gregory She cared about people of every race and creed. Born August 5, 1890, in Jackson, Tennessee, to Fosh Elliott and Ann Elizabeth Copeland Grimes, Nettie was a teacher and an accomplished musi-cian who had never ventured outside her native state until her marriage in 1914 to William Gregory. Also a native Tennessean, he had taken up permanent residence in Salt Lake City in 1913 as a railroad employee and had wooed Nettie by mail. The couple had two sons and two daughters. Nettie Gregory devo fed her life to helping others. Nettie Gregory quickly adapted to life in Utah and sought to make herself useful to the communi-ty. She was especially concerned about the lack of wholesome recreation for young people living on the city's west side. She and her husband began some activities at the Calvary Baptist Church but found that the number of young people wanting to participate exceeded the capacity of the church's facilities. The answer was obvious to the Gregorys. Their neighborhood needed its own building with adequate space for a variety of com-munity activities, including weddings, socials, and youth programs. William Gregory donated a small parcel of land, and according to Deseret News reporter Rose Mary Pederson, Nettie Gregory " recruited black women belonging to the Salt Lake Community Club and the Nimble Thimble Club to act as leaders in the fund- raising drive. " They held dinners, bake sales, and bazaars. In 1959 construction of the first civic building in Salt Lake City built by African Americans began. The project required 5 years to complete, but the idea had been in Nettie's heart for almost 20 years. At the building's dedication in November 1964 Gov. George D. Clyde was among the dignitaries present. Los Angeles educator James Laster spoke on the need to improve neighborhoods everywhere and for a larger " community of parents" to sup-port and guide children. Although Nettie had died of a stroke on July 6, 1964, those preparing to use the building recog-nized her by naming the new structure at 742 West South Temple the Nettie Gregory Center. The needs of African American youth had spurred the drive to build it, but the Gregorys always envi-sioned it as a place where people of all races and creeds would be welcome. In the words of William Gregory: " My wife and I always felt that there should be complete equality there. . . we wanted the center to serve everyone. ' ' Otto Abels Harbach He became one of the most famous lyricists of the Broadway stage. Music came into Otto Harbach's life at an early age. One of his first memories was of his mother's singing. Later, when his brothers started a small orchestra, he learned to play his father's violin and joined them. He was born in Salt Lake City on August 18, 1873, to Danish immigrant parents Adolph Hauer-bach and Sena Olsen. ( As a young man Otto dropped the u and e from his surname to " simplify matters. ") He studied at the Salt Lake Collegiate Institute ( Westminster College), where one of his classmates was the future actress Maude Adams. Encouraged by the institute principal to enroll in Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, Harbach secured his train fare by agreeing to chaperone a shipment of sheep to Omaha. Following that adventure he had to throw away his suit because it had become " too sheepish," he said. His associa-tion with livestock was not over, however, for he tended farm animals to earn board and room. After graduating from Knox in 1895 Harbach taught at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash-ington, while earning a master's degree from Knox. In 1901 he moved to New York to attend Columbia University. He wanted to become a col-lege English professor, but when eye problems interfered with the required heavy reading he began a career in advertising. He also started to write plays. " No honest effort is wasted, " he said, recalling the eight years he spent working on a play that was never produced but which led to his first job- rewriting a play for a Broadway producer. From 1907 through 1936 Harbach wrote some 40 musicals, including No! No! Nanette, Rose Marie, and Desert Song. He also wrote 7 plays without music, including the popular farce Up in Mabel's Room. Leading composers of the day- Rudolf Friml , Vincent Youmans, Jerome Kern, Sigmund Romberg, and others- set Har-bach's lyrics to music. Among the more than |
