Biography

Lenn Minnerly Shumway was born September 19, 1924 in Taylor, Navajo County, Arizona.  My parents were Charles ‘L’ Shumway and Julia Myrtle Jennings.  I grew up on a farm witnessing the transition from horse-drawn machinery to tractors.  I attended Taylor Elementary School, Snowflake High School and graduate from BYU, later receiving a Master’s Degree there.  I filled a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  My wife Carmen and I have also served mission in Oregon and Nauvoo, Illinois.

On August 26, 1957 I married Carmen Pratt in the Salt Lake Temple.  We have six living children:  Gayle married to Jim Bryce, Lee married to Becky Crockett, Elaine married to Tim Brantley, Brenda married to Mary Lyman, Kendall married to Tiffany Larson and Sandra married to Doug Greer.  We have 29 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren.  We reside on Harmony Lane in Taylor, Arizona.

I spent 36 years as a music teacher in Thatcher and Snowflake, Arizona and in Apia, Western Samoa.  I taught vocal and instrumental music.  A highlight of my teaching career was a three-year term at the Church College of Western Samoa from June 1967 to June 1970.  This was a leisurely life in a South Pacific paradise.  The people are loving and musically talented.  It was in Samoa that I was called as a Stake Patriarch by Thomas S. Monson. 

My community service has mainly been in music.  I have conducted the Jennings band for a unique 4^th of July celebration in Taylor for the past 50 years.  I also conducted the Silver Creek Community Symphony.

I served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.  Nineteen months of this were spent on a cargo ship in the Pacific Theatre.  I visited many of the Pacific Islands.  I was with the invasion armada in the Philippines, Okinawa and also the occupation of Japan.  Favorite memories include childhood days in Taylor, peaceful and unhurried life in Samoa and the wonderful years with Carmen and our children.

As I have traveled in many parts of the world I have marveled at the great beauty of God’s creations.  Heavenly Father is a great landscape architect.  Visits to Canada, Mexico, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Korea, and the South Pacific have all made lasting impressions.  My life now is busy with arranging music, community service, reading and gardening.  What a blessing to be on the earth at this time and to have been touched by music.

Music

Music has always been part of my life.  I remember singing a duet for a First Grade program.  My mother was a musician.  My sister was a concert pianist.  In high school I took every music class available.  I began my college career at BYU by joining the band.  World War II changed my course for a few years.  I played in the midshipman band while training for four months at Columbia University.  After the war I went back to college and finished my junior year in Civil Engineering.  Something made me decide that I needed to be involved in music as my lifetime work.  I went back to BYU and started over.  I received a BA degree in 1953 and an MA in 1957.

My teaching career has been in the Elementary, Junior High and High School, mostly in the instrumental area.  As a band director I wrote dozens of arrangements for half time performances at foot ball games.  I have created special arrangements for church and community functions.  I was the director and also arranged music for the Silver Creek Symphony.

My first hymn arrangement for piano was O Home Beloved.  It had been in my mind for several years before I put it on paper, even before I pursued a music degree.  

The first and last four measures for Love at Home were written as part of a composition called the ‘Family Circle’ in which I composed a song for my wife and each of my children.  It was completed when our 20-month-old son died and I wrote the rest for his funeral.  

I started directing the Jennings Band in 1953.  I have been gone from Taylor six of the ensuing years so in 2009 I will complete 50 years of  directing and arranging music for the  band which plays every year during  Taylor’s 4^th of July Celebration.  

I directed the Pitt Brass band in Nauvoo, Illinois for 20 months and arranged most of the music we played.

Most of the rest of my arrangements were written at the request of my daughter Gayle Bryce, who is an accomplished musician.  She played and recorded my arrangements for your listening pleasure.  

Pianists have asked for copies of my arrangements.  I decided to make them available at no cost with the hope that you will feel the emotion in playing that I have in arranging.