Earl, Don L. (Don Lee), 1917-1997

Don L. Earl (1917-1997) was a professor of music at Brigham Young University.

Don Lee Earl was born on August 19, 1917, to Ira Joseph and Ada Lovisa Leavitt Earl. He grew up in Las Vegas and served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Bern, Switzerland, before being transferred back to the United States with the outbreak of Word War II. During the war he served as a Navy flight instructor and a light bomber pilot. He married Ruth Lillian Moss on October 22, 1944, in Texas.

He graduated from Brigham Young University in music and received his PhD from Indiana University. He taught music and religion at BYU for 35 years. He conducted many choirs, operas, and symphonies, and ran the BYU Opera Workshop. He was the music director for the Utah Valley Opera in the late 1960's. He was a member of and served as president for the Provo branch of the American Federation of Musicians Union for twenty years. He was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served in several church positions.

Earl died on September 7, 1997, in Provo, Utah.

From the guide to the Don L. Earl papers, 1952-1978, (L. Tom Perry Special Collections)