Blanche Whitaker - Bell #10 - Missoula, MT
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T0SHEA
N 46° 51.604 W 113° 59.035
12T E 272560 N 5193937
This plaque was placed to indicate that Bell Number 10 in the John C. Ellis Carillon Tower at the University of Montana has been dedicated to the memory of Blanche Whitaker.
Waymark Code: WMKW80
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 06/02/2014
Views: 1
The Plaque:
Bell 10, E
Presented by Winifred Whitaker Galusha
and Hugh Duncan Galusha, Sr.,
In Memory Of Their Mother
Blanche Whitaker
Head of the Music Department 1896 - 1910
Mrs. Blanche Whitaker
(1856-1941)
Mrs. Whitaker is remembered as a small, energetic, and very musical woman with a brilliant mind and a forceful personality. She and her husband and family came to Missoula in the 1890s and took up a homestead on Miller Creek, near Missoula. Mr. Whitaker, an artist and designer of fine furniture, died soon thereafter, and Mrs. Whitaker and her twelve children moved to a home on Pine Street in 1894. Many other prominent pioneers of Missoula also lived on this street. The Whitakers had previously made their home in England, and were probably influenced to come to Montana by publicity aimed at settling the West. Such publicity was circulated by the railroads at that time. Soon after arriving in Missoula, Mrs. Whitaker began making house to house calls with her horse and buggy to give piano lessons.
Mrs. Whitaker was a well-trained musician. She was reared in England by her grandfather, educated in private schools there, and held the degree of Associate in Arts from Oxford University. She studied music with Dr. Cedric Bucknall and Edward Roeckel, and had many years of successful teaching experience in England and in the United States.
There is a dedication plaque for each of the 47 bells of the carillon in the alcove of the main entrance of University Hall, the oldest building on campus.
The carillon tower, built in 1897, was dedicated to John Ellis, music professor and carillonneur of the university, after his death in 1992. Originally simply a bell tower, it became a carillon tower when the donated carillon bells were installed. It was dedicated on October 18th, 1953. It contains 47 bells, covering four octaves, all of which were donated by friends of the university. The nine ton carillon is played from the clavier below. It was played for 23 years by carillonneur John C. Ellis, from 1969 to 1992.
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