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Epitaph on a Wife
Here lies my wife
Semanthia Proctor
She had a cold
And wouldn’t doctor
She couldn’t stay
She had to go
Praise God from whom
All blessings flow.
This song was completed November 15, 1957 and "is the earliest of seven epitaphs...set to music between 1957 and 1960" (Hundley, 1985). It is included in Boosey and Hawkes collection of Four Songs (1981). It is dedicated to Leslie Meadows, a baritone and teacher of voice in Wichita, Kansas. Epitaph on a Wife was premiered by bass Peter Sliker and pianist Robert Guralnik in 1961.
--Esther Jane Hardenbergh
Epitaph on a Wife
Here lies my wife
Semanthia Proctor
She had a cold
And wouldn’t doctor
She couldn’t stay
She had to go
Praise God from whom
All blessings flow.