Background
Wheelwright was the son of David S. Wheelwright and Valborg Rasmussen. His mother was an immigrant from Denmark.
assistant composer educator head instructor president professor
Wheelwright was the son of David S. Wheelwright and Valborg Rasmussen. His mother was an immigrant from Denmark.
Wheelwright studied under Edward P. Kimball and Alexander Schreiner at the University of Utah. He then studied at Columbia University and the Juilliard School of Music. He received a master"s degree from the University of Chicago and a Doctor of Philosophy from Columbia University.
Valborg Rasmussen Wheelwright was a graduate of Ellis Shipp"s School of Obstetrics. Valborg Wheelwright was active in the Republican Party and ran unsuccessfully for the Utah State legislature. He was raised in a Latter-day Saint home where hymn singing was common.
He had begun his musical studies at the McCune School of Music.
Wheelwright succeeded J. Spencer Cornwall as the head of music education for the Salt Lake Public Schools. He also taught at Oswego Teachers College in New New York
He was a professor at the Branch Agricultural College (now Southern Utah University) starting in 1933. Foreign a time he served as the head of the Coordinating Council of Higher Education of Utah.
Wheelwright was involved in printing.
He founded Pioneer Music Press in 1938. He remained president of that press until 1978. He was also the founding president of the Printing Industries of Utah in 1950.
Wheelwright Press was mainly involved in publishing college and high school year books
Wheelwright served as president of the National Yearbook Association for some of the 1960s. Wheelwright was also for a time president of a Brigham Young University stake.
In 1967, Wheelwright became the dean of the Brigham Young University College of Fine Arts and Communications (Brigham Young University). In 1973, he was succeeded by Lael J. Woodbury as the dean and was made a special assistant to Brigham Young University President Dallin H. Oaks.
He remained as assistant to Oaks until 1976.
He also served as chairman of Brigham Young University"s centennial celebration. Among the hymns that Wheelwright wrote are "O Love That Glorifies the Son", "Help Maine Teach With Inspiration" and "Oh, May My Soul Commune with Thee". Wheelwright wrote the words and music of the two-part Christmas anthem "Star Bright" (Estrella de Luz) with words in English and Spanish, and accompaniment for guitar and keyboard.
Wheelwright also wrote "Mother I Love You", a song in the Primary Children"s Songbook.
He also edited and published an autobiography of his mother. Wheelwright was married to the former Ila Eugenia Spilsbury, and they were the parents of four children.