Annette R. Dinwoodey papers, 1899-2007

Annette Richardson Dinwoodey was born on February 17, 1906 in Farmington, Utah, to Alamanda Bradford (1847-1921) and Reverend Linnie Gregory Richardson (1874-1955). An accomplished contralto, and although she never went to college, Dinwoodey won several music scholarships, including ones to Northwestern University and to Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music. She studied under Edna Evans Johnson, Adria Brunati, and Emma Lucy Gates.

In 1928, Annette Richardson married Clinton Mills Dinwoodey (1901-1997) in the Salt Lake City Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They had two children, Anna Lou Jenkins (1930-2004), and James C. Dinwoodey (1936-1994). Clinton Dinwoodey was an executive for Continental Oil, and through his position the family traveled from Houston to New York, to London. Annette Dinwoodey continued performing after her marriage, singing in venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall, and the Salt Lake City Tabernacle. During her life, Dinwoodey serenaded the departing troops in World War II, sang for KSL radio (1930-1945), with the Utah Symphony, and was also the artistic director of the Oratorio Society for many years. She sang Handel's Messiah, Mendelssohn'sElijah, and in 1938, performedHansel and Gretelwith her daughter, Anna Lou Dinwoodey. Professionally, Dinwoodey worked with Dr. Otto Klemperer, Pablo Casals, Maurice Abravanel, Alfred Greenfield, Uri Mayer, and Leopold Stokowski, and was friends with pianist Grant Johannsen.

Annette Dinwoodey was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Through her faith, she became a genealogist and discovered that she was a distant relative of Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate States Army. Dinwoodey wrote a book about her family genealogy titled "Our Virginia and Tennessee Paternal Ancestors: Richardson, Lee, Teel, Martin, Caffery, and Warren."

Annette Richardson Dinwoodey died on January 21, 2007, a month shy of her 101st birthday.