Grover Eddings

Biography

Grover Franklin Eddings, accomplished composer, music teacher, and father, passed away peacefully on March 4th, 2014 at the age of 81. He is now with his beloved wife, Josefin.

A fixture in Utah music circles for 60 years, Franklin Eddings brought the gift of music to thousands of piano, organ, and at one time, accordion students along the Wasatch Front. At least 35 of his top students were first place winners in statewide, BYU, and national performance competitions. He produced over 250 compositions and arrangements in his career, and was published by Warner Brothers Music. A favorite student of Tabernacle organist Dr. Alexander Schreiner, Franklin Eddings’ works have been performed by Mormon Tabernacle organists and shared with musicians all around the world.

Franklin Eddings was born on February 9, 1933 to Grover Cleveland and Phyllis Lofthouse Eddings. He grew up in Salt Lake City and attended West High school. He then attended the University of Utah where he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Arts and Master of Education. Franklin enlisted in the Army in 1952, serving in counter-intelligence. While on assignment in Europe, Franklin met Josefin Kriener, asking her for directions on a street corner in Vienna, Austria. After having lunch that one day, and exchanging letters for a year, Franklin returned to Austria to marry Josefin on December 18, 1956. The two departed for America starting their married life in Salt Lake City, Utah and ultimately in Bountiful, where they lived for 55 years and raised seven children. Their marriage was solemnized in the Salt Lake Temple on December 11, 1958.

Franklin Eddings has been a devoted member of the LDS Church all his life, a specialist in genealogy, and early in his career, an employee of the LDS Church Genealogy Department. Among other callings, he served in the Bishopric of the Bountiful 7th Ward as ward clerk for many years, as a stake missionary, and as a ward and stake organist. From his Bountiful studio he not only taught composition, improvisation, and every kind of music, he also ran his daily online news service. The “Eddings News Service,” featuring his hand-picked local and national news, has been reaching business professionals, musicians, friends and family all across the country for fifteen years. His music site, www.EDDINGSMUSIC.com continues to receive thousands of hits every month from musicians around the world.

Franklin is survived by seven children: Arnold (Debbie),Bountiful; Sonja Eddings Brown (Lowell), Los Angeles, CA; Eric (Julie), Centerville; Roy, Logan; Calvin (Kristene), Bountiful; Xiomara, Atlanta, GA; Mark (Sarajane), Knoxville, TN; and his brother Alan Eddings (Valerie), Las Vegas, NV. He was preceded in death by his wife Josefin Kreiner, who suffered a stroke in December of 2013.

Friends, students, and colleagues may share memories or contact the family at eddings@xmission.com. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Perpetual Education Fund for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (www.ldsphilanthropies.org). A memorial service for Franklin Eddings will be held on Saturday, March 15th at 11am, at the LDS Chapel at 1250 South Main, Bountiful, Utah. Friends, students and their families are especially welcome.

Funeral Service

Saturday March 15, 2014, 11:00 at LDS Chapel
Click for Map and Directions

A memorial service for Franklin Eddings will be held on Saturday, March 15th at 11am, at the LDS Chapel at 1250 South Main, Bountiful, Utah.