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Show Former residents to celebrate golden wedding in California A number of Springville people peo-ple will be on hand to help Vern and Cora Thorn Bird of Los Angeles, celebrate their golden wedding, Saturday, September Sep-tember 9, when Cora's brother Richard H. Thorn land wife, entertain at an open house for them at their home in Glen- dale, Calif. Well-known former residents j and both natives of Spring-J Spring-J ville, Mr. and Mrs. Bird have lived in California most of their married life. Their home has always been open to friends and relatives who have visited them often, and not having ! children of their own, they . have helped a number of nieces ! and nephews in various ways to further their education. i Both Mr. and Mrs. Bird are graduates of Springville high school where Cora was prominent promi-nent in music events. Vern continued con-tinued his education at the i USU, Logan, majoring in forestry. for-estry. After his graduation, he took post graduate work in the east. They were married Sept. 6, 1917. He is a veteran of World i War I and while he was away, Cora who completed schooling at the University of Utah, taught school in Idaho. They i lived in Idaho for a time be- fore moving to California, j Mr. Bird is an elder in the j LDS Church. He is a son of Amasa C. and Mary Louise Whitehead Bird and Cora's parents were the late Joseph and Eliza Johnson Thorn, all early Springville residents. She began her music career at an early age in Springville and has continued through the years on the coast doing work in radio and motion pictures. Her voice has often been dubbed dub-bed in for stars without singing sing-ing voices. A protege of Sid Graham, she has had experience in his theater and also appeared in Los Angeles light opera and in lead roles on the Shrine Auditorium Audi-torium stage and Hollywood Bowl. Many here will remember when she appeared as soprano soloist in the Messiah in Salt Lake City and when she represented repre-sented Utah in the National Federation of Music clubs competition com-petition in Chicago and when she appeared in Springville art programs. She entertained veterans in hospitals during World War II and sang at the dedication of the California Wilshire ward chapel of which they are members. mem-bers. Her talent is in demand for numerous fund raising events, funerals and programs to which she always graciously responds. One of the thrilling events in her life came in October 1963 when she received the Heritage Award, presented annually an-nually to a former Utah Woman Wo-man now in California, by the California-Utah Women's organization. or-ganization. It was in recognition recogni-tion of the contributions she has made in the world of music mu-sic and came as a surprise to her. Members of her family planning plan-ning to attend the open house from Utah are Paul and Madge Thorn of Orem; Samantha Finch and Eliza Bringhurst of Salt Lake; Maude Erdman, Midvale; Jennie Sanford and Nettie Thorn and Grant and Naomi Thorn of Springville. |