Carolee Curtis Green

Our beloved mother, grandmother, sister, composer, artist and friend joined her loved ones on the other side of the veil early in the morning on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, surrounded by her children, after a long and faithful journey in mortality. She turned 85 years old just three days before her passing. Carolee was known all over the world as the composer of the hymn “Awake and Arise” which became one of the great anthems of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, frequently heralding the opening of General Conference or serving as its triumphant orchestral close. She was also remembered for the children’s Halloween song, “I’m a Mean Old Witch with a Hat,” composed by her and published in October of 1965.

Carolee was born in Salt Lake City, Utah to Rueben Emerson Curtis and Alice Maud Call, the third of four daughters who would later be joined by a son. She adored her siblings, learning how to be “grown up” as she watched Pat and Marge, seven and ten years her senior, and doting on her sister Marian, two years younger, and her brother Steve, eight years younger. All of her siblings have preceded her in death except for her sister Marian, who is living in Arizona.

Carolee graduated from South High School in 1958, valedictorian of her class. The highlight of high school for her was singing in A Cappella Choir under the direction of Mr. Willardson. As a teenager, she was also an accomplished pianist and organist. After high school, she attended the University of Utah, with the intent of graduating with a degree in music. However, she met the love of her life, Jack Green, and they were married September 1, 1960. She chose at this point to devote the next several decades to raising her family and supporting Jack wherever his career led them. While raising seven children, they lived in Utah, Wyoming, California and Virginia, before settling back in Utah where Carolee spent the last forty-eight years of her life.

Wherever Carolee lived, she served in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, most often through sharing her musical talents. Carolee enjoyed callings as a teacher, leader, music leader, choir director, and music specialist, but her favorite assignment was to play the organ for Sunday meetings. She took organ lessons from Doug Bush at Brigham Young University, and eventually was able to finish her undergraduate work at the University of Utah and continue there to earn a Master’s Degree in Music Composition. While her primary focus was always music, Carolee was also a gifted visual artist. She won “Best in Show” in an art contest while living in Virginia with an oil painting she completed in an art class. While working on her master’s degree, she continued her art studies at the University and excelled especially in portrait drawing, using various media. She also loved landscapes, especially of the ocean.

In addition to her artistic talents, Carolee will be remembered for her love of learning, her devotion to her family, her quick wit and her exceptional mind. Even as she endured the devastation of Alzheimer’s, she was still able to triple competitor’s Scrabble scores and regularly land hilarious puns. She never forgot her social security number, her childhood address, or her birthday and loved reciting the names of her children in birth order. As the years passed, she became ever more considerate of others’ needs and feelings, and in addition to always wearing fuchsia, purple, turquoise, and sparkly jewelry, she could be counted on to greet each person who approached her with a bright, warm smile.

Carolee is survived by her four daughters, Cathryn (Michael), Julie (Shawn), Cher (Tyler), and Christyn (Jesse), three sons, David (Melanie), Michael (Taylor), and Steven (Cassidy), many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, her sister Marian, and friends and neighbors. Her husband, Jack, preceded her in death by almost eleven years. We offer gratitude to the staff at The Peaks at South Jordan Memory Care center, where she resided for her last two and half years, the volunteers of the 10th Branch of the Country Park Stake, and the doctor, nurses, and CNAs at Atlas Hospice who each provided compassionate care until after her passing.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 am on Friday, March 21st, at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meetinghouse located at 2447 W 11400 S in South Jordan. Interment will be after the service at Mountain View Memorial Mortuary and Cemetery located at 3115 East 7800 South in Cottonwood Heights A viewing open to the public will be held at the mortuary on Thursday, March 20th, from 6-8 pm and again before the funeral at the church meetinghouse in South Jordan from 9:30-10:30 am. We invite you to wear vibrant, cool colors in Carolee’s honor to the funeral service.