biographical statement

Wheaton Class of 1933, History: • Mary Louise (Miller) Spang • December 24, 1911- December 6, 1975 • Family o Father: Charles O. Miller Jr. o Mother: Mary Elizabeth (White) Miller o Brother: Edward [8 years younger] and Oscar [died of Bovine TB around 9 years of age] o Sister: Elizabeth [died from Bovine TB at 11 years] o Husband: Kenneth Merwin Spang • Married: either 1935 or 1936 • Divorced: 1946 [moved to Stamford, Conn. to make music] • Children: o Richard (June 30, 1941- February 1, 2004) o Elizabeth aka “Zibby” (September 19, 1939) Education: • Wheaton College Class of 1933 • May Queen Julliard School of Music 1946-1956+ o Studied under Bernard Wagenaar

Favorite Writers: Dorothy Parker

Favorite Music: Beethoven and Chopin

Residence: • 306 Roxbury Road, Stamford Conn. (1946-1965) • Nursing Home, The Homestead, Stamford, Conn. (1965-1975)

Favorite Pastime (no particular order): • Crossword puzzles • Improvisation • Writing poetry • Telling/Creating children’s stories • Composing music • Travel • Being a mother

Health: • Bovine Tb at 8 years • Scoliosis of the spine (two operations) • Cartilage surgery on left knee • Arthritis • Alzheimer’s (began 1959 and was the cause of her death in 1975)

Biggest Challenge: • Choosing solitude over companionship while she wrote and composed from 1946-1956 o She felt the “music was taken away from her”

Accomplishments: • “Sounds and Silences: Poems by Mary Louise Spang.” Spang, Mary Louise. Vantage Press, Inc.: New York, NY. 1957. • Writing • Directing • Mother/Daughter play/musical for her daughter, “Zibby” in 1953 at New Canaan Country Day School • Composing songs for children and adults • Composing symphonic pieces • Composing various scores for both orchestra and voice