Natalie Allyn Sleeth (née Wakeley; October 29, 1930 – March 21, 1992) was an American composer of hymns and choral music.Natalie Sleeth biography
a
Hope Publishing Co. site
accessed December 9, 2013 Sleeth was born in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, ...

. She began to study the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

at the early age of four. In 1952, she earned a BA in music theory at Wellesley College in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

. She married the Rev. Dr. Ronald E. Sleeth, a professor of

Homiletics In religious studies, homiletics ( grc, ὁμιλητικός ''homilētikós'', from ''homilos'', "assembled crowd, throng") is the application of the general principles of rhetoric to the specific art of public preaching. One who practices or ...

. Sleeth received an honorary doctorate from

West Virginia Wesleyan College West Virginia Wesleyan College is a private college in Buckhannon, West Virginia. It has an enrollment of about 1,400 students from 35 U.S. states and 26 countries. The school was founded in 1890 by the West Virginia Conference of the Methodist E ...

in 1989, and then from

Nebraska Wesleyan University Nebraska Wesleyan University (NWU) is a private Methodist-affiliated university in Lincoln, Nebraska. It was founded in 1887 by Nebraska Methodists. As of 2017, it has approximately 2,100 students including 1,500 full-time students and 300 ...

in 1990. An organist, she wrote over 180 highly successful selections for church and school, with works published by Choristers Guild and Hope Publishing. One of Sleeth's best-known anthems for the choir is entitled "Joy in the Morning" and was written for the West Virginia Wesleyan College concert chorale on the occasion of her husband's inauguration as president of the college in 1977. The anthem "Hymn of Promise" was composed in early 1985, and dedicated simply to Dr. Sleeth, "To Ron," who was diagnosed with cancer and died weeks after its premiere. Soon after the anthem was published, it became a hymn under two different names. Under the title "In the Bulb There is a Flower," it appears as hymn #703 in the

United Church of Canada The United Church of Canada (french: link=no, Église unie du Canada) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholi ...

hymnal, ''

Voices United The United Church of Canada (french: link=no, Église unie du Canada) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Cathol ...

'' and as hymn #433 in '' The New Century Hymnal'' produced by the

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximatel ...

in the US. It appears as hymn #707 under the title "Hymn of Promise" in '' The United Methodist Hymnal''. It is frequently sung in the United Church of Canada and the United Church of Christ. The hymn was translated into German by Lothar Pöll in 1999 and is included in the '' Gesangbuch der Evangelisch-methodistischen Kirche''.Karl-Heinz Baum: "Aus der Zwiebel wird die Blume"
gesangbuch-lieder.de; accessed December 17, 2016.

Death

Sleeth died of cancer in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

in 1992, aged 61. She was a member of the

Highland Park United Methodist Church Highland Park United Methodist Church is a United Methodist church in Dallas, Texas. Location It is located on the campus of Southern Methodist University, at 3300 Mockingbird Lane, Dallas, TX 75205. History In February 1916, a Methodist congreg ...

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

References

1930 births 1992 deaths Deaths from cancer in Colorado American women composers Musicians from Evanston, Illinois Wellesley College alumni 20th-century American composers 20th-century American women musicians 20th-century women composers {{US-composer-20thC-stub