‘Happy, Happy Birthday’ Ten months after Russell M. Nelson was born, Mildred Jessie Ethington entered this world to some fanfare. It was the Fourth of July in 1925, after all. Mildred’s father died when she was 7. Her mother sacrificed to provide her youngest child with piano and ballet lessons. It was the piano lessons, some generously provided by a grade school teacher, that would make her unforgettable to Latter-day Saints the world over, though few recognize her name. It was while she raised her four boys in Albuquerque, New Mexico, that she sat down at a piano in 1963 and wrote the music and lyrics to “Happy, Happy Birthday,” a favorite among those who grew up in the church and attended Primary, the church’s program for children. The song is sheer genius. The simple music is joyful, carefree and instantly recognizable to those who grew up on it. The lyrics put their arms around the birthday girl or boy and love him or her like a communal prayer of hope. It takes all of 15 seconds to sing the 30 words. One of those words is the name of the child whose birthday it is. In practice, the birthday children often are standing in front of their peers as the entire Primary sings to them. Some stand shyly, others bounce or beam in glee at the attention. Virtually all look forward to that moment each year, from ages 3-11. In 1983, a survey ranked “Happy, Happy Birthday” eighth most popular among Primary songs and sixth in the category of frequently sung. At the bottom of the page in the songbook, whatever language it is translated into, is the inscription, “Words and music: Mildred E. Millett McNees.” Mildred had her family with Howard Millett, After his death, she taught as many as 60 piano students at a time and later married George McNees, with whom she built a dream home with a piano room that included a grand piano, two upright pianos and a digital piano. | 
