Winter 2009 issue
We Mourn the Passing …
The love of music was apparent early in the life of music therapy luminary Carol Hampton Bitcon (1936-2009). In addition to playing piano and upright bass, she studied voice at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Carol went on to the University of the Pacific, graduating with a Bachelor's in Music. She later earned a Master's in Education from Chapman University. While at UOP, Carol met fellow student John Cameron Bitcon; they married in 1959 and had a playful, romantic union until John's death in 1996. Carol was a pioneer in the field of Music Therapy. She worked at Fairview Developmental Center for the Learning Disabled in Costa Mesa, California, as a Registered Music Therapist and program director for Adolescent Social Development. In 1968, she became interested in Orff-Schulwerk, based Carl Orff's philosophy that children should develop a "musical language" of rhythms and sounds as a means of self-expression. She served as President of the National Association for Music Therapy and authored "Alike and Different: The Clinical and Educational Uses of Orff-Schulwerk". During her career she taught throughout North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Carol was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1986. She "made lemonade" and continued to work and play. She retired in 1996 following John's death and moved to Seattle to be closer to her family. In 1997 Carol survived a severe E. coli infection. Despite being thereafter reliant on a wheelchair, she maintained an incredibly positive attitude. Music, art classes and time with her grandchildren brought her joy. After a brief illness, Carol died on January 9th while listening to Carmina Burana.
Information excerpted from the Seattle Times at
http://www.legacy.com/SeattleTimes/DeathNotices.asp?Page=Notice&PersonID=122964085