Difference between revisions of "Duane Hiatt"

Revision as of 19:55, 27 July 2021

Duane Hiatt was writer, musician, and performer. He is listed in Who's Who in American Writers and Poets, Who's Who in Entertainment, Who's Who in the West, and Personalities of the West and Midwest.

He was born in 1937 in Payson, Utah. He was student body president during high school where he also played basketball and football. After he served a full-time mission to the Tongan Islands for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he attended Brigham Young University on a basketball scholarship. At BYU he (and Dick Davis and Denis Sorenson) formed The Three D’s, a popular singing group that entertained audiences throughout the United States and Canada. They also performed with a USO tour to Asia.

The Three D’s perform in Asia (left to right, Duane Hiatt, Denis Sorenson, and Dick Davis)

Duane then was a radio announcer, Director of Communications for the Division of Continuing Education at BYU, and a writer for Music and the Spoken Word radio and television broadcasts of the Tabernacle Choir.

He wrote the words and music of the beloved children’s song “Follow the Prophet.” In 1987, the general music committee for the Church asked Hiatt to write a song about the Old Testament prophets that was happy and “sounded like a Jewish folk song.” In addition to writing “Follow the Prophet,” he authored Overcoming Personal Loss.

He was president of America's Freedom Festival at Provo, Utah, and under his direction the city received the George Washington Medal of Honor from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge.

He and his first wife, Diane, were the parents of 15 children. After her passing in 1987, he married Sharon Johnson. Together they served a mission to the Caribbean Islands. He passed away on May 24, 2020.