Born Olwen Evelyn Morgan on August 9, 1913 on the family farm outside of Pickett, Wisconsin to Moses and Martha (Krause) Morgan, Olwen Welk died at nearly 93 years of age on June 29, 2006 in Ripon, Wisconsin.

Family, church, music and “all things Welsh” were the focus of her life. Olwen grew up on the family farm, “Tyddyn Llwyn Derw”, and attended country school. In 1929, she graduated as valedictorian from Ripon High School and then graduated from Oshkosh Business College. She married Erwin Harold Welk on November 25, 1936 and lived in Ripon at 321 E. Sullivan Street for 65 years. During World War II, Olwen drove with her 2 children from Wisconsin to Fort Ord/Monterey, California to join her husband. When her husband was transferred to Australia, Olwen again lived on the farm of her childhood, joining her sister, Ilah Morgan, brother and sister-in-law Lee and Nora Morgan, and her father, Moses Morgan, until the children started attending school in Ripon. After the war and the birth of 2 more children, Olwen was busy with homemaking, school, church and community activities for their family of 6. When Erwin died unexpectedly in 1962 at the age of 54, Olwen had 2 children in their early teens living at home. She returned to Oshkosh Business College to refresh her skills and then joined the Research and Development Department of what was then Speed Queen Washer and Dryer Company in Ripon as secretary, continuing there until she retired 15 years later. Olwen loved spending summers with family, grandchildren and friends at their cottage on Green Lake. She was involved in numerous Ripon community events and frequently supplied "period costumes" to various groups.

Her church was central to her existence. Olwen was a member of Immanuel United Methodist Church for 70 years. In addition to her musical contributions, she taught Sunday School for a variety of ages as well as Vacation Bible School and Confirmation Classes.

Olwen was involved in various capacities with the many women’s groups, served for several years on Immanuel's Administration Board, and served as a District Officer of United Methodist Women. Since she loved history, she helped write the history of the local Immanuel Evangelical United Brethren Church, now the United Methodist Church, from 1844-1994. In all of these activities, there was the organization and production of much cooking, baking, group dinners, potlucks and picnics. Her secretarial skills were utilized to record the minutes of meetings of every group of which she was a member, often for years at a time. She was the conductor of the Chancel Choir for a period of time and remained a member of the Choir until she was 90 years old.

Of course Peniel Chapel, known as "Capel Cymraeg", was the church of her youth and so remained an important church to her. It is located 2 miles from the family farm and is one of the churches of the Oshkosh Welsh Settlement established by Welsh immigrants. The Settlement, founded in 1847, celebrated its sesquicentennial of 150 years in 1997. Peniel was built in 1856 and is 150 years old this year. Originally Calvinistic Methodist, Peniel later became affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. The membership dissolved in 1977, however, the Chapel continues to be the site of the Annual Peniel Gymanfa Ganu on the 4th Sunday in August. The 75th anniversary of the Peniel Gymanfa was celebrated in 1997. For many years, Olwen served on the organizing committee.

Although raised in an English-speaking household (since her mother was of German parentage), Olwen learned to speak Welsh. She spent time with her Welsh-speaking grandparents from North Wales, “Nain” and “Taid”, who lived on the adjacent farm, as well as her father’s relatives. Much later, she and her siblings attended Welsh language classes in Cambria, Wisconsin.

Olwen was "born into music". Not only did she enjoy all kinds of music, she was a performer, conductor and composer. Her father, Moses Morgan, was born in a log cabin on the family farm and lived there his entire life. Moses was a Peniel Chapel deacon, tenor soloist, church musical conductor, and director of the Choral Union Choir in the Pickett community. Mother Martha Krause was born on a farm about 5 miles away, toward Ripon. The parents met when Moses, the director of the Choral Union Choir, asked if anyone knew of any altos who could join the choir; her brother brought Martha to the choir. Olwen’s childhood experiences involved singing with her family members, and with groups in their church, school and community, as well as giving readings and performing in plays at church and school. The family quartet was composed of Moses, brother Lee, sister Ilah, and Olwen - tenor, bass, soprano and alto, respectively. Olwen, Ilah, and Lee and other friends often provided special music at church services and community meetings, funerals and celebrations. They sang as choirs, duets, trios, ladies and mixed quartets, and ladies ensembles. They also sang in the Ripon Community Choir and, in conjunction with the Ripon College Concert Choir, sang in the Messiah performance each Christmas. Olwen played both piano and guitar.

The annual Peniel Cymanfaoedd Canu were significant day-long,
3-service, occasions after which the extended family and friends would gather at their nearby farm to continue the singing. The family would attend other regional Cymanfaoedd Canu throughout the state as well as in neighboring states. Later, Olwen attended nearly all of the Cymanfaoedd Canu throughout the state of Wisconsin, scheduled monthly from May to November, as well as those Cymanfaoedd Canu in the neighboring states of Iowa, Illinois, and Minnesota. The Moses Morgan family attended their first National Gymanfa Ganu in 1933, in Chicago, Illinois. Since then, Olwen attended approximately 41 National Cymanfaoedd Canu throughout the country and Canada, the last being in San Jose, California in 2001. In 1969, she and her sister, Ilah, travelled to Wales to witness the investiture of Prince Charles at Carnarvon Castle and attended the International Gymanfa Ganu and Eisteddfod in Cardiff.

Olwen enjoyed poetry and writing words to music. Many occasions, i.e., birthdays, anniversaries, retirements, and other celebrations, provided the opportunity to compose poems. Olwen would add verses to known hymns, or write new words so they would be appropriate for some current project theme, or compose both the words and the music. Her good friend, Ann Davies Thomas, wrote the music for “Niagara” to commemorate the 50th Anniversary Golden Jubilee of the Welsh National Gymanfa Ganu Association (1929-1979) and Olwen wrote the words to this music which was sung at the National Gymanfa in Niagara Falls in 1979, and again in 2005 to commemorate the 75th anniversary. In 2004, Martha Davies of Lincoln, Nebraska wrote about Olwen's life in Y Drych in preparation for the performance of "Niagara" at the 75th Anniversary of the Welsh National Gymanfa Ganu Association. In addition to the Niagara composition, Olwen wrote the music and words for 2 other hymns: the “Consecration Hymn” which was added to the Wisconsin Gymanfa Ganu Hymnbook, and “The Light from the Cross”. She wrote 5 sacred verses for the Welsh National Anthem which she named “Our Heritage”. She also wrote sacred words for the tune, “Myfanwy” with the title of “Our Teacher and Savior”. To commemorate the 50th Anniversary Golden Jubilee of the Wisconsin State Gymanfa Ganu in 1983, Olwen wrote sacred verses to the tune “Marged” and titled this hymn, “We’ll Praise Him Lord of All”. These latter three hymns are printed in or added to the Wisconsin State Welsh Hymnbook.

Olwen LOVED being Welsh. She and her sister, Ilah, would dress in Welsh costumes and represent the Welsh culture at the annual
Wisconsin Folk Festival for many years and would sing at other Welsh events such as St. David's Day and the National Gymanfa Ganu. She was a member of the local St. David’s Society as well as the Druids, the Welsh women’s group of the Oshkosh Welsh Settlement. She was the source of information about all things Welsh, and in particular, about the history of the Welsh in Wisconsin. She was constantly on the alert for copies of the book, Old World Wisconsin, which pictured her father in an article about the Peniel Chapel and the Oshkosh Settlement. Olwen served as an informational source for the book, Welsh Fever written by Welsh poet, novelist and journalist David Greenslade in 1968 about current Welsh activities in the United States and Canada. The Poultney, Vermont Welsh Quilt Project in 1993 received her enthusiastic support. She was significantly involved in the production of the National Cymanfaoedd Canu held in Milwaukee. At the direction of the Welsh Gymanfa Ganu Association of Wisconsin Board of Trustees in 1968, Olwen organized the Wisconsin Welsh Singers, to perform at the 1970 National in Milwaukee. The group was formed to preserve the heritage of Welsh hymns and folk songs. Olwen directed the group in the following years, performing annually at the Wisconsin State Gymanfa and other festivals.

In 1957, Olwen began conducting Cymanfaoedd Canu. Organist Maggie Evans of Pickett, Wisconsin urged Olwen to become the conductor of the Rockhill Gymanfa Ganu. The venue was the original Welsh 1851 Chapel, a square building with elevated, boxed-in pews near Dalton, Wisconsin. (A photo of this event appears in Welsh Reflections: Y Drych and America 1851-2001 by Aled Jones and Bill Jones.) Olwen continued to conduct this Gymanfa for 42 years, from 1957 to 1999. Olwen’s sense of responsibility to perpetuate the Welsh culture and the encouragement of her conductor-friends, Ann Davies Thomas and Morris L. Wrench, led her to further pursue conducting. In 1959, she studied conducting with Ripon College Professor Edwin Wilson. Subsequently, she directed many church groups, i.e., the children’s choir, the youth choir, and the chancel choir. She organized and conducted Christmas pageants and Easter plays, cantatas, and concerts as well as organizing and directing the music for the 1957 Dedication of the newly-built Evangelical United Brethren Church in Ripon. For about a dozen years she conducted the Three Lakes Gymanfa Ganu in northern Wisconsin, as well as Cymanfaoedd Canu in Dodgeville, Wales, Cambria, Wild Rose, Waukesha, Mineral Point, Oshkosh, and Madison, Wisconsin. In 1978, she was selected by the Wisconsin State Gymanfa Trustees to establish the first “Christmas Gymanfa” or Christmas Festival of Welsh Carols and English Hymns held annually since then in November. She led the compilation of a group of carols and hymns to sing at this event which was published as the “Welsh and English Seasonal Carols and Hymns” in 1978; a supplement was added in 1984. She was also selected to conduct Cymanfaoedd Canu in the states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, and Oregon, and in New York City and San Francisco. At National Cymanfaoedd Canu, Olwen was a frequent conductor of the “After-Glow” singing.

Olwen was involved in the 1972 and 1980 revisions of the Wisconsin State Gymanfa Ganu Hymnbook of “Old and New Welsh and English Hymns”. Many hymns were printed with the music on the top half of the page and the verses printed separately on the bottom half of the page. She utilzed her secretarial skills to create “master” sheets for the printing of each hymn, placing the words within the staves of the music to make the music easier to follow and sing. Of course new favorite hymns were added to the books as well. The 1980 publication was dedicated at the May Wisconsin State Gymanfa Ganu, using the National Dedication Hymn, ”Niagara”, during the service. When asked to name her favorite Welsh hymn in 2002, she replied, “all of them”.

Olwen served the Welsh Gymanfa Ganu Association of Wisconsin as vice president (1961-1962), as president (1963-1964), and as secretary (1979-1994). In 1991, she was recognized "for many years of dedicated service to Welsh heritage" by the Welsh Gymanfa Ganu Association of Wisconsin. In 1997, she was also recognized "for the many years of dedicated service" at the Welsh National Gymanfa Ganu when it was held in Milwaukee. In 2002, Olwen was named Honorary Life Trustee of the Welsh Gymanfa Ganu Association of Wisconsin.

In 1979, Olwen was invited to be a member of the Music Committee for the Welsh National Gymanfa Ganu Association Hymnal, joining Rev. Kenneth O. Jones, Lyn Harry, Ann Davies Thomas, and Morris L. Wrench. Acting as Secretary/Co-Editor along with Editor Ann Davies Thomas, the group completed the revision of the National Hymnbook Golden Jubilee Edition in
preparation for the 50th Anniversary of the WNGGA. In 1982 she was elected to serve on the National Gymanfa Ganu Board of Trustees.

In 2002, The Welsh-American Society of Wales and North America presented Olwen, brother Lee, and sister Ilah, with the Order of Gwynfor Evans for “lifelong service to Welsh culture, and in particular the promotion and protection of the traditional Welsh Gymanfa Ganu in Wisconsin.” The award was presented August 15, 2002 at the annual Gymanfa Ganu held in Capel Peniel, Pickett, Wisconsin, where she began her lifelong Welsh-American journey.

Olwen Morgan Welk lived a long, strong, loving, energetic and productive life. Olwen is survived by her 4 children and their spouses, Robert Wayne and Judith Welk of Omaha, NE, Elizabeth Anne and Roger Griffith of Scotts Valley, CA, Thomas Morgan and Holly Welk of Green Lake/Markesan, WI, and Mary Gwendolyn and Randy Steffen of Ripon, WI as well as her sister, Ilah Enid Morgan of Ripon and nephew, Lynn Erwin Morgan of Pickett, WI. She was preceded in death by her husband, Erwin Harold Welk in 1962, as well as her brother and sister-in-law, Lee Edward and Nora Morgan, sister-in-law Florence Harpe, and brother-in-law and sister-in-law Franklin and Laura Welk. Additionally, she is survived by 11 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. She had many friends in the church, community and in the state and nationwide Welsh communities.

A celebration of Olwen’s life was held on July 8, 2006 at Immanuel United Methodist Church in Ripon, Wisconsin. Pastor Paul Nulton led the service and described her life in his message about “A Life of Praise”. Trefor Williams of Milwaukee, Wisconsin conducted the congregation in singing 9 Welsh hymns: “Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau”, “Sanctus”, “Penpark”, “Nes I Dre”, “Aberystwyth”, “Blodwen”, “Godre’r Coed”, “Diadem”, and “Cwm Rhondda”. He reminded us that the hymns were hymns of faith, not of sadness, and asked the congregation to remember how she loved to sing, how she would have directed each hymn with various repeats, and to recall “can’t you hear Olwen on every one of these hymns?” For the Welsh National Anthem, the congregation sang some verses of the alternate words she had written, titled “Our Heritage”. Singing in Welsh and English achieved the requisite “hywl”. Rev. Thomas White of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin served as organist. Mr. Williams and Rev. White joined Rev. Joseph Corbin of Reedsburg, Wisconsin in singing the scared words Olwen had written to the tune, “Myfanwy”. Granddaughter Juli’s husband, Mr. Christopher Jensen of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin read Dylan Thomas’ poem, “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”, described the context of the poem, and explained how Olwen had lived her life using all of her energy and every opportunity. Pastor Neil Wilson remarked that the
summary of Olwen’s life was of “epic proportions” and concluded that “the words she wrote and the hymns she loved gave
testimony to her faith.” Rev. Corbin conducted the graveside service that followed in Woodlawn Cemetery. He remarked about
seeing Olwen “conducting” from her pew at the most recent Gymanfa Ganu in Appleton, Wisconsin and reminded us of her frequent admonition while conducting to “sing the words”. He led the graveside singing of “Crug y Bar” and “Sandon”, concluding with “God Be With You”. Olwen’s 7 grandsons served as pallbearers. The sound of a bagpiper playing “Amazing Grace” and “Abide With Me” preceded and followed the graveside service.

Contributions in Olwen’s memory were given to the Ripon Immanuel Church Elevator Fund, Peniel Chapel, the Welsh Gymanfa Ganu Association of Wisconsin, and the Welsh National Gymanfa Ganu Association.

Back to WWGAW site.