March 1, 1936 – March 27, 2025
Helen Louise “Lou” Alcorn was an amazing woman. Originally from Maplewood, New Jersey, Louise was a classically trained violinist. She started playing the violin at the age of 10 and continued through college. She earned her BA in Music and Education from University of Vermont.
Lou moved to Boston where she met Boyd Kent Alcorn, and after a short time they were wed. Wanting to further their education and start a family, the two moved to the West Coast ending up with two baby daughters, Marguerite and Josephine, in Tacoma, Washington.
The young couple played together in the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra—Lou on violin and Kent on clarinet. This love of music inspired them to teach their daughters to play as well. As a family they would play together for small gatherings and church events. Louise earned her MA in music education from Pacific Lutheran University in Spanaway, Washington. Lou and Kent divorced in 1978.
Lou relocated to Bellingham, Washington, where she opened her own store selling wood stoves and handmade futons. In her spare time, she built her own house, sewed custom jobs for clients, and continued to play violin. Her playing slowly shifted from classical violin to the more traditional fiddling. It seemed as if this was her calling, and she continued playing traditional fiddle music for her remaining days as a musician.
Lou Alcorn loved teaching so much, but that wasn’t her only vocation. She was also a creative seamstress and theater costumer, a builder of her own houses. She opened her own wood stove store in Tacoma. She sewed futons, and most of her own clothing. She was an imaginative craftsperson, composer, and an avid gardener.
In 1991, Lou moved from Washington State—where she had lived for 35 years—to Moab, perhaps finding the last great real estate deal in Moab. She immediately approached the elementary school, Helen M. Knight Elementary, and bravely asserted that she was there to teach violin. And that she did, with a passion. She became good friends with the principal, Margaret Hopkin, and thereby wriggled her violin teaching into lunchtimes, recesses, and after-school lessons.
Lou also played with the Moab Community Dance Band for contra dances. She played with the community orchestra that performed the Christmas Messiah performances, often introducing her students to performance.
In addition to music and crafting Lou loved to read. She would visit the Grand County Library every week. She also loved to people-watch sitting outside at Moab Coffee Roaster.
Later in life, Lou struggled with back pain due to osteoporosis. This made playing her violin painful. Regardless, she kept on teaching and gardening and quilting and knitting.
Lou moved into the Canyonlands Care Center in September of 2023. She lived there with the loving and wonderful care provided by the Care Center staff. She passed away, with Meg by her side, on March 27, 2025.
Lou Alcorn is survived by her eldest daughter, Marguerite (Meg) Bigler; her grandchildren, Zedediah Potts, Benjamin Russo, Aage Gribskov, and Abigail (Abbie) Gribskov; and her 3 great-grandchildren, (Ben Russo), Luwie Russo, Saffryn Russo, and Boyd Russo. She was preceded in death by her parents, John C. and Fay Lewis Jr.; her brother John C. (Jack) Lewis III; her husband, Boyd Kent Alcorn; and her younger daughter, Julie Josephine Alcorn, (Josie Silver).
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