Sallie Hume Douglas

Sallie Hume Douglas was something of a hobbyist in song writing. She had published her “Garden of Paradise: Hawaiian Love Song” in 1915, and “Her Pink Mumu” in 1916.

Living in Honolulu, Sallie Hume Douglas taught and was active in the League of American Pen Women, the Honolulu Press Club, the Daughters of the American Revolution and the National Society Magna Charta Dames and Barons. She pursued her hobby of genealogy, and wrote more songs: “Ocean of Love,” “Idol of My Heart,” “Deep in My Heart” and “Hawaiian Holiday” among them. “Garden of Paradise” was recorded at least twice, once on the Victor Talking Machine label by Keeaumoku Louis, a famed Hawaiian operatic baritone.

Douglas even became the inadvertent composer of the University of Idaho alma mater, “Our Idaho.” In 1917, when “Garden of Paradise” was popular, a student at the University of Idaho “adapted” its melody for a song contest, with lyrics by another student. The song became a regular feature at university athletic events. New verses were written to create “Here We Have Idaho,” the state song. In 1930, the fact came out that the composer of the melody was, in fact, Sallie Hume Douglas. By this time, stadium-loads of the Idaho faithful knew the songs by heart and there was no turning back. The state’s regents and legislature cut a deal with Douglas and gained formal permission to use the melody.

Before she died in 1944, Sallie Hume Douglas said that “Follow the Gleam” was the high point of her life.

--kihm2.wordpress.com/2009/02/06/ (excerpts)