Elizabeth Fetzer Bates was a Latter-day Saint musician, most noted for being the author of the children's song "Book of Mormon Stories".

Bates was born in Salt Lake City, Utah

Salt Lake City, Utah

Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...

 to John Fetzer and his wife Margaret Baer. She was the older sister of Emil B. Fetzer

Emil B. Fetzer

Emil B. Fetzer was the head architect The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1965 to his retirement in 1986....

. Elizabeth graduated from LDS Business College

LDS Business College

LDS Business College is a two-year college in Salt Lake City, Utah, focused on training students in business and industry. The college is owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and operates under the Church Educational System and is associated with the Brigham Young University...

. She then served as a Mormon missionary

Mormon missionary

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...

 in the Northern States Mission

Mission (LDS Church)

A mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a geographical administrative area to which church missionaries are assigned. Almost all areas of the world are within the boundaries of an LDS Church mission, whether or not Mormon missionaries live or proselytize in the area...

 of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), based in Chicago.

In 1934 Elizabeth married Lucian Bates in the Salt Lake Temple

Salt Lake Temple

The Salt Lake Temple is the largest and best-known of more than 130 temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the sixth temple built by the church, requiring 40 years to complete, and the fourth operating temple built since the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo,...

. They eventually had six children.

Although Elizabeth Bates lost her sight in 1951, she was still an active member of her community and her church. For a time Bates was the executive secretary to Utah governor Herbert B. Maw

Herbert B. Maw

Herbert Brown Maw was an American politician and the eighth Governor of Utah. He served as governor from 1941 to 1949. He was a Democrat.He was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-Early life:...

. She was also a member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, sometimes colloquially referred to as MoTab, is a Grammy and Emmy Award winning, 360-member, all-volunteer choir. The choir is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . However, the choir is completely self-funded, traveling and producing albums to...

. She also earned several degrees at the University of Utah

University of Utah

The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...

. Besides "Book of Mormon Stories", Bates also wrote the song "Pioneer Children Sang As They Walked". Both songs are included in the LDS Church's Children's Songbook

Children's Songbook

The Children's Songbook of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the official songbook for children in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was first published in English in 1989...

.