On Tuesday, Naomi Ward Randall stood in the Marriott Center on the Brigham Young University campus and received a Presidential Citation.
At age 90, she couldn't stand long, but people tell me the ovation from the 10,000 students gave her a boost."Aunt Naoma" - as she's known among family - wrote the words to "I Am a Child of God," perhaps the most popular song the LDS culture has produced.
And I was cheered to learn how the BYU students cheered for her.
The writers of children's songs may be the most influential - yet least celebrated - artists we have.
"If you think about it, LDS children's songs are dispersed worldwide in many languages," says Michael Moody, chairman of the General Church Music Committee. "The messages get impressed on the cells of people's brains. They carry them for a lifetime."
First impressions do run deep. Most of us still feel a tug when we hear tunes from childhood.
So as I picture Naomi Randall standing tall at BYU, I'd like to think she was standing there for all the unsung songwriters and behind-the-scenes collaborators who've penned unforgettable songs for kids.
I think of the low-key songwriters who've passed on - people like Mildred Tanner Pettit, who wrote the music for "I Am a Child of God" and Clara W. McMaster, who died last year in her early-90s after a lifetime of producing little musical wonders like "Teach Me to Walk in the Light."
But more than the songwriters now departed to sing praises on high, I think of those who remain - who deserve to have their own praises sung below.
Elizabeth Fetzer Bates, for instance. She's 89 now, and blind. And though her sight may be gone her insight is still 20-20. She recently asked church leaders to quicken the tempo of her song, "Pioneer Children Sang as They Walked," so the children's steps in the song would sound more joyous and less plodding.
Mabel Jones Gabbott turns 88 on Oct. 23, though she has suffered a severe stroke. Best known for penning the words to "In Humility Our Savior," she is also the grand dame of LDS kids' music with words to 16 songs in the "Children's Songbook."
Luacine Clark Fox, the daughter of J. Ruben Clark, is best known today as the woman who wrote "Love One Another." She's a spry 84. And Moody sees her as a "truly great woman."
"She reflects the message of her text," he says. "You can feel the love over the telephone wires."
Dozens of others deserve to stand for a bow: Georgia Bello ("Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree"), Grietje Rowley ("Father, We Thank Thee for the Night") and the legendary Janice Kapp Perry among them.
If this column were longer, my list would be longer.
In fact, Michael Moody himself has written music for eight songs in the "Children's Songbook." He and his wife often mailed songs instead of cards each Christmas.
But of all the tales that are worth telling, I kind of like the one about Wallace F. Bennett, Utah's senator for 24 years.
When Bennett's wife was called to the LDS Primary General Board, he was asked to write the lyrics for several religious children's songs.
He wrote the words for the happy-go-lucky "When We're Helping We're Happy."
But no good deed ever goes unpunished.
Sen. Bennett took a little ribbing for it.
Sen. Bob Bennett, his son, has told the Deseret News "We used to kid Dad about how hard he worked on the second verse."
The second verse, you may recall, goes: "Tra-la-LA-la-la-la-la, Tra-la-LA-la-la-LA. . ."
Clara McMaster and Mildred Pettit would have laughed out loud at that little story.
The nice thing is Naomi Randall, Elizabeth Fetzer Bates, Luacine Clark Fox and many others still can.