Bates was born in
Salt Lake City, Utah to John Fetzer, an architect, and his wife Margaret Baer. She was the older sister of
Emil B. Fetzer. Elizabeth graduated from
LDS Business College. In 1931, she established a
Yesharah Society at the University of Utah, where women who had returned from missions could keep in contact with each other. In 1934 Elizabeth married Lucian Bates followed by a
PhD, developing a new system of coding music for blind musicians. She taught piano and composed music. described as "Perhaps the most familiar and best loved .. song". Bates had been inspired to write the song after meeting 104-year-old
Ruth May Fox, who as a child had traveled on foot and by wagon to Utah. Both songs are included in the LDS Church's ''
Children's Songbook''. ==References==