Established in memory of cellist Noelle Goslee Smith, this education fund will support the development of new GJSO programs focused on nurturing young musicians. As part of this commitment, GJSO is hiring an Education Director to join the organization in July 2026, who will guide our current education programs and help shape new initiatives for the future.
In memory of Noelle Goslee Smith, we invite you to support the next generation of musicians through the Noelle Goslee Smith Education Fund. Our goal is to raise $35,000 to grow GJSO’s education programs and create lasting opportunities for young artists in our community. Your gift will help carry her love of music forward.
Noelle Goslee Smith, May 6, 1945 – October 8, 2025
Noelle was born in Ohio to Ernestine Yount, a talented bassist accepted into the Eastman School of Music in 1938, and George Goslee, an accomplished bassoonist at Eastman, who went on to become the principal bassoonist of the Cleveland Orchestra for 43 years under the baton of George Szell and others.
Noelle played her mother’s cello for over six decades, participating in many Chicago-area symphonies, string quartets, and chamber ensembles throughout the region. Moving to Grand Junction in 2002 was the alignment of her desires to both live in Colorado and simultaneously play cello in a well-regarded symphony, which she did with utter dedication and deep gratitude until she died in a car accident in 2025. The Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra truly brought her here.
Noelle gave private cello lessons to Grand Valley-area students of all ages for over 20 years. She often refused to raise her rates, aware that some of her students struggled to pay what some might call the modest amount of $20 for 30 minutes. She was an astute teacher, capable of recognizing when there were times that her most important role was simply to listen to her young students and offer them the ear of an elder who cared, laying the foundation for trust and the love of learning music. The 5th-grade outreach was one of her favorite activities of the GJSO.
This education fund is being established to honor her desire to bring the healing, joy, and beauty of playing music to all, regardless of financial ability to pay or “talent”.
She was also a participant in an Irish sessions musical group in Grand Junction; a black-and-white photographer who developed her silver-gelatin prints in her home darkroom; a fly-fisher; an adventurer; an adopter of rescued dogs; and a beloved mom, sister, aunt, and Nana. Thank you for helping to carry her legacy forward.