Wife of Ken Darby, composer, vocal arranger ("The Wizard of Oz", "How
The West Was Won") who was best known for his choral arrangements for
film adaptations of Rodgers & Hammerstein Broadway musicals ("South
Pacific", "Flower Drum Song", "The King & I", "Carousel") during a long
association with 20th Century Fox.
Darby wrote the songs for the soundtrack of Elvis Presley's first film,
"Love Me Tender". The melody for the title song was written in the
Civil War era for a song called "Aura Lee", with Darby composing new
lyrics. Although he did not wish to be credited on any of these songs
but did wish to earn royalties for them, he credited them under the
pseudonym Vera Matson, his wife's maiden name. She is also credited as
having written the lyrics to the theme to the 1964 "Daniel Boone" TV
show, but whether it was again Darby who actually wrote the lyrics is
unknown.
The two enjoyed a sixty-year marriage, which ended upon Darby's death
in 1992.