Be Silent and Remember

Homer Whitford, whose undying legacy to the College is the haunting musical setting of "Dartmouth Undying," died a few weeks ago in Cambridge, Massachusetts, following a brief illness. He was 87.

His life and music were celebrated most appropriately at a memorial service at the Payson Park Church in his home community of Belmont as choir and organ joined in presenting some favorites from among his extensive canon.

From 1923 to 1935, Whitford was organist of the College and director of the choir and of glee clubs that twice won in- tercollegiate championships in competition at Carnegie Hall. He left Dartmouth to do further study in composition at Harvard, then remained in the Boston area to work with church choirs and other choral groups, to compose, to teach, to perform, and to pioneer in the use of music for heal- ing. He retired at the age of 84 from one job he had held for 35 years, as organist and director of musical therapy at McLean Hospital in Belmont. But only two years ago, he admitted to us that he still had some private pupils and continued to do "some composing although I should be getting over it." Cataracts and arthritis in- terfered with his playing, he said, but he was still enjoying recreational sessions on two pianos. "You may be interested in knowing," he commented at the time, "that among my two-piano pals are members of the classes of 1941 and 1979."

When Whitford came back to Hanover in 1966 to receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters, he found the music facilities in Hopkins Center a gratifying contrast to the primitive conditions under which he had worked. He returned only once again, several years later, when he listened with approval to a glee club enriched by women's voices.

Dartmouth Undying" was a composi- tion that wore as well with its composer as it does with most alumni. As Homer Whit- ford s honorary-degree citation put it, his music and the lyrics of Franklin McDuffee -1 are, like Dartmouth, "miraculously builded in our hearts."