College mourns loss of Dr. Harry Harter

August 11, 2004
Keni Lanagan, Administrative Assistant
865.981.8209 or keni.lanagan@maryvillecollege.edu

Dr. Harry H. Harter (March 9, 1916 -- August 8, 2004)

Dr. Harry Harter, former chairman of the Maryville College division of fine arts, died Aug. 8, at Asbury Acres Health Center in Maryville. A memorial service is scheduled at St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Sunday, Aug. 15, at 4 p.m. Following the memorial service a reception will be held at Willard House on the Maryville College campus.

After a year on the faculty of Midland College in Nebraska, Harter was hired by Maryville College for the academic year 1947-48 as an assistant professor of music by then president Ralph W. Lloyd.

In 1958 Harter advanced to the position of associate professor and was named a full professor in 1961. In 1964 he was named chairman of the division of fine arts.

At Harter’s 25-year recognition at the Maryville College Faculty Club on May 8, 1972, he was referred to as “the most enthusiastic fan of the well-known Maryville College Choir and its director.” It was also noted that his reputation as a choral director reflected honor on the choir.

The Faculty Club 25-year recognition program states, “No mention of Dr. Harter is complete without tribute to the annual presentation of ‘The Messiah’ at the College when the College Choir is joined by townspeople.”

Harter received an A.B. degree from San Jose State College in his native California; a master of music degree in 1947 from the University of Nebraska; and a doctorate of sacred music in 1961 from Union Theological Seminary in New York. He also studied at Northwestern, Colorado College, and Indiana University.

A composer and arranger, in 1953 his “Requiem For The Fallen Nineveh,” was published. Some of his other compositions include “Blessed Be the Lord” and “Shepherds from the Field.” He arranged numerous choral and orchestra works as well as scoring a ballet for a Knoxville Symphony concert in 1964. As a musician he was a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and Pi Kappa Lambda, honorary national music fraternities.

He and his wife Florence Evelyn Harter (Sept. 2, 1919 – Jan. 15, 1999) were members of St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Maryville. She taught home economics at Maryville College. They were married for 53 years. Harter was choir director for New Providence Presbyterian Church from the early 1950s to 1964.

One of the thrills of the College’s Sesquicentennial celebration was the College Choir’s concert in New York’s Carnegie Hall, under the direction of Harter. He also sponsored a tour with a small choir that sang in churches and cathedrals in Europe in the summer of 1970.

In 1974 he was commissioned by the Tennessee Arts Commission to compose a work for the Bicentennial which was performed May 5, 1976.

Former Maryville College president Joe Copeland once described Harter as “the personified symbol of all that is best about Maryville College. He’s a bouncy fellow with a magnificent smile that constitutes the essence of friendship; and he’s creative and vital. Sartorially, he’s always the man of the year, and the envy of us all!”

Harter received the 1998 Maryville College Medallion, the highest honor the College bestows. He and his wife were charter members of the College’s Society of 1819. A choir scholarship was established in his honor in 1987.

He served in the U.S. Army Air Force from 1943 to 1946, as the base chaplain’s assistant, where he was in charge of chapel musicals and special music for services. He was also first tenor in the Chapel Quartet.

Before reporting for armed service duty, he spent a year in Hollywood, Calif., working for Rudy Vallee Management (1940-41) as first tenor and choral arranger for a male quartet The Kingsmen. He appeared on radio, screen and in person as a member of the quartet.

Harter first began singing in front of an audience at First Christian Church in San Jose, Calif., in the late 1930s. Ten years later he secured a summer job as first tenor with a male quartet in the entertainment department at Yosemite National Park.

Maryville College is ideally situated in Maryville, Tenn., between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Knoxville, the state's third largest city. Founded in 1819, it is the 12th oldest institution of higher learning in the South and maintains an affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Known for its academic rigor and its focus on the liberal arts, Maryville is where students come to stretch their minds, stretch themselves and learn how to make a difference in the world. Total enrollment for the fall 2009 semester is 1,103.