Clarence William Dortch
1894-1990
An influential and noted
Seventh-day Adventist choral director in the first half of the 20th century,
Clarence W. Dortch taught at four Adventist colleges during his career. He was
a beloved teacher, respected for both his musicianship and personal qualities.
Clarence was born in
Springville, Tennessee, on June 15, 1894, the youngest of four sons of William
Diggs and Mollie Lindsay Dortch. Following graduation from academy in Keene,
Texas, in 1915, he pursued a music degree at Pacific Union College where he
also taught piano part-time. In July of his first summer there, he arranged and
sang in a mixed octet for Ellen White's funeral. She was one of his favorite
writers.
Dortch married Lena Geneva Dake on March 12, 1918, and they would have three children,
Jerita, Verne, and Corinne (Burns). He started his teaching
career at Lodi Academy in 1918 but was drafted in that same year and served eight
months in World War I, where he reached the rank of corporal. Following his
discharge in 1919, he taught for a year at Gem State Academy and then returned
to Pacific Union College to teach for six years (1920-1926). While there, he
studied with noted voice teachers in the area.
Graduate training was taken
at the American Conservatory in Chicago and he later graduated with a master’s
degree from North Texas State University. He attended numerous workshops under
Fred Waring, F. Melius Christiansen, and John Finley
Williamson.
Dortch chaired the music
department at Southwestern Junior College for sixteen years, from 1926 to 1942.
Following this, he taught at Southern Missionary College for five years and
then joined the faculty at Walla Walla College, now University, where he taught
until his retirement in 1956.
Dortch was known to many of
his students as "Fessor," an endearing term
which started at Southern Missionary College. This followed him to WWC where he
became known as the "Fessor of Professors."
Marvin Robertson, music
department chair at Southern Adventist University for 33 years, worked closely
with him while a student at Walla Walla College. At the time of Dortch’s death,
he commented on that association:
Clarence
Dortch was one of the most influential people in my life. What he was as a man
came through in performance. He had been a red head when younger and noted for
his terrible temper. He determined that this was not the way to behave as a
Christian in rehearsals. As a result, he was kinder than he should have been at
times. He often remarked he would rather err on the side of leniency than upset
his God. I never saw him during four years in all his groups lose his temper.
He was not always happy with us but he was always a Christian gentleman.
Dortch's achievements were
recognized by a listing in Who's Who in
America on two different occasions. Also, the yearbook was dedicated to him
in his final year at Walla Walla College with the following tribute:
A
slight Southern drawl and a cheery smile suggest the reason for his countless
friends a man with enough patience and self-control to father fifty mischievous
and restless students for a week on choir tour or patiently review a sacred
selection until the most obstreperous member has learned his music
... . A man with music in his soul and artistry in his fingers, he is
too busy with the "King's Business" to bother with secular music.
During the forty-odd years
that he directed choirs, countless students were strengthened by his devotion
to his Creator and his ability to make music meaningful.
When he retired, he returned
to Keene, Texas, where he taught 25 private lessons for Southwestern for two
years. He was the first teacher to be elected Emeritus Professor at that
school. Dortch returned to Walla Walla College in 1981 and 1985 to attend
reunions of his choir held during Alumni Weekend. Dozens of former students returned
from across the nation just to sing once again under his direction.
The Dortches
were living in Jefferson, Texas, when Lena died on October 28, 1983, at age 87.
He was living in Longview, Texas, when he died on September 6, 1990, at age 96.
ds/1991/2007/2017
Sources:
Interview with Marvin Robertson, 19 November 1990 and letter, 17 June 1991; The
Chronicle of Southwestern Adventist College, Mary Ann Hadley, editor, 1994, 82,
83, 85, 90; Southwestern yearbook, Mizpah, 1938-1942;
Interviews with Stanley Walker, July 1990 and October 1991; Dan Shultz, A
Great Tradition, Music at Walla Walla College, 1892-1992, 93, 94,114-116;
WWC yearbook, Mountain Ash, (dedication) 6.
A Tribute to Clarence Dortch
Pamela Maize Harris
September
9, 1990
Clarence William Dortch was
born June 15, 1894 in Springville, Tennessee, the youngest of Mollie Lindsay
and William Diggs Dortch’s four boys. He passed to his rest September 6, 1990,
in Longview, Texas, at the age of 96 and was buried in Keene, Texas.
He leaves to mourn two
children, Corinne Burns of Jefferson, Texas, and Verne Dortch of Calhoun,
Georgia. His wife, Lena, and a daughter, Jerita,
preceded him in death. Clarence Dortch had 13 grandchildren and 10 great
grandchildren, the latest of whom was born Friday.
He cherished a childhood
dream of teaching music. In 1912, Clarence Dortch enrolled in academy at Keene.
A few days before school started, Clarence and another hardworking teenager
were nailing shingles on the new two-story grade school building where Evans
Hall now sits at Southwestern Adventist College. A block away, two new students
- both girls - pushed through the turnstile entrance to the campus.
The two boys took notice.
Clarence turned to the other fellow and said, "Do you see the taller
brunette? She’s mine if I ever get her." It took him six years, but he
married Lena Dake March 12, 1918, in Keene, Texas.
They stayed married for 65 years.
Although no voice teachers
taught at Keene when Clarence attended academy, he took lessons in the summer
from teachers in Ft. Worth and Dallas. He decided to get some teaching
experience during his last two years by renting a horse and buggy and driving
two to three miles west of Keene to teach piano and reed organ lessons. He also
organized a girls’ octet at school and dubbed them "Ye Southern
Warblers."
After graduating from academy
in 1915, Clarence pursued his degree at Pacific Union College in California,
where he taught piano part-time. In July of his first summer there, Clarence
arranged and sang in a mixed octet for Ellen White’s funeral. White was one of
the founders of the Seventh-day Adventist church and one of Clarence Dortch’s
favorite authors.
Clarence received his
advanced training in the American Conservatory at Chicago, Illinois, and his
master’s degree at North Texas State University. He studied under some of the
great musicians of the day, and he enjoyed attending choral workshops under
Fred Waring as well as St. Olaf Lutheran’s Melius
Christiansen and Westminster Choir College’s John Finley Williamson.
His official teaching career
began at Lodi Academy in California but was interrupted in 1918 by World War I,
in which he served as a corporal. After his discharge in 1919, Clarence headed
the music department at Gem State Academy in Idaho then returned to Pacific
Union College from 1920-1926. He studied under noted teachers in San Francisco,
Oakland, and Los Angeles during this time.
This is also where his first
two children, Jerita and Verne, were born. Clarence
headed the music department at Southwestern Junior College at Keene for 16
years. During this time his third and last child, Corinne, was born.
Clarence spent five years in
the music department at Southern College in Tennessee and then joined the
faculty at Walla Walla College, where he headed voice and choral group
activities. While there, he was published in Who's Who in America for two
years.
After nine years at Walla
Walla and forty years of teaching, Professor Dortch retired to Keene where he
and Mrs. Dortch moved into their petrified wood and rock cottage. Since the
college needed help in the music department, he taught about 25 lessons per
week for two years. Professor Dortch was the first teacher to be elected
Emeritus Professor by the Board of Trustees of Southwestern Adventist College.
Professor Dortch was a
beloved teacher. The endearing term of "Fessor"
was started at Southern College in Tennessee. Five students followed “Fessor” to Walla Walla College where the title stuck and
followed him the rest of his life. He loved it.
Just how highly he was
esteemed can be illustrated best by tributes his students have given him:
You
taught me more than how to play the organ; you set such a wonderful example of
loving kindness, meekness and generosity of spirit and sharing your talent.
When I think of the term ‘Christian gentleman and teacher,’ you automatically
come to mind. Lucia
Wilson in a Christmas letter
In 1981 and 1985 Professor
Dortch attended reunions of his choir at Walla Walla College where dozens of
former choir members returned from across the nation to sing again under their
beloved “Fessor’s” direction.
"What a special treat to
sing under your leadership again," wrote Ellen Dana. "I can hardly
wait until heaven."
Bonnie Smith Oliver called
choir her "favorite college memory," while Les and Anne McHan remembered “Fessor” and
Mrs. Dortch as the "dearest, sweetest, and most loving Christian
people" they had ever known.
Another wrote,
We’ve
asked the Lord to build our mansion on the same street as yours so that
distance will never separate us again. We’ve never forgotten the wonderful
influence that you have had on our lives."
Dr. Jim McHan
and his wife Carolyn have been especially close friends through the years. Jim spent
several years as a student living in the Dortch home. Carolyn wrote about that
experience in a recent birthday card:
Fessor, Jim saw such love and commitment in
your home... and determined to follow your pattern. He has been a loving,
energetic husband, taking the role of priest of the family seriously. For this
I am grateful."
“Fessor”
had a kindness, a tolerance for a diversity of people,
a special way of loving kids so completely that he reached them when nothing
else could.
"Your life has been a wonderful
example in helping us relate to problem people," another former student
wrote.
Betty Lawson called “Fessor” "my spiritual dad."
And Abbie Remboldt
wrote him:
Jesus
said, "When you look at me, you see the Father." When I look at you
(‘Fessor), I see Jesus. Your life and faith in me
throughout the years has kept me going.
Betty McGinnis Wood wrote,
"God has used your talents and training to inspire music that has blessed
thousands."
Melvin Johnson remembered
Professor Dortch’s dedication to church choral music:
Associating
with you in the first Walla Walla College production of the Brahms Requiem
was one of the inspirational periods in my early teaching experiences. We are
grateful for your magnanimous and humble attitude to students and associates in
the music activities wherever you have been.
Marilee Hayes Thomas
remembered the "depth of feeling" ‘Fessor
could draw from a group, although he was not a "moody musician."
Donna Leno remembered his
patience and Dr. Marvin Robertson, now chair of the Music Department at
Southern College, also spoke of that patience:
As
a musician and choral director I tried to model my life on his interest and
patience with students. He was a good musician, but he did a lot for people’s
lives beyond his music. I never saw him lose control in a group. I wanted to
emulate that model.
Patience is also a quality
his son Verne recalls, "I don’t ever remember him raising his voice."
And Verne should know. He sang in his father’s choirs - as did all the Dortch
children. Corinne remembers that he always wanted to give any performance to
the glory of God. And she said he was always generous with both his love and
his time.
"He was very easy to
care for in his older years," Corinne said. "He never complained, was
even-tempered, and was a saint on earth."
Even though Clarence Dortch
may have been a saint on earth, he was very human. His wife, Lena, liked
to tell about the time his curiosity got the best of him one night when he was
eavesdropping on Corinne as she returned from a date. She was engaged in quiet
conversation (or whatever) on the porch. Clarence leaned forward in bed to
catch the juicy morsels of conversation when Lena gave him a gentle shove
promptly knocking him out of bed and onto the floor.
And he could be an absent-minded
professor. He normally walked to school every day, but once he pulled the Dodge
out of the garage, drove to school, parked the car, and taught classes. At the
end of the day, he walked straight home leaving the lonely Dodge parked at
school. Next time he went to the garage to get the car, he had to remember when
he drove it last and where it was.
And ‘Fessor
Dortch even became the victim of his own choir at church one time when before
the sermon and after the main prayer he gave the choir their cue. They launched
into the dismissal response and there wasn’t anything ‘Fessor
could do but sing on and stifle a smile.
When Clarence Dortch wasn’t
being a professor, he pursued hobbies of gardening and travel. In Collegedale
he grew tomatos so large the vines had to be tended
from a ladder next to the house, and farmers came from all around East
Tennessee to see his monster tomatos. In Keene, he
enjoyed growing vegetables and fruits - especially dewberries, blackberries,
roses, and other pretty flowers.
Both Verne and Corinne
remember family outings and many trips across the country. Four days before he
died, Clarence Dortch told Verne he wished he could jump on the plane and fly
with his pilot son.
He loved railroads, too, and
especially enjoyed train trips in Colorado on the Silverton-Durango Railroad as
well as the Texas State Railroad, where he asked at age ninety to ride in the
locomotive with the engineer.
During the summers off from
teaching, Professor Dortch painted and hung wallpaper. Verne remembers his
amazement at watching his dad slap the paste, fold over the paper and fling it
on the wall with it turning out perfectly.
Because ‘Fessor
loved good music, the whole family attended concerts from the time the children
were little. During their Keene years, when Verne was around 12, they’d have to
drive all the way to Dallas and Ft. Worth for concerts. Verne would be asleep
in the back seat by the time the family got home. As they drove in the
driveway, his dad would say, "OK, Verne, the old cow’s got to be
milked." And Verne would head sleepily to milk the cow. The Dortches had a cow for many years from which they enjoyed
good milk and cream.
Professor Dortch was
tenderhearted and couldn’t bear the thought of putting a family pet to sleep.
And one of the hardest things he said he ever did in his life was to sing at
his father’s funeral. He prayed for special strength and when he got up, stood
by the casket, and sang, "Don’t You Love Your Daddy Now?" he was able
to do the impossible, to sing it with a dry eye.
He loved the William Tell
Overture, the book of Esther, baseball, truthfulness, honesty,
following the weather, the music of composers Schubert and McDowell, his wife,
children, and grandchildren.
He loved his students - he
and Lena kept 30 in their home over the years.
His life was characterized by
a selfless giving. He embodied what singer Marilyn Cotton describes as a great
vocalist. Character is the talent - not the voice, Cotton says. A great singer
has the ability to give, give, give. A selfish singer
has a pinched voice and cannot sing publicly because singing is a body-action.
And that’s why Clarence
Dortch is famous, because he was so giving. As Betty Lawson told him, "You
have touched many lives and that’s a Real life. Fame is only that, and you are
truly famous to everyone you’ve touched."
Two special honors which
meant a great deal to him were having the Keene Seventh-day Adventist Church’s
pipe organ named the Dortch Memorial Organ and having the Southwestern
Adventist College choir rehearsal room named for him.
Professor Clarence W.
Dortch’s legacy is an eternal one. As one of his students wrote to him: ".
. . and the light was for all time - and the love was for all men."
Praise God for such a life.
Pamela Maize Harris is the daughter-in-law of
Dortch's daughter Corinne Dortch Burns