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Retired music faculty member Don Hoiness dies

By David Gonnerman '90
August 31, 2005

Don Hoiness '43, who retired from the St. Olaf music faculty in 1986 after 26 years at St. Olaf, was found lifeless in his home on Monday. He was 83 years old. (Read the Star Tribune Hoiness obituary.)

Hoiness was an active professional singer before coming to St. Olaf, including recital, concert and TV performances throughout the nation. "One doesn't often hear Bach sung with such clarity of line and unaffected simplicity of feeling, and the Grieg songs were just as right in their totally different style," wrote one New York Times reviewer. "Here there was charm and an ardent lyricism."

Hoiness is remembered on campus for letting his dog, Barely, sit in on lessons. "If you've heard campus lore about the voice teacher whose dog attended lessons and went to the corner to retch whenever the student sang off key -- that teacher was Don," wrote College Pastor Bruce Benson in a message to the St. Olaf community on Monday. "His colleagues still aren't sure if Don somehow taught the dog to do that or if it learned on its own."

One of 11 children, Hoiness is survived by a brother, Merlin, of Harmony, Minn., and sisters Muriel Waage of Northfield and Lillian Turner of Lanesboro, Minn.

A memorial service will be held for Hoiness, a World War II veteran, at the Fort Snelling chapel in St. Paul, Minn., on Friday, Oct. 7, at 10:30 a.m.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.