September 21, 2013
The Proof is Sound: Sister Gail’s Teaching Legacy is Sweet Music to PC
By Vicki-Ann Downing
You can hear the difference Sister Gail P. Himrod, O.P. made at Providence College.
You can hear it whenever music is played on the magnificent, custom-built Holtkamp organ she helped bring to St. Dominic Chapel in 2001. You can hear it in the Smith Center for the Arts, a building Sister Gail helped plan as a permanent home for the College’s music, theatre, dance, and film programs.
And you can hear it in the voices of her students, such as Dr. Jennifer Bill ’00, now a saxophonist and conductor who teaches music at the college level, including PC.
“From being department chair twice and teaching a variety of classes for both music majors and non-majors, Gail has touched the lives of thousands of PC students,” said Bill. “As educators, this is what matters — spreading our passion and knowledge for music to the younger generations. Gail has done this with enthusiasm and integrity her entire career.”
Sister Gail retired in June as associate professor of music. She came to PC as its third full-time music professor in September 1974. It was the first year of the music major and only three years after the College admitted the first female students. Music classes were taught on the lower level of the library. Students practiced in the Aquinas Hall basement and in Alumni Hall on a piano off the men’s basketball court.
Sister Gail estimates she has taught 2,400 students in 38 years, including many in the School of Continuing Education. She helped add the music education major and a music minor. She compiled documentation to have the department accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music, an achievement accomplished in 2010.
“For me, being a Dominican Sister and being in an atmosphere that is Dominican and Catholic has been very enriching,” said Sister Gail. “It’s been a wonderful experience and career at PC. A real growth experience for me.”
Sister Gail was encouraged to study music by her parents while growing up in Ohio. She began playing piano at 9 and organ at 13. One childhood summer, Sister Gail and a friend were musicians for their parish, playing every Sunday and entire Requiem Masses in Latin for funerals, “and whoever wasn’t playing did the singing.”
She entered the Adrian Dominican Sisters in Michigan in 1954 and professed her final vows in 1960. She has a bachelor’s degree from Siena Heights College in Adrian; a master’s degree in music from the University of Michigan; and a doctor of musical arts degree from Boston University. Before coming to PC, she taught elementary school and high school in Illinois and Michigan.
Sister Gail’s specialty is music history. She taught her students not only classical works but the music of Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Dave Brubeck, too. In retirement, she’ll focus on her own encounter with history, writing a biography of the late C. Alexander Peloquin, the renowned composer of liturgical music who was organist and conductor of the Peloquin Chorale at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Providence. Sister Gail worked with Dr. Peloquin for 20 years as assistant organist at the cathedral.
Through her years at the College, Sister Gail has had a faithful companion at her side. For 17 years it was Willie. She raised him from a puppy. He attended recitals, concerts, and hockey games, and she called him “the longest undeclared student in PC history.” For the past six years it’s been Harry, also a silky terrier, who has accompanied her around campus.
Fittingly, music faculty, students, and alumni honored Sister Gail in May with a retirement concert planned by Bill and another former student, Elizabeth Grace ’09, now a voice teacher.
“It was wonderful,” said Sister Gail. “Jennifer asked me my favorite composers. I have four: Bach, Brahms, Mozart, and Mahler. From beginning to end, the concert was a delight. It was quite overwhelming.”
Retiring faculty
Sister Gail P. Himrod, O.P. was one of eight full-time faculty members to retire this year. Together, this group contributed more than 250 years of teaching excellence.
- Rev. Jon A. Alexander, O.P., associate professor of history, 1998
- Dr. Simone C. Ferguson, professor of French, 1979
- Rev. W. David Folsey, O.P., associate professor of theology, 1966
- Sister Gail P. Himrod, O.P. associate professor of music, 1974
- Dr. Peter Johnson,professor of English, 1985
- Dr. Robert E. McCarthy professor of history, 1988
- Rev. Paul W. Seaver, O.P., professor of theology, 1969
- Dr. Harold B. Tamule,associate professor of finance, 1990
