Passing of Harry Eskew

[Wade Kotter]

I'm saddened to report the passing of Dr. Harry Lee Eskew this past Sunday:

https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/macon-ga/harry-eskew-9924439

His contributions to American and especially Baptist hymnology are seminal, especially his work on Singin' Billy Walker and The Southern Harmony. I first met Harry and Margaret on the Sacred Harp tour of the UK in 2007 and we have communicated off and on ever since. The amount I learned from this gentle, kind, humble and, above all, truly brilliant man and devoted disciple of Christ is unmeasurable. My heart goes out to Margaret and the rest of his family at this difficult time, but, borrowing the words of Isaac Watts, I know Harry is in that "land of pure delight, where saints immortal reign" and where "pleasures banish pain." Indeed, the heading Watts gives to the hymn from which these words come is truly appropriate: "A Prospect of Heaven makes Death easy." Harry truly had a Prospect of Heaven and the heavenly hollow square was just joined another illustrious member in making a joyful noise unto the Lord. Margaret and family I know he will be there waiting for you with open arms when your time comes to join him. Sing on, Harry!

Wade

Wade Kotter

South Ogden, UT

"Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord"

[ron.pen]

Thank you, Wade, for the sad tidings on Harry's passing. I have shared many and many a sparkling conversation and joyous singing in the company of Harry from Society for American Music conferences to Baptist Seminary Singings, to Big Singing Day at Benton, KY. He was a scholar of the highest order and a devout pilgrim. I shall miss him greatly, I only regret we are not able to sing him home with one of his favorite Southern Harmony tunes because of the pandemic.

Ron

Ron Pen

Clark County, KY

[Robert Vaughn]

Thanks, Wade, for providing this information. I did not know Dr. Eskew personally, but benefitted from his writings and other work he did. I was surprised earlier this year when he called me on the phone to talk to me about my book Songs Before Unknown! We talked quite awhile and I really enjoyed the conversation with him. May the Lord bless and comfort his family.

His glories sing,

Robert Vaughn 

Mount Enterprise, TX

http://baptistsearch.blogspot.com 

Ask for the old paths, where is the good way

http://mtcarmelbaptist.blogspot.com 

For ask now of the days that are past...

http://oldredland.blogspot.com 

Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land.

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[Fulton, Erin]

I met Dr. Eskew by quite literally running into him in a stairwell between sessions at a Society for Christian Scholarship in Music conference. I was mortified at having knocked this rather delicate-looking older fellow nearly off his feet, but he apologized to me and immediately sparked up a conversation. Once he realized that I was a hymnologist, it was all business: he wanted to know absolutely everything about my research. Since I am usually researching five disconnected topics at one time, that took a while. We chattered so long (still parked halfway up a flight of stairs) that I was late for the next session of the conference.

As I hurried away, he asked for my contact information and handed me a business card, which I just shoved into my bag as I fled. My cell phone rang somewhere along I-75 on my drive back home. I picked it up. "Hello, this is Harry Eskew." I didn't register the voice and had never caught his name in our first conversation. Who had given the author of Sing with Understanding my number? Then he reminded me, "We met on the stairs."

He kept checking in on me and my work--regularly enough that I was surprised not to have heard from him in some time and wrote Margaret asking after him earlier this fall. She told me that his memory was failing and that he had gone into end-of-life care. Amid what must have been an extremely painful time for her  she also wrote, with the kindness characteristic of both of them, "If I find anything helpful in his files, I'll let you know."

The Big Singing is as close to my heart as anything could be. Southern Harmony singers--and anyone else who sings from or studies the Walker tunebooks--owe a particularly large debt to Dr. Eskew. The memories that have bubbled up in recent days, though, don't have anything to do with his professional work. It's the animation with which he both spoke about sacred music and the attention with which he listened. I keep thinking about how he was so excited to learn about a "new" hymnal that he forgot to even give me his name.

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From: 'Robert Vaughn' via Fasola Discussions <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 3, 2020 8:51 AM
To: Fasola Discussions <fasola-di...@googlegroups.com>; Pen, Ronald A. <Ron...@uky.edu>; Wade Kotter <wko...@weber.edu>
Subject: Re: [fasola-discussions] Re: Passing of Harry Eskew

 

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