Roy Perry
In East Texas there is an unusual concentration of small towns, large churches, and famous pipe organs. The reasons why involve, among other things, the discovery of oil in the 1930s, and a man named Roy Perry.
Perry (1906-1978) was the Organist and Choirmaster of First Presbyterian Church in Kilgore, Texas for 40 years from 1932 to 1972.
Perry’s life is one of those classic American stories. Born poor to a widowed mother, self-taught (for the most part) and a genius at what he did. What he did, in addition being a highly respected church musician, was the on-site tonal finishing of pipe organs. Tonal finishing is a very exacting and esoteric skill that apparently came easy to him, and the organs he finished are today considered masterpieces.
In 1955, G. Donald Harrison, President of the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company, wrote to Henry Willis, well-known English organ builder, and said:
He is a top notch finisher and during my periodic visits to Texas I cannot remember a time when I have had to suggest that something might have been done a little differently. He just has that kind of organ sense.
Perry’s instruments are known for having their own “sound”, above and beyond the distinctive sound of an Aeolian-Skinner. Defining the uniqueness of a Roy Perry instrument is difficult to put into words. Still, some organists have commented that the whole organs just “go together”. Any two stops blend. What is not questionable is that the finishing is extremely subtle and refined.
Some information about Perry’s personality survives in the oral history of Kilgore and the First Presbyterian Church, and from documents in his archives. He was no doubt an eccentric to some extent, and certainly possessed a highly developed sense of humor among other things. He was respected and revered by the local people, but also known as quite a character.
He was born in Vermillion Parish, LA. The details of his early life are not well documented. Much of what is known comes from an autobiographical piece Perry wrote later in life (“Poor Bob’s Boy”, which follows.)
Perry was self-sufficient by age 15, having graduated from high school and was playing in a synagogue and a movie theater. By his mid-twenties, he was the organist at St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church and The Pines Theater, both in Lufkin, Texas. Perry was brought to Kilgore at age 26 by the Crim family, to be the organist at First Presbyterian Church.
Poor Bob’s Boy
An Autobiographical Sketch
By Roy Perry
Subject was born on a Southwest Louisiana rice farm to a mother who had been widowed thirty days before his birth. This circumstance caused him to be known as “Poor Bob’s Boy” to all the uncles, aunts, cousins, and grandmothers among whom he was passed around, from household to household, during his childhood.
Subject had an early, intense interest in music, but there was no money for music lessons, and no sort of musical instrument at hand.
Opportunity came in the unwitting person of a Mrs. Ora M. Reams, who came to the public schools once a week to teach sight singing. Mrs. Reams would fish a pitch-pipe out of her bag, blow a note on it, and say “All right, children, this is Doh. Sing Doh – Mi – Sol – Mi – Do.” Subject didn’t know it at the time, but this procedure, which is called solfeggio, is the basis of all real musicianship. Fortunately so, for it was all the early training subject had. He discovered that by wolfing his noonday sandwich, he could have almost an hour at the old piano in the school auditorium. Doh – mi – sol – mi he played at first, and then went on to read whatever printed music he could pick up. It was a strange repertoire.
At the age of thirteen, subject struck out to earn his own living. Money was at last available for piano lessons, and to Mrs. Reams he went. When subject graduated from high school (age 15) his kindly benefactress landed him two jobs playing the organ; one in a Jewish Temple, the other in a movie theater. Subject thought he was about ten feet high.
This prosperity was short-lived. The first chill wind of the great depression knocked Subject out his movie theater job, and he returned to the church, where he belonged. He, as were many other Americans, was facing starvation in the Spring of 1932, when on the insistence of Knox Lamb (who is presently in charge of the Kilgore College Auditorium stage) Subject was brought to Kilgore, Texas to be organist of First Presbyterian Church. This move was engineered by Liggett Crim.
In 1938, Dr. Wilfred C. Bain, who at that time headed the music school at North Texas State College, heard Subject play, and urged him to work toward a degree in music. To school went subject. Subject had learned early to use his time well, so that in nine months at Kilgore College, he was able to rack up 69 semester hours of credit, with 3 B’s spoiling a straight-A record; this while putting in a 40 hour week at the Church.
At NTSC subject completed the requirements for a Bachelor’s degree in organ in four summer sessions, 67 college hours, with again three B’s to spoil his record. (Subject did not get degree until 1945, due to an interruption entailing military service in the 90th Infantry Division).
Subject has Taught Church Music at his alma mater, NTSU, and at Church Music Schools sponsored by the Episcopal Church at Evergreen, Colorado, and at Vicksburg, Miss. Fills many speaking engagements with conventions of American Guild of Organists, etc. Is at the moment preparing a Church Music Workshop for the Seminary students at Austin Presbyterian Seminary. (The students will be bussed to Kilgore.)
Of his life and times, Subject has this to say:
At every crisis, every turning point in my life someone has been there to point the way, and to lend a helping hand. I cannot believe this has been accidental. God’s greatest musician wrote a song about it:
“The Lord is my shepherd……….”
