Robert Lawson VanDoren

COLUMBIA - Services for Robert Lawson Van Doren, 99, will be held on Friday, May 22, 2015, at 2:00 p.m. in Trinity Episcopal Cathedral with burial in the Columbarium immediately following the service. The family will receive friends from 4 until 5:30 p.m. Thursday, May 21, 2015, at Still Hopes Episcopal Retirement Community Mansion and then from 6 until 7:30 p.m. at the home of Elizabeth Van Doren Gray (18 Mill Pond). Mr. Van Doren died on May 19, 2015. Memorials may be made to Trinity Cathedral Foundation at 1100 Sumter Street, Columbia, SC 29201; The Robert Lawson Van Doren Scholarship Fund in care of The USC Educational Foundation, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208; or The S.C. Episcopal Retirement Community at Still Hopes, 1 Still Hopes Drive, West Columbia, SC 29169. Born in Roselle Park, N.J. on March 8, 1916, he was the son of Charles Edward Van Doren and Edith May Fleming Van Doren. At age 15, he began his professional music career by becoming the organist at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Roselle Park. He attended Columbia University and Julliard School of Music, where he first met his future wife, Lib, who was in the same graduate program. They later married in 1943, sharing their passion for music for more than 59 years. They could often be found playing four-hand duets to the delight of family and friends on their treasured Steinway piano. After receiving a Bachelors and a Masters degree from Columbia University and Julliard, he taught in the public schools of Roselle Park before joining the Army during World War II. He attended the Army Music School at Fort Meyer, Va. and was commissioned as a Warrant Officer and Bandleader and served in the Army Air Force. In 1950 he received the degree of Fellow, Trinity College of Music, London, England. Following his Army experience, he became an Instructor in Music and Music Education at the University of South Carolina where he rose in rank to Full Professor and retired as a Distinguished Professor Emeritus in 1978. From December 1945 until June 1970, he served as Organist and Choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church (now Cathedral) and organized and directed the city-wide Junior Choir Festival for 25 years. Mr. Van Doren served his church as Vestryman, Senior Warden, Lay Reader, Chalice Bearer, Delegate to Diocesan Conventions and Chairman of the Worship Committee. In the Diocese of Upper South Carolina, he was elected to serve on the Bishop and Council, the Standing Committee, and was a Trustee of the Diocese and a Delegate to two General Conventions of the Episcopal Church. In the 1950’s, he was one of the five individuals selected throughout the Southeast to organized the Sewanee Conference on Church Music and taught there for many summers in Sewanee, Tenn. Mr. Van Doren has served as President of the Columbia Music Festival Association, Dean of the Columbia Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, President of the South Carolina Music Educators Association, and Vice President of the Southern Division of the Music Educators National Conference. In 1988 he was elected to the Hall of Fame of the S.C. Music Educators in recognition of his tireless efforts to develop and support the organization. He was a member and Past President of the Evening Music Club and a Charter Member of The Columbia Sertoma Club. He was one of the founding members of the “Friends of Music,” USC School of Music. Throughout his retirement, he also continued to share his love of music with others by arranging performances at Still Hopes by USC music professors. Mr. Van Doren was predeceased by his wife of 59 years, Elizabeth Dacus Gaines Van Doren and his sister, Ruth Eloise Van Doren. He is survived by a son, The Rev. Robert L. Van Doren, Jr. of Memphis, Tenn. and his wife, Pamela; a daughter Elizabeth Van Doren Gray, Columbia; three grandchildren: Melissa Van Doren Vaughn and her husband, Kelly Vaughn of Lakeland, Tenn., James Cranston Gray III, Md., and his wife, Leigh Ellen Lybrand Gray of Charleston, S.C., and Elizabeth Gaines Gray of New York, N.Y.; and three great-granddaughters: Taylor Lee Vaughn, Madison Vaughn and Abigail Vaughn of Lakeland, Tenn.