Lawrence Eugene Jennings

Former Ohio University piano professor Lawrence Eugene Jennings, 92, died at his home in Falls Church, Virginia on February 1.

Gene was born in the small Kansas farming town of Arnold on January 29, 1924. He grew up the youngest of three boys during the Depression, his mother ran the local post office and his father managed the town’s general store. Blessed with perfect pitch, Gene showed a talent through childhood for the piano. When he left for Kansas University in 1941 it was to get a degree in music.

World War II interrupted Gene’s studies at KU. Serving two years on Navy ships in the Pacific, he returned to college after the war. His 1946 junior piano recital was, coincidentally, attended by John Baker, then the president of Ohio University. On the spot Baker offered him a professorship at OU, once Gene finished his degree.

After graduating Gene moved to Athens in 1949. There he became a popular professor and member of a tightly knit social group. But he also studied abroad, intersecting with some of the 20th century’s great musicians. One was renowned Hungarian conductor and composer Ernst von Dohnanyi, who later settled at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Gene spent summers there to study under him.

In 1959 Gene earned a PhD in piano at FSU. But he also met a young harpist named Lucile High. They married after a whirlwind courtship that summer. He brought her back to Athens and they settled permanently, raising a family while both teaching at OU’s School of Music.

Altogether, Gene spent 44 years on the faculty of OU, retiring in 1994 only after a brain aneurysm and complications from the ensuing treatment. By then, though, he had taught hundreds of piano students from around the world, many of whom would write, call and visit through the years.

Lucile died in 2008, and Gene moved to Virginia in 2010 to be near his son Chris. His heart slowly weakening, he was admitted into Hospice in July 2015. But he remained active and alert, going to church every week and continuing playing piano to the delight of all who were blessed to be in the presence of his musical gift.

Gene died quietly in his sleep just two days after an outing with family to celebrate his 92nd birthday. He is survived by sons Chris (and wife Jan Montgomery) of Arlington, Virginia; Tom (and wife Rebecca Perl) of New York City; and grandchildren Nate, Nicholas, Luke and Griffin. Lucile and his son, Eric, preceded him in death.

Gene’s memorial will take place in Arlington, Virginia on April 2nd, 2016 at 4:00 pm at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church. Donations in his memory can be made to either St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 2609 N. Glebe Road, Arlington, VA 22207 OR Capital Caring’s Hospice at http://www.capitalcaring.org/join-us/donate/.