Dr. Louis Chenette

Dr. Louis Chenette expressed his love for others by filling the world with music. Dr. Chenette, 91, of Indianapolis, IN, died June 16, 2022, of heart and respiratory problems. He was born in Powersville, IA, in 1931 to parents who were both musicians. His mother, Freda Ontjes, played the flute and his father, Eugene Dow Chenette, was a band director and drummer who toured with Chenette’s Concert Band and Wild West Show bands in the midwest. Louis grew up in Iowa, graduating from Aplington High School and winning honors in music performance on the bell lyre. At Wheaton College he met the love of his life, Emily Louise Scanlan, and they were married in 1951. Son David arrived a year later. Upon Louis’s graduation from Wheaton in 1953, he accepted the position of band director for the Antioch, IL, High School, where he served for 5 years. During that time, Jonathan, Nancy, and Philip joined the family. Louis earned his Master’s degree in Music from Northwestern University in 1956. In 1958 Louis moved the family to Bemidji, MN, for a one-year term as the music director for the Bemidji State Teachers College. In 1959 the family moved to Chicago, where Louis sold pianos, organs, and musical instruments for Lyon and Healy. In 1960 the family moved to Findlay, Ohio, where Louis was the band director for Findlay College. Holly completed the family in 1963. In 1967 he earned his Ph.D. in the history of music theory from The Ohio State University. At Findlay Louis supervised the growth of music and the fine arts at Findlay College, including construction of the Egner Fine Arts building. He developed the first mainframe computing services at Findlay and served as the Dean and acting president of Findlay College. From 1972 through 1985 Dr. Chenette was Dean of the Jordan College of Fine Arts at Butler University in Indianapolis. As Dean he developed new undergraduate degree programs in music, dance, theater, and radio/TV. His Modern Music Festival brought Aaron Copland and Nadia Boulanger to campus, followed by Peter Schickele. He organized a 1976 festival of the music of Leonard Bernstein, who attended and coached, describing the event as “one of the greatest honors of his life.” At the time, this was the largest ever celebration dedicated to a living composer. He brought Van Cliburn to Butler’s Romantic Music Festival in 1978, and he qualified WAJC, Butler’s FM radio station, for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. He was the dean of graduate and international studies at Butler University from 1985-1989 and Dean of Faculty from 1989-1992. As University Professor, he retired from Butler in 1997. During his retirement years, Dr. Chenette devoted himself to family, teaching celestial navigation for the Power Squadron (for which he served as District Education Officer and Commander), and volunteering for the Executive Service Corps, including as multi-year consultant in establishing Use What You’ve Got Prison Ministry, which serves to keep families connected with incarcerated family members. He also made arrangements for French horn ensemble of two of Handel’s “Water Music” suites that were performed from boats on Indianapolis’s Lake Kesslerwood, and he composed two full-length musicals. One, with book by friend Tom Roberts, is titled “Indy! A Hoosier Fantasy” and set against the backdrop of the weeks leading up to the Indy 500 in the early 1950s. This received a fully-staged professional set of performances at The Phoenix Theatre in downtown Indianapolis in May 2019, earning high accolades from sold-out crowds. “Powersville!”, with book and music by Dr. Chenette, was completed just before his death. Telling the story of a religious cult in a struggling midwestern town in 1978-79 and inspired by the Jonestown cult massacre of 1978, the musical awaits its premiere. According to his daughter Nancy “my Dad was the most honest and loving person, and he wanted the world to understand how to enjoy music as he did”. Son Philip remembers Louis empowered by the lines “we were not given the spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and of a sound mind. This is how we build our future.” Butler University alumni honored Louis in 1986 with The Butler Medal. Louis was passionate about his family, his church, and his hobbies: fishing, travel, sailing, amateur radio, and woodworking. He built two harpsichords, including one in his home based on historical plans from the Smithsonian Museum, for which he learned the art of gold leafing. He was an active member of North United Methodist Church since 1973. On the final day of his life, he said “I wish everyone in the world had what I have today.” According to Lisa Brooks, Professor of Violin and Dean, Jordan College of the Arts, Butler University, “Louis was an absolute inspiration to all of us who knew him - I especially loved the unabashed joy he so frequently displayed about… well, almost everything and everyone he encountered.” Dr. Chenette is survived by his wife of 71 years, Emily, five children, David, of Portola Valley, CA, Jonathan, of Poughkeepsie, NY, Nancy, of Sapphire, NC, Philip, of Mill Valley, CA, Holly, of East Palo Alto, CA, 11 grandchildren, and 13 great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his brother Dr. Eugene Richard Chenette and sister Louise June Bogart. A funeral and memorial service will be held on June 20 at North United Methodist Church, 3808 N. Meridian Street, with visitations beginning at 10 AM, and the funeral at noon. The service will be streamed live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkPEuj5Zftg Memorial contributions to Use What You’ve Got Ministry (https://www.usewhatyouvegotministry.org/donations.html) or North United Methodist Church (https://northchurchindy.com/give/).