One of the joys of working at Maranatha is hearing the sounds of singing and instrumental music coming out of Old Main's windows while walking around the building.
Donald DeGraw smiled and admitted looking forward to hearing that sound again Saturday morning. Alumni Hall was jam-packed with 120-to-150 people during most of the Fine Arts Department reunion. The group then broke up for some singing, the former Chamber Singers staying in Alumni Hall and the former Madrigal Choir members adjourning to Burckart Hall.
Soon, the sounds of singing once again reverberated off the walls and around the courtyard on Old Main's west side.
"Every day for 14 years, I was glad to be here," said DeGraw, a member of the music faculty for 14 years (1972-86) and head of the Fine Arts Department when he left. "Why is the music program so popular here? Maybe David Ledgerwood is the reason. Maybe Monty Budahl is the reason. Or, maybe, we've just all been incredibly blessed by what God has done through us."
DeGraw's three children (Daryl, Jeanne, Jannis) all graduated from Maranatha. Two of his grandchildren now attend.
College founder Dr. B. Myron Cedarholm was looking for a music professor for the fall of 1972 after Dr. Don Scovill, a music teacher since the college was founded in 1968, had resigned that spring. He called Dr. Bob Jones Jr.,
who recommended DeGraw. He had been teaching in a public high school in Illinois.
"We were excited to come, and we bought the Scovills' house on Center Street," DeGraw recalled.
One key to the growth of the program, DeGraw said, was the concept of sending out touring musical groups. The musicians not only bonded with each other, but helped cement the school's bond with its constituency.
"When those young people got into the churches and the homes, people outside of Maranatha knew what was happening here," DeGraw said. "They found out what kind of young people we had here. That turned out to be a great thing."