The Alma Mater hymn

Ron Caniglia e-mailed to ask for the link to the Alma Mater Hymn. He said he had found it on the web site several years ago and periodically would return to the site to listen to the song. “I’m in withdrawal,” he said in his e-mail. I sent him the link and he sent the nicest response.

Ron is the father of Jennifer Caniglia ‘06. He is a University of Nebraska Cornhusker himself but loves the Roanoke College Alma Mater Hymn. He even tried to change the words and substitue his school’s name but it didn’t work. But he did download it to his i-pod and after hearing it four times, he reports he’s had his withdrawal symptoms have eased. His description of the hymn is “wonderful sentiments set in perfect music.”

Roanoke’s Alma Mater Hymn was composed in 1960 by the late Dr. Frank Williams, professor of music, emeritus. The words were written by Grace Bosworth. Dr. Williams was one of the founding members of Roanoke’s fine arts department.

Jennifer, who was an international relations major, is now working for a charitable organization called International Resource Development in the Washington, D.C. area. Ron says about his daugher’s experience at Roanoke … “You’ll have to trust me, even though I am her father, when I tell you that the education she got at Roanoke College prepared her to perform with the top tier of the young graduates I have worked with over the past thirty-five years … she learned to think and deliver.   Your alma mater captures this perfectly and that is why I treasure the song.”

For anyone else experience Alma Mater Hymn withdrawal, quickly click this link and you’ll be transported back to memory lane: http://clubs.roanoke.edu/rcchoir/music/almamater.wav.