Walter McIver, 1913-2003

Walter George McIver, 90, of Rochester, New York, died Thursday night, April 17, 2003, at Rochester General Hospital, surrounded by his family.

Mr. McIver was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, the fourth of four children of William and Jean McIver. After graduating as student council president of Collinwood High School, he attended Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. While there he met and married Beulah Newman of Portsmouth, Ohio. They were married sixty-three years, until her death in 1999.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Music degree from Westminster, Mr. and Mrs. McIver moved to Harrisburg, PA. Mr. McIver headed the music program at Market Square Presbyterian Church and founded the Harrisburg Symphony Choir. In 1940, their first child, Ann McKay (Kay) was born.

The family moved to Williamsport, PA, in 1942, where Mr. McIver directed the music program at Covenant Central Presbyterian Church and later founded the Williamsport Civic Choir. Four years later, Mr. McIver began teaching at Lycoming College. He taught there for 30 years, founding the Lycoming College Choir, which is conducted by his successor, Fred Thayer. Mr. McIver led the Lycoming College Choir on two tours of England. He and his wife sang in a State Department-sponsored choir that toured Africa in 1959.

In 1942 William Walter was born to Beulah and Walter, followed by Robert Hugh in 1948. Both sons are professors of voice at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester. Kay is a retired bank officer.

Mr. McIver's education continued with a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Bucknell University and a Master of Arts in Music from New York University in 1955.

After he retired in 1976, Mr. and Mrs. McIver worked as volunteers in mission for the Presbyterian Church, serving in homes for children in Nashville, TN, and Banner Elk, NC. Eventually they settled in Salisbury, NC. After Beulah McIver's death, Mr. McIver married Mrs. Lillian Smith in 2001, whom he met in Salisbury. They moved to Rochester and resided in the Chapel Oaks Retirement Community.

Mr. McIver is survived by his widow, Lillian McIver; his three children and their spouses: Ann (Kay) McKay McIver Reilly, William and Dana McIver, and Robert and Karen McIver; his eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren; sister-in-law Bonnie Newman Thornhill of Seguin, TX; and brother-in-law Charles Newman of Portsmouth, OH.

Memorial services will be held in Clarke Chapel at Lycoming College, Williamsport, at 4:00 p.m., Sunday, April 27. The family will greet friends in the Wertz Student Center from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that memorial gifts be made to the McIver Recital Series at the Development Office, Lycoming College, 700 College Place, Williamsport, PA 17701.