Melvin West, noted organist and college professor passed away on December 27, 2019, in Portland, Oregon. He was 89.
West served in Seventh-day Adventist institutions for several decades, and served on the Hymnal Committee that produced the 1985 Church Hymnal (which is still in use today), a committee on which my father, John Read, also served. West chaired the Tunes Sub-committee and contributed more than 30 arrangements and hymn tunes, the largest contribution by any one person in those categories.
West taught at Atlantic Union College from 1953 to 1959, then went to Walla Walla University in College Place, Washington, where he taught for 18 years, 15 of which were as chairman of the music department. West secured accreditation for Walla Walla’s music program from the National Association of Schools of Music and gained departmental membership in the national music honor society, Pi Kappa Lambda, both firsts for Adventist-affiliated colleges.
In 1977, West became the church’s first full-time minister of music, in Kettering, Ohio. In 1981, he went to Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska, as a music teacher and director of development; he also served as minister of music at the College View SDA Church.
Melvin K. West was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, attended academy at Lodi Academy in California, and studied organ under Allen Bacon of the College of the Pacific. He began undergraduate studies at Union College in 1948, later transferring to Andrews University. He earned a Master’s Degree in music from the University of Redlands, California, and a Doctor of Music Arts from Boston University.
From Adventist World, by Mark Kellner