Rowena Muckelroy Savage
A smiling African-American woman with short hair, wearing a print dress and pearls.
Roena Muckelroy Savage, from a 1933 publication.
BornOctober 30, 1904
Henderson, Texas
DiedOctober 29, 1991
Los Angeles, California
NationalityAmerican
Other namesRowene Muckelroy Savage
OccupationSinger

Roena Muckelroy Savage (October 30, 1904 – October 29, 1991) was an American concert soprano, voice educator, and choir director.

Early life

Roena Eloise Muckelroy was born in Henderson, Texas, and raised in San Bernardino, California,[1] the daughter of William Wainwright Muckelroy and Mary E. Muckelroy.[2][3] After graduating from San Bernardino High School in 1922,[4][5] she graduated in 1927 from the University of Southern California,[6][7] with further voice, piano, and organ studies in Chicago and Columbus, with Richard Hageman, Moissaye Boguslawski, Marcella Craft, and other musicians.[8][9]

Career

Savage performed as a concert soprano. In 1927, she won awards for singing at the Los Angeles District Eisteddfod, and the California Grand Finals Eisteddfod.[8][10] In Missouri, she was a soloist with the People's Symphony Orchestra in St. Louis, and she was director of music at Lincoln University,[11] where her husband was a professor.[6][12]

In 1939, she directed a "Yuletide pageant" of forty performers in San Bernardino, using traditional black spirituals.[13] She wrote and directed a musical play based on Spanish and Mexican folksongs in 1940.[14] In California during World War II, she organized and led a choir of war workers near San Bernardino, performing as the Legend A Cappella choir.[15] She toured the American South giving concerts in 1949.[16] In 1962, she joined the summer opera chorus of the Redlands Bowl.[17] Later in life, she was associate professor of voice and chair of the humanities department at Jarvis Christian College in Texas,[18] and wrote a musical pageant, Hearthstones.[9]

She was active in the Missouri State and Jefferson City branches of the NAACP,[19] and a charter member the Los Angeles alumnae chapter of Delta Sigma Theta.[20][21]

Personal life

Roena Muckelroy married history professor W. Sherman Savage in 1927. They had two daughters, Eloise (born 1936) and Inez (born 1939).[22][23] She was widowed in 1980, and she died in 1991, the day before her 87th birthday, in Los Angeles.

References

  1. ↑ "Roena Savage, Lyric Soprano, Sings Tonight". The San Bernardino County Sun. 1944-09-22. p. 9. Retrieved 2020-04-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ "Roena Savage to Give Recital". The San Bernardino County Sun. 1948-03-02. p. 8. Retrieved 2020-04-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "Roena Savage to Sing at Benefit March 3". The San Bernardino County Sun. 1948-02-27. p. 10. Retrieved 2020-04-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "Ministerial Association Sponsors Recital Tonight". San Bernardino Sun. July 29, 1924. p. 5. Retrieved April 27, 2020 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  5. ↑ "'Who's Who in Music' Lists Roena Savage". San Bernardino Sun. April 24, 1951. p. 24. Retrieved April 27, 2020 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  6. 1 2 "Lincoln U. Recital to be Held Tonight". Jefferson City Post-Tribune. May 19, 1933. p. 1. Retrieved April 27, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "Southern California alumni review, vol. 33, no. 8 (1952 May)". University of Southern California History Collection. p. 17. Retrieved 2020-04-28.
  8. 1 2 Who's who in music and dance in Southern California. University of California Libraries. Hollywood : Bureau of Musical Research. 1933. p. 245.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  9. 1 2 "Texas Soprano Will Spend Summer in San Bernardino". The San Bernardino County Sun. 1962-06-03. p. 49. Retrieved 2020-04-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Famous Young Singer to Present Recital Tonight". The San Bernardino County Sun. 1934-02-26. p. 3. Retrieved 2020-04-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ Parks, Arnold G. (2012-09-18). Lincoln University:: 1920-1970. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4396-1892-9.
  12. ↑ Kremer, Gary R. (2014-12-21). Race and Meaning: The African American Experience in Missouri. University of Missouri Press. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-8262-7336-9.
  13. ↑ "Negroes to Give Yuletide Pageant". San Bernardino Sun. December 9, 1939. p. 7. Retrieved April 27, 2020 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  14. ↑ "Negroes to Present Folksongs of Spain". The San Bernardino County Sun. 1940-05-02. p. 7. Retrieved 2020-04-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ "Negro Choir to Sing at Church Tonight". San Bernardino Sun. April 30, 1944. p. 8. Retrieved April 27, 2020 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  16. ↑ "Roena Savage on Concert Tour". Indianapolis Recorder. August 20, 1949. p. 4. Retrieved April 27, 2020 – via Hoosier State Chronicles.
  17. ↑ Perlee, Charles D. (August 24, 1962). "Famous Soprano to Join Opera Chorus; Star Offers Her Tribute to Redlands Bowl". San Bernardino Sun. p. 13. Retrieved April 27, 2020 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  18. ↑ "Roena Savage Visits in Muckelroy Home". San Bernardino Sun. August 11, 1961. p. B-8. Retrieved April 27, 2020 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  19. ↑ "Along the N.A.A.C.P. Battlefront". The Crisis: 24. January 1943.
  20. ↑ ""Nu" Beginnings". DSTLA. Retrieved 2020-04-27.
  21. ↑ "Roena Savage Will Sing at L. A. Sorority". The San Bernardino County Sun. 1944-05-27. p. 9. Retrieved 2020-04-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ↑ Greene, Lorenzo J. (1981). "W. Sherman Savage". The Journal of Negro History. 66 (1): 80–84. doi:10.1086/JNHv66n1p80. ISSN 0022-2992. JSTOR 2716892. S2CID 149607641.
  23. ↑ "Roena Savage in the 1940 Census". 1940 United States Federal Census. Retrieved 2020-04-27.
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