8:31 a.m., Dec. 17, 2009----The late J. Robert King, a longtime professor of music and founding director of the University of Delaware Marching Band, has been remembered this holiday season with a Christmas tree specially decorated by his four daughters, three of whom are UD alumnae.

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The tree, with blue and gold lights and ornaments featuring University and musical themes, is part of the annual Delaware Hospice “Festival of Trees” display, a fundraising event that celebrates the lives of former hospice patients. Prof. King retired from UD in 1985, continuing to work part time as a professor emeritus, and died in June 1994.

“My sisters and I have been collecting the ornaments over the past year in order to surprise our mother [Beryl King] with the tree in our dad's honor,” said Barbara King Buckingham, who graduated from UD in 1978 and is a social worker with Delaware Hospice. “When my dad got sick, I became involved with hospice, and I knew that this was the kind of work I needed to do.”

Buckingham and her sisters -- Helen King Spence, a 1976 graduate who met her husband, Stanley Spence of the Class of 1977, when both were UD Marching Band members; Beverly King Gilman, a 1966 graduate; and the Rev. Margaret King Zeller -- found appropriate ornaments in their attics, on eBay and in Newark, Del., shops.

The tree boasts all types of musical instruments but has a wealth of French horns, which Prof. King played, and Moravian stars, reflecting his scholarly work with the Moravian Music Foundation. The tree stand is draped in a UD blanket.

This year's Festival of Trees display opened in November at Cokesbury Village in Hockessin, Del.

Prof. King came to Delaware in 1946 to establish a curriculum in instrumental music education and applied music. He was responsible for developing all related musical ensembles, and for the next 18 years he taught all the courses connected with these programs, including private instruction.

He directed the UD Marching Band from its first appearance in 1947, with about 35 members, until 1972.

He also was involved with many community musical groups, including the Brandywiners and the Academy of Dance orchestra, and directed local church choirs.

Prof. King received an Excellence in Teaching Award in 1967 and the University's Medal of Distinction in 1994. The band rehearsal hall in the Amy E. du Pont Music Building is named in his honor.

Article by Ann Manser
Photos by Evan Krape and courtesy University Archives