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201 West Lampkin St.,
STARKVILLE, MS 39759
Phone: (662) 323-5905
201 West Lampkin St.
STARKVILLE, MS 39759
Phone: (662) 323-5905
201 West Lampkin St.
STARKVILLE, MS 39759
Phone: (662) 323-5905
201 West Lampkin St.
STARKVILLE, MS 39759
Phone: (662) 323-5905
201 West Lampkin St.
STARKVILLE, MS 39759
Phone: (662) 323-5905
Dr. Guy  Hargrove
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Obituary for Dr. Guy Arnold Hargrove Jr.

Dr. Guy  Arnold  Hargrove Jr.
Dr. Guy Arnold Hargrove Jr., 84, passed away on Sunday, September 4 at the Oktibbeha County Hospital in Starkville,Mississippi. He was born on May 19, 1932 in Memphis, Tennessee to the late Guy Arnold and Evelyn Jones Hargrove. He graduated from Christian Brothers College (now Christian Brothers High School) in 1950, receiving an excellent education and discovering that he had a gift for singing when he tried out to be in the chorus of “The Pirates of Penzance” and won the lead role. He then spent four years in the Air Force in Washington, DC before going to the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, MA, where he received a Bachelor of Music degree in 1959 and a Master of Music degree in 1961, both in vocal performance. In 1963-4 he studied in Paris with the famed French baritone Pierre Bernac on a Fulbright Grant, earning a Licence de Concert (Chant) at the Ecole Normale de Musique. During that year in France he met another Fulbrighter named Nancy Duvall, whom he married in 1965. The two, who shared a life-long love of Paris and French culture, celebrated their 51st anniversary on August 28.

They moved to Columbia, SC in 1965, where Guy taught at the University of South Carolina. In 1970 he received his Ph.D. in Vocal Performance and Literature from the University of Iowa, and he and Nancy moved to Starkville to begin new positions at Mississippi State University. Guy taught Voice, Music History, and Art Song Repertoire, among other subjects, directed productions of musical theatre, gave numerous concerts on campus, throughout the southeast, and in Europe in such locations as Paris, London, and Vienna, and for sixteen years conducted the Starkville-MSU Orchestra. The couple, along with their children when they were young, lived in Chambery, France; Brussels, Belgium; Lund, Sweden; and Vienna,Austria, while Nancy held Fulbright Lectureships.

Guy was a multi-talented person, best known for his beautiful tenor voice and his concerts both of art song and of popular music, especially that of Frank Sinatra. After Nancy’s retirement, the couple gave many programs in the United States and Europe in which Nancy would talk and he would sing. Their last program, fittingly, was given to a group of incoming Fulbrighters during a three-week orientation at MSU. He sang the National Anthem at many sports events in Starkville and in Columbia, and he also founded and directed Starkville’s Old-Fashioned Family Fourth.

He will be remembered for his outgoing nature, his sense of humor and sparkling wit, his marvelous laugh, and his love of life. He enjoyed tennis (winning many trophies), golf, fishing, cooking, and in his later years playing cards at the Starkville Country Club with a great group of guys. His other interests were traveling in Europe and watching old films.

He dearly loved his children Guy and Meg and his five grandchildren. He and Nancy took them on numerous trips and cruises, including two weeks in Italy to celebrate their fiftieth anniversary in June 2015.

Guy is survived by his wife of 51 years Nancy, his children Guy (Barbara) of Birmingham, his daughter Meg Miller (Francis) of Monument Colorado, five grandchildren (who called him Big Guy) Guy Edward Hargrove, Maggie Hargrove, Elizabeth Hargrove, Jacob Miller, and Matthew Miller as well as his brother- and sister-in-law Howard and Jane Duvall of Charlotte, NC, and numerous nephews and nieces. The family wishes to express their gratitude to Dr. Ben Sanford as well as to the doctors and nurses at Oktibbeha County Hospital and at North Mississippi Medical Center and to the Hargroves’ loyal housekeeper and friend of nearly 40 years Betty Baker.

A Celebration of his life with selections of music that he loved and sang will take place on September 17 at 11 a.m. at the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection in Starkville, preceded by visitation in the Parish Hall from 9 – 10:45 a.m. and followed by committal at the church’s columbarium. Honorary pallbearers will be his five grandchildren, Vernon Ammon, Warren Couvillion, and his card playing friends.

The family requests that memorials be sent to The Voice Department, The New England Conservatory of Music, 290 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115 or The Music Program, The Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, 105 N. Montgomery Street, Starkville, MS 39759.



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(662) 323-5905 | 201 West Lampkin St. | STARKVILLE, MS 39759 | Fax: (662) 323-5907 | Email: ninawelch45@gmail.com (662) 323-5905 | 201 West Lampkin St. | STARKVILLE, MS 39759 | Fax: (662) 323-5907 | Email: ninawelch45@gmail.com (662) 323-5905 | 201 West Lampkin St. | STARKVILLE, MS 39759 | Fax: (662) 323-5907 | Email: ninawelch45@gmail.com (662) 323-5905 | 201 West Lampkin St. | STARKVILLE, MS 39759 | Fax: (662) 323-5907 | Email: ninawelch45@gmail.com (662) 323-5905 | 201 West Lampkin St. | STARKVILLE, MS 39759 | Fax: (662) 323-5907 | Email: ninawelch45@gmail.com