The Norman Transcript December 11, 2024
Mr. Haines web site is http://harryhaines.com/
Harry Hartman Haines, professor emeritus of music at WTAMU, passed away on Tuesday, December 10, 2024. Memorial services will be at 11:00 A.M. on Thursday, December 19, 2024 at the Canyon First Presbyterian Church with Don Stribling officiating. Private inurnment will be in Dreamland Cemetery. Arrangements are by Brooks Funeral Directors of Canyon.
A native of Oklahoma, Harry was born at Elk City, on October 24, 1932 to Harry Z. and Katherine Haines. After completing a bachelor's degree in music from Oklahoma City University in 1954, he also earned two degrees from the University of Oklahoma, a masters in 1956 and a doctorate in 1968.
His teaching career spanned 46 years and included 15 years as a high school band director in Harrah and Norman, Oklahoma. He then went into college teaching and worked 3 years at Western Illinois University, 6 years at Phillips University, and 22 years at West Texas A&M University where he served as head of the department of music.
While a student at OU he met Shirley Jane Snoddy and they were married on August 4, 1955.
Dr. Haines was past president of the Greater Southwest Music Festival, past president of the Texas Association of Music Schools, past president of the Canyon Kiwanis Club, and past president of the Panhandle Professional Writers. He was a ruling elder and a member of First Presbyterian Church of Amarillo. He served for many years as a member of the Amarillo Symphony Board, Lone Star Ballet Board, and was president of the Canyon Library Council. Haines was selected as Canyon's "Citizen of the Year" for his work with the Canyon Library in 1999.
During the 1980s and 90s, most band students in Texas and surrounding states learned to play their instruments using band method books that were written by him. He was also co-author with his wife, Shirley, of a series of car books. After his retirement from WTAMU in 1998, Harry Haines became active as a writer of fiction. His novels won several prestigious national contests, the most notable of which was 1st Prize at the National Writers Association for The Cover-up at Ann Arbor. All total, he had 22 published books - over one million copies in print.
Preceded in death by Shirley, his wife of 58 years, he is survived by his three children: Howard and Holly of Amarillo, and Harvey (and wife, Cindy) of Washington, D.C.; three grandchildren, Heather, Melanie, and Sally; and 5 great grandchildren.
The family has suggested gifts to WT Music Scholarships, or to Canyon First Presbyterian Church as appropriate for memorial contributions
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