Ouachita Stories

Ouachita Baptist University will host guest speaker and Ouachita alumnus Dr. C. Edward Spann in a presentation about his book Presidential Praise: Our Presidents and Their Hymns, Monday, Nov. 16, at 7:30 p.m. in Hickingbotham Hall’s Young Auditorium on Ouachita’s campus.

Spann, retired dean of the College of Fine Arts at Dallas Baptist University, centered the book around three years of research in which he discovered the favorite hymns of each president and their significance.

After working with Dr. Spann for a year to bring him to Ouachita, Dr. Rob Hewell, associate professor of music, said, “Persons who have interest in U.S. history, music of the church, the faith lives of U.S. presidents and/or research into biographical data would appreciate the opportunity to hear this presentation.”

Spann, a North Little Rock, Ark., native, graduated from Ouachita Baptist University. He holds three degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, as well as a PhD from Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla. He has served as a music missionary in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he founded the Department of Sacred Music at the Baptist Seminary and has taught at Dallas Baptist University; Houston Baptist University; and Shorter College in Rome, Ga. He has served several churches and associations in related positions as well as chaplain’s assistant and bandmaster in the United States Army in Germany.

Presidential Praise is comprised of a brief discussion of each president’s administration; whether or not he was musical; material about the music heard in the White House; the story, printed version and CD recording of the music of his most favored hymn; and how it may have influenced his presidential decisions and spiritual journey.

Admission to the presentation will be free of charge and Presidential Praise will be available for purchase. For more information, contact Dr. Rob Hewell at [email protected] or (870) 245-5133.

By Rebecca Stone