Dr. Jay Dunnahoo, Conductor Emeritus
In Memoriam

In 2018, the Symphony of the Hills lost a founder and a friend. Dr. Jay Dunnahoo was instrumental in making a professional reality of Kerrville’s beloved 75-piece orchestra and led it as Conductor and Artistic Director for 14 seasons until his retirement in 2015.

Dunnahoo’s leadership happened almost by accident. When he and his wife, Jodie, retired to Kerrville after his 20 years as Director of Music Education for Pasadena ISD, he was content to sing in the church choir. But after he filled in as choir conductor for a Christmas concert, he was asked to direct the Schreiner University orchestra.

Dunnahoo accepted and helped guide that group as it became the Symphony of the Hills and grew to become what he called “a treasure for Kerrville.”

“There was a whole bunch of people, and what happened was kind of providential,” Dunnahoo said in a profile article. “Everything just fit together so well. First, you have a community really interested in this, with people who have lived in other places and don’t want to give up cultural things. The leadership of the board has been amazing. And we have a university that is really great. It wouldn’t have happened without any of them.”

Dr. Tim Summerlin, who as President of Schreiner University was the one who first tapped his friend to step up on the podium, calls Dunnahoo his “blessing out of the blue.”

“Jay enabled the Symphony of the Hills to move from hopeful local orchestra to quality professional symphony,” Summerlin said. “Jay Dunnahoo also was an excellent entertainer who knew that programs need musical balance. He loved music of all sorts, and had a good instinct for how to build a concert of diverse musical styles that could appeal to a broad audience. For nearly a decade and a half, it was Dr. Jay Dunnahoo who was the single most critical factor in bringing to Kerrville and the Hill Country a vibrant annual series of symphonic music. Jay truly was a blessing from beyond who arrived at just the right time.”

As long as the Symphony of the Hills exists, it will owe a deep debt to Jay Dunnahoo.