Obituary of Dominic Garvey

Dominic Garvey, 79, died July 10, 2015, in Boothbay Harbor, surrounded by friends. Dominic was born July 6, 1936, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Drexel Hill, a suburb of Philadelphia. He attended elementary school at the Sacred Heart of Manoa where he was introduced to the great Spanish teacher Honora Furtado. Madame Furtado taught piano at the Curtis Institute of Philadelphia. Dominic was accepted as a scholarship student at the conservatory, where he stayed for 10 years. Samuel Barber, who was head of the piano division, became his mentor, especially during the adolescent years when he studied the piano repertory of Frederic Chopin. It was during this time that Dominic became the student of Dr. Margerite Mary Kearney, the drama director at WCAU, the CBS station for Philadelphia. His musical life became complicated when he became a classical accompanist for the Gateway Players of Summer's Point, New Jersey. Because of this work, Samuel Barber started a piano vocal accompaniment program at Curtis, a program still in existence today. Upon graduation from high school, Dominic found a calling to join the Christian Brothers (F.S.C.). He then pursued the dual work of education and a monastic lifestyle. After leaving the Novitiate at Annondale, Maryland, Brother Dominic joined the scholasticate in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, where he prepared for a career in education by obtaining a master’s degree in education and a master’s degree in theology at La Salle University. This was in preparation for a history teaching assignment at Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he began studies for his third master’s degree, this one in European history from Duquesne University. During this time period, the Fulbright Commission awarded Dominic a scholarship to study European history at the Sorbonne University of Paris. The French experience was quite extraordinary because it included two 5-week periods of living outside of Paris. Dominic chose Normandy and the village of Sainte-Mere-Eglise as one of the sites and the art center of Strasbourg for the second. To walk daily among the crosses of the Normandy invasions was a life shattering experience. Returning to the United States and resuming a teaching career in Pittsburgh was embellished by the strange chapters of involvement in George Romero's “The Night of the Living Dead.” Movie careers put aside, Dominic returned to Philadelphia to teach at his alma mater and begin a degree in theatre history at Villanova University. When the results of Vatican II resounded through the Catholic Church, Dominic became one of thousands who left the monastic religious life to pursue careers in secular education. Finishing the master’s degree at Villanova, Dominic went to New York City and rejoined the classical music world. His former mentor, Samuel Barber and his life partner Gian Carlo Menotti, took Dominic to Morocco where he was encouraged to continue the study of music under Virgil Thompson and Maurice Grosser, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copeland and Paul Bowles. What a pile of ego and libido that was! After a year in Marrakesh, Dominic returned to New York and the complicated study of J.S. Bach under the watchful eye of Joe Greenspan. Also to work and record the public concerts and performances of Montserrat Caballe, the Spanish soprano. Dominic had to say no to Julius Rudel and the offer to direct operatic productions at the NYC Opera. Secular theatre work was done at La Mamma, NYU and Joe Papp's Public Theatre. A doctoral degree was granted by NYU in 1975 with the thesis being titled “A History of Avante Garde Theatre: Wagner — Albee. At the urgings of a former student, Joe Malloy, Dominic came to Boothbay Harbor to be the artistic director of the Carousel Music Theatre, where he remained for 25 years. He worked with Mary Miller, the Harbor Methodist Church and for 10 years playing piano music for Melanie, Marylou and Phil at the Rocktide Inn. Dominic leaves a brother John and his wife SweetAnn who live in Newtown Heights, Pennsylvania. John and Ann have four children and 12 grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, donations in Dominic's memory can be made to Lincoln County Animal Shelter in Edgecomb, or to the Boothbay Harbor Methodist Church, Townsend Avenue, Boothbay Harbor. A celebration in Dominic's honor will be held at the Carousel Music Theatre later this summer.