Verolga Nix

Verolga Nix (Apr. 6, 1933-Dec. 9, 2014) Born in Cleveland, Verolga moved with her family at an early age to Philadelphia. She studied for two years at New England Conservatory of Music and then earned a music degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1955. She was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Bennett College in 2000. After retiring from twenty years as a full-time music teacher in Philadelphia public schools she served as minister of music at several churches in Philadelphia, trained and conducted many choirs and served as a seminar leader nationwide. She was a member of Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), National Association of Negro Musicians and the Hymn Society in U.S. and Canada. In 1980 the United Methodist Church asked her to co-edit with J. Jefferson Cleveland the supplemental hymnal Songs of Zion. She published nearly 200 original songs an arrangements.

(further details in The Philadelphia Tribune, Dec.19, 2014 obituary).

Mary Louise VanDyke