Dr. Calvin Grimes was a perfectionist when it came to music. The pitch in the voice had to be just so, the musical notes flawless.
In class, this Morehouse College professor was no different. He demanded the best out of students and expected them to arrive on time, prepared and ready.
"He always wanted children to take advantage of what was afforded them," said Saritha E. Wood-Harden, an adopted niece from Stone Mountain. "His life revolved around academic excellence and striving."
In 1977, the professor joined the music faculty at Morehouse, his alma mater. He served in various posts including music department chairman, which made him responsible for the curriculum, faculty and degree program.
On April 7, Dr. Calvin Bernard Grimes died of congestive heart failure at his home in Atlanta. He was 71. A 30-minute musical tribute will be held prior to his funeral at 10:30 a.m. Saturday in the Ray Charles Center for Performing Arts on the Morehouse campus. Carl M. Williams Funeral Directors Inc. is in charge of arrangements.
Dr. Grimes grew up in Athens, where he attended an all-black industrial school and as an honor student received a scholarship to Morehouse. There, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in music and immersed himself in activities such as the Glee Club and playing trombone for the school band.
"The love for music started very early," said Richard Wood, a childhood friend from Atlanta. "When he was 5 or 6 years old he had a little piano. He was quite studious."
He spent three years in the Army then earned a master's and doctoral degree from the University of Iowa. The music educator spent time as a chorus director for area public schools and, for eight years, was part of the music faculty at Clark College, now Clark Atlanta University.
Dr. Grimes served as chair of the Morehouse music department for 12 years. He then became dean of the division of humanities and eventually returned to the music department to teach music theory, which he was doing at the time of his death.
Van Fortson, a 1991 Morehouse grad now living in New York, called the educator a great mentor and sounding board.
"He was instrumental in getting me music scholarships to help out with college," Mr. Fortson said. "After I graduated, he became a good friend whom I could bounce ideas off, and he'd give advice on things like my parents getting older. He was an important professor to many a Morehouse man."
The professor was a past board member of the Georgia Humanities Council and organist-choirmaster emeritus at St. Paul's Epsicopal Church. He attended church recitals and student performances at Spelman College and Morehouse. He enjoyed photography, traveled the world and kept a grand piano at home.
"For him, it was all about academics, taking it, applying it and using it in life to help other people," his niece said. "His ear for perfection in music was the way he lived his life."
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