Rufus Cameron's grandmother played the organ. His grandfather played the banjo.
Growing up, Mr. Cameron spent countless days at the home of George and Fannie Johnson Truitt. With music omnipresent, playing an instrument rubbed off. He started out playing the organ by ear and eventually took piano lessons.
Tickling the ivories became his thing although, after he learned to read music, he could blow a mean saxophone, too.
"The piano was his forte," said his sister Imogene Fry of Fairburn. "He learned to play the organ, but his gift was the piano. His love of music included jazz, classical and traditional gospel. He just surrounded himself with different types of music, and he played those different types of music."
Mr. Cameron had always told his relatives that, when he passed, he didn't want a big to-do. They plan to honor his wishes at noon Saturday with a graveside service at Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens. Lakes-Dunson-Robertson Funeral Home of LaGrange is in charge of arrangements.
On Nov. 19, Mr. Cameron died of heart failure at South Fulton Medical Center in East Point. He was 70.
Mr. Cameron's first stint playing music was in the family church, Mount Pleasant CME in Mountville, a community east of LaGrange. Before long, Mr. Cameron made himself available for most anybody, any event -- weddings, recitals, things of that nature.
Lewis Gates of LaGrange had known Mr. Cameron since they were fourth-graders. They were in the same graduating class at LaGrange's Ethel W. Kight High. He watched his friend's musical repertoire soar.
"I remember when he played ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus,' " Mr. Gates said. "That was about the only song he knew. But he got better. He put all he had into it."
When he was around 19, Mr. Cameron left LaGrange for Atlanta to live with an aunt and uncle. It was hard for a young black man to find a well-paying job, so he ditched Atlanta for Philadelphia. There, relatives helped him find work, and he played piano for Union AME Church.
After two decades in Philly, he returned to Atlanta and worked as a clerk for J.B. Fuqua Industries for 10 years. His next job was a 20-plus-year stint with Allied Barton Security Services, where he held various posts in the command center. All the while, Mr. Cameron would travel to and from LaGrange to play music for Warren Temple United Methodist Church.
Besides music, Mr. Cameron enjoyed reading and cooking. His signature dish was fried chicken, which he seasoned with a secret spice. He loved to bake, too, notably a white batter cake with lemon icing.
Music was his thing, though.
"Had he really gotten schooled," his sister said, "he would have been a very good maestro."
Additional survivors include another sister, Wanda McNeal of Santa Clarita, Calif.; and a brother, Edwin Leon Cameron of Kansas City.
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