Virginia Walker Waner Hunt '47
Virginia Walker Waner Hunt ’47, associate professor emerita of music, died on October 9, 1994, in Saratoga Springs. She was 88.
Virginia was a native Saratogian. She earned a diploma in voice in 1928 from the Institute of Musical Art of the Juilliard Foundation and continued there for postgraduate study. She also studied vocal coaching at Hartt College and music education at Skidmore, from which she earned a bachelor of music degree in 1947.
She joined the faculty in 1945, assumed directorship of the Freshman Chorus in 1946, and became director of the Sophomore Chorus in 1956. In 1963 she was named director the 65-member College Chorus, after Music Department Chair Hoyt Irwin relinquished the post. The chorus, attired in formal gowns for major performances and jacket-and-skirt uniforms on less formal occasions, sang for convocations, Thanksgiving services, the Christmas vespers program, Father-Daughter Weekends, and its own annual concerts. Attesting to her popularity, an informal singing group within the chorus called itself the Wee Waners.
Virginia’s own performance career included many engagements as soloist in concerts and oratorio and as a member of several professional groups. Her professional affiliations included the National Association of Singing Teachers, of which she was a fellow; the Choral Directors Guild of America; and the American Choral Directors Association. She retired from Skidmore after 26 years of service.
Virginia was predeceased in 1965 by her first husband, John Waner, a game breeder and conservationist, and in 1982 by her second husband, H. Dunham Hunt, a physician. Her survivors included two nephews.