Earning an academic scholarship to Morehouse College, he served as student band director and assistant chapel organizer ("In those days, attendance was required," Winfrey muses) for the all-male institution.

Winfrey is full of praise for his alma mater.

"There was a culture there that was just so dynamic," Winfrey says. "Academic excellence, artistic excellence--it was the best of everything there."

After graduating in 1954, Winfrey joined the U.S. Army at Ft. Bliss, Tx. In between guided missile instruction, he served as brigade choirmaster and organist.

His term of service in the army as a chaplain's assistant helped Winfrey determine his direction.

Witnessing the powers of instruction and "character guidance" between the chaplain and the enlisted men in his brigade, Winfrey said he learned how "education can be a tremendous source to lift people to higher lives."

Inspired to teach, Winfrey accepted a position as a combination band-choral director in Georgia after being discharged from the service.

A year later, he began graduate work at Columbia University's Teachers College, and ultimately moved his family to the Northeast after "a lot of convincing" from friends and colleagues in the Boston public school system.

Lift Every Voice And Sing

Two years after the move, Winfrey had secured a position as a music teacher, composed the piece "Let's Build A City" for the Boston Expo, and had been offered the directorial position of a fledging musical group at Harvard--the Kuumba Singers.

Originally, Winfrey had promised his wife that he would not assume too many responsibilities beyond his full-time job. When asked to lead the two-year-old Harvard choral ensemble, Winfrey asked its members to continue the search while he considered the appointment.

Later that year, Winfrey attended one of the group's meetings brandishing a letter stating that he would not be able to head Kuumba. Before Winfrey could state his intentions, then-Kuumba President Kenneth Ingraham '74 announced that Winfrey was the organization's unanimous choice for director.

Winfrey put his letter in his pocket--in what he now calls a "pocket veto." Kuumba had won Winfrey's heart.

"The rest is history," he laughs.

Having spent "25 glorious years with bright young minds," Winfrey says Kuumba has not only played an integral role in his life, but has become "central" to the University.