Donald Davison – a tribute from Bishop Harold
As chair of the Liturgical Advisory Committee, and of the Hymnal Supplement Committee, I wish to express something of our deep sense of loss at the death of Donald Davison earlier this week.
I first met Donald in his academic role in the world of mathematics at Queen’s University Belfast. Maths and Music were his particular areas of gifting, and lived out with equal passion and ability.
He had a profound role in the music of Church Hymnal 5, which can be seen alone by how often his name occurs in the music of that volume. But his whole life was undergirded by a deep and intelligent Christian faith. In his most recent work on the Hymnal Supplement, he never missed a word, or even a comma, and would fearlessly but gently challenge any theology he considered to be inadequate: and he knew a great deal about theology from his wide reading.
We will miss Donald greatly, and I wish to convey, on behalf of the LAC and Supplement Committee, and on my own behalf, our love and assurance of prayer to his wife, Rosemary, who was just preparing to celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary, and to the wider family.
+HaroldDown & Dromore