Wayne Douglas Patriquin
1948 -
Wayne Patriquin,
pianist, organist, singer, and conductor, has spent forty years teaching,
working in church music, and providing music for important occasions. He has received
local, regional, and national recognition for his musical leadership and
contributions in Canada.
Born and raised in Halifax,
Nova Scotia, Wayne spent the first three years of his life in an orphanage
before becoming a foster child of Gerald and Margaret Dooks
(a Seventh-day Adventist), who would raise him until he left to attend Oshawa
Missionary College, now Kingsway College, at age sixteen. There was a lot of
music in the home, and Wayne started study on piano at age four and organ in
his early teenage years. He would eventually study at the Halifax Academy of
Music, Kingsway College, and Toronto University and complete postgraduate work
at Westminster College in London, England.
While at OMC, he studied
piano and organ and voice and conducting with Ralph Coupland,
whom Patriquin recalls as an important and inspiring
mentor who influenced him to pursue a career in music. He eventually received
diplomas and degrees in pipe organ, piano, voice, and conducting.
Following a car accident at
age nineteen that left him seriously injured, he moved to Calgary after his
recuperation. Through encouragement from Percy W. Manuel, president of OMC,
Estelle Jorgenson, and other friends in the Adventist church during those
years, he was able to continue his training and become a significant player in
musical life in the Calgary, Alberta, area.
Patriquin taught and directed choirs in schools
for over twenty years, training several ensembles that won in competitions. He
served as a music specialist for the Calgary Catholic School Board and as an
adjudicator and talent coordinator for CBC television and was director of the
Petro Canada Choir in Calgary, a group that traveled across Canada with the
1988 Olympic Flame.
In addition to serving as a
musician in the Calgary Adventist church, he has provided music and directed
choirs in other churches and served as a minister of music in United Methodist
and Baptist churches. Even though he had
to retire early because of deteriorating health, he continues to be involved in
church music in Calgary, conducting master classes and choir workshops. He is
known for his Christian influence and the high standards in music he upholds in
his privately owned music studio.
Patriquin has received a number of awards for
his work and accomplishments in music, including the Canadian Citizenship
Award, the Alberta Government Award, the Calgary Citizenship Award, and
recognition from CBC for his contribution to the betterment of music in his
community. Through meeting daily physical challenges and working in music he
continues to witness for his faith and the Christian relationship that sustains
him.
ds/2012
Source:
Interview with Wayne Patriquin, December 2012 and
information provided by him in 2003; Canadian Union Messenger: March 1989 (“A Celebration of Music Honours
Patriquin”); February 1991, 19 (CBC recognition); and
July 1998, 27 (Obituary for Margaret Dooks).