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).