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CLASS NOTES
while he was piloting and settled
in San Jose in the late ’50s. Brown
obtained his teaching credential
and master’s degree from San Jose
State University and taught history
at Campbell High School. He later
helped to open Westmont High
School in Campbell and worked
there as a counselor for the next
24 years until retiring in 1988. In
retirement, he worked as a courier.
Brown enjoyed tennis, golf, hiking,
backpacking, and traveling with
family. Survivors include two
children and four grandchildren.
Robert Edward Lyons ’49
of Tupelo, Miss., formerly of
Birmingham, on Feb. 21, 2015.
Lyons was retired from the U.S.
Marine Corps, where he attained the
rank of captain. He fought in the
South Pacific Theatre during World
War II and served stateside during
the Korean Conflict. He was active
for a time in the Marine Corps
League of Birmingham. Surviving
family are three children and four
grandchildren.
Dr. David Sperling ’49 of
Birmingham, on March 2,
2015. Sperling earned a master’s
degree in psychology from the
University of Kentucky; served
in the U.S. Air Force, where he
achieved the rank of second
lieutenant; and then received
his MD from the Washington
University School of Medicine. He
opened a private general surgical
practice in Birmingham that lasted
more than 30 years. Sperling served
in leadership capacities with Baptist
Medical Center Montclair and
Trinity Medical Center and was a
member of the Birmingham Surgical
Society. Survivors include four
children and seven grandchildren.
Raymona Brown Bomar ’50
of
Houston, on June 3, 2015. Among
her many skills and talents, Bomar
was a teacher, counselor, and artist.
She earned a master’s degree from
the University of Tennessee and
then a second master’s in social
work. Bomar taught at Houston’s
Milby High School for many years
and later provided counseling to
Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse.
A dedicated volunteer, she served
on several community boards.
She enjoyed her book club and
travel. Among survivors are her
husband, three children, and four
grandchildren.
Hugh Wylie Brown Jr
.
’50
of
Birmingham, on Oct. 16, 2015.
Following two deployments in
the Korean War, Brown and his
wife, Connie, settled back in
IN MEMORIAM ’48
Ezra G. Sims Jr.
, a pioneering
Boston-based composer who wrote
works based on a 72-note division of
the octave, died on Jan. 30, 2015. He
was 87.
In 1960, Sims began creating
his unique microtonal system of
notation—one of the most challenging
and complex forms of 20th-century
music—that was adopted by many
U.S. composers after him.
“I seem finally to have identified
and made transcribable what my ear
was after all along: a set of pitches
ordered in an asymmetrical scale of 18 (or 19) notes, some of them acoustically more
important than others, transposable through a chromatic of 72 pitches in the octave,” he
once wrote.
Sims, who was born and raised in Birmingham, studied at the Birmingham
Conservatory of Music (the forerunner of BSC’s Music Department) and earned his
bachelor’s degree in music from Birmingham-Southern. He earned a second degree from
the Yale School of Music and a master’s degree at Mills College in Oakland, Calif., where
he was mentored by composer Darius Milhaud.
“Ezra was strongly attached to BSC and had many fond memories of his time there,”
said his cousin,
Susan Greene Pitts ’65
. “
On at least two occasions, he taught what
is now referred to as a ‘master class’ to fellow students. These classes were held under
the guidance of [late BSC Professor of Music] Hugh Thomas, for whom he had great
admiration.”
Sims eventually moved to Boston to work at Harvard University’s music library and
taught briefly at the New England Conservatory (1976-78). His output consisted largely
of vocal music, but he was best known for his chamber works written for acoustic
instruments and based on a subset of pitches from his 72-note octave.
Early in his career, Sims won a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship and a citation
from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2009, he received a distinguished
achievement award from the American Music Research Center.
Sims had lectured on his music in the U.S. and abroad, most notably in Heidelberg,
Germany, and Salzburg, Austria. He also had published several articles on his technique
and designed a font, now widely adopted, for use with computer printing programs.
In 2011, composer and critic Kyle Gann, writing in Chamber Music Magazine
,
described
him as one of the most original underground musical legends.
Sims’ portrait is included
in the Gallery of Honor in the lobby of BSC’s Hill Recital Hall.
Survivors include a nephew and cousins.