Gardner-Webb Community Remembers Professor Emeritus Dr. Phil Perrin: Musician, Mountain Climber and Missionary

Perrin, who Taught at GWU for 34 Years, Passed Away on May 14, 2025

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C.—Gardner-Webb Professor Emeritus of Music Dr. Phil Perrin, who shared his love for God and music with many students during his 34 years at the University, passed away on May 14, 2025. He also found ways to combine his ministry with his hobbies of hiking and mountain climbing. In his retirement, Perrin continued to use his talents to lead worship in area churches and teach music on the mission field.

During his final two years at Gardner-Webb, Perrin taught worship, children’s choir leadership, and advanced conducting in the Master of Church Music program in the Gardner-Webb School of Divinity. School of Divinity Dean and Professor of Christian theology Dr. Robert W. Canoy noted that Perrin was an asset to the school on many levels.

“He came to us with years of experience as a gifted musician,” Canoy affirmed. “Best of all, he was able to conclude his academic career by returning to his first-love, church music. We needed someone to help us in our church music concentration, and he was looking to end his academic ministry by helping students become better church musicians.”

Canoy added, “Phil was a man of great energy, always positive, always smiling, and always looking for another trail to hike or mountain to climb.”

Perrin grew up in a rural setting near Knoxville, Tenn., and graduated from Knoxville Central High School in 1958. He earned a Bachelor of Science in music education at the University of Tennessee in 1962. He earned a Master of Church Music in 1964, then a Doctor of Musical Arts in music history at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1968.

Perrin spent the school year of 1968-1969 teaching and directing the chorus and band at Hazard Community College in Hazard, Ky. In 1969, he began teaching music at Gardner-Webb and became director of the choirs. He taught music history, church administration, hymnology, choral conducting, worship, and children’s choir methods and materials in the undergraduate program, and assisted students in church vocational placement. Upon the University’s acquisition of handbells, Perrin became director of the handbell choir.

Dr. Patricia Sparti, professor of music and director of Gardner-Webb orchestral activities, described Perrin as a “great man and extraordinary servant of the Lord.” She continued, “He was an extremely kind and gracious person to me and to everyone. Alumni have always told me what a kind and talented professor he was. Dr. Perrin filled in for me at my church in the summer of 2008, when I had shoulder surgery. He was available, because he was in between mission trips.”

Sparti added that Perrin still attended concerts at Gardner-Webb. “He loved music and would always write and tell me how much he enjoyed them,” she noted. “When he retired in 2003, he was immediately honored as a GWU professor emeritus, and we all said we hoped we could serve as well as he did.”

Through the years, Perrin served as minister of music in numerous Baptist churches in the area. He served Florence, Floyd’s Creek, Rutherfordton First, Race Path and Shiloh in Rutherford County, N.C.; Boiling Springs, Calvary, Dover, Elizabeth, and Putnam in Cleveland County, N.C.; and Macedonia and West End in Cherokee County, S.C.

He also enjoyed hiking and combined ministry with mountain climbing. He completed the Appalachian Trail (approximately 2,190 miles) and climbed the highest mountain on all seven continents, reaching the peak of six of the seven, and 23,800 feet on Mount Everest. On these trips, he participated in short-term mission assignments, serving in Nepal, Indonesia, The Philippines, Malaysia, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Crimea, Russia, Mexico, El Salvador, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, India, and China.

After training with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention in 2003, Perrin and his wife, Wilda, moved that fall to East Africa to begin a two-year assignment as music missionaries at Mount Meru (Baptist) University in Arusha, Tanzania, working among the Masai people. The Perrins taught church choral techniques, hymnology, Biblical foundations of church music, vocal technique, music theory, church music administration, children’s choir leadership, guitar and keyboard.

The Perrins left home again on Aug. 21, 2014, to teach choral music in a private high school near Chengdu, China. Although they were confronted with power outages, robbery, rationed/impure water, poor roads, auto accidents, and many cultural differences, their retirement experiences were highly rewarding during these adventures.

Perrin once listed what they learned from these experiences:

• Appreciate simple things.
• Happiness is not determined by one’s standard of living.
• An event is more important than when it either starts or ends.
• Relationships are of supreme importance; God loves the entire world.
• God can use anyone who will love Him and serve Him.

A celebration of life service for Perrin will be held on Tuesday, May 20, at 2 p.m. at Cliffside Baptist Church, 220 Old Main St. Visitation will begin at 1 p.m., also at Cliffside Baptist.

Sources: Faculty Emeriti profile; personal Interviews, Phil Perrin’s newsletters, his Aug. 4, 2004, speech, and the “Westview Witness” church newsletter of July 25, 2004; Oland and Joyce Summers

Gardner-Webb University is North Carolina’s recognized leader in private, Christian higher education. A Carnegie-Classified Doctoral/Professional University, GWU is home to nine colleges and schools, more than 80 undergraduate and graduate majors, and a world-class faculty. Located on a beautiful 225-acre campus in Boiling Springs, N.C., Gardner-Webb prepares graduates to impact their chosen professions, equips them with the skills to advance the frontiers of knowledge, and inspires them to make a positive and lasting difference in the lives of others. Ignite your future at Gardner-Webb.edu.