Simpson, Raymond, 1913-1998

Raymond Arthur Simpson, musician, educator, and author, was born at Antigonish, N.S. in 1913 where he spent much of his early childhood. He later moved to Lunenburg where he attended secondary school. Simpson received a BA from Mount Alison University in 1933 and an MA from Dalhousie University. He taught school in Bridgetown, 1935-1939, and then served as an education officer with the Canadian Legion in Halifax during the Second World War. In 1944 he joined the Nova Scotia Department of Education, serving as director of publications until his retirement in 1978. He was a member of the Acadian Male Quartet on CBC's Harmony Harbour for fifteen years and was also a member of numerous choral groups. He regularly performed as a soloist in Halifax concerts and on CBC radio and television. Simpson was a founding member of the Nova Scotia Opera Association and had leading roles in productions including Don Giovanni and Marriage of Figaro between 1952 and 1955. He was also active in the early years of the Halifax Symphony, Halifax Music Festival, Nova Scotia Festival of the Arts and served as secretary for the Nova Scotia Talent Trust for twenty-four years. In 1995 he published If we are spared to each other: Love and faith against the sea, based on the diary of his grandmother, Annie Rogers Butler, and letters of her husband, Yarmouth sea captain John Kendrick Butler. Simpson died 26 November 1998 at Halifax. He and his wife Esther (Illsey) had three children: David, Joan, and Eric.