William Dudley Oakes, 66, died April 27 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was born January 8, 1957, to Albert Womble Oakes III and Frances Musgrove Oakes in Richmond, Virginia.
Oakes studied organ at the University of Richmond with Suzanne Kidd Bunting, graduating with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1979. He pursued further study at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, first with Marilyn Mason for a Master of Music degree in 1981 and then with Robert Glasgow for a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 1988. Oakes was a finalist in the Grand Prix de Chartres in the 1980s, and he concertized throughout the eastern United States as well as in Europe. He was an enthusiastic performer of the works of Franck, Vierne, Reubke, and especially, Duruflé.
Throughout his life, Oakes was also a church musician. In chronological order he directed music programs at St. James Episcopal Church, Grosse Ile, Michigan; Shadyside Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (interim); First Presbyterian Church, Norfolk, Virginia; St. John’s Episcopal Church, Georgetown, D.C.; St. Joseph’s Catholic Church on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.; and Grace Lutheran Church, Winchester, Virginia. He also taught at Virginia Wesleyan College, Norfolk, Virginia, and at Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University, Winchester, Virginia.
Oakes began a long association with Fernand Létourneau and Létourneau Pipe Organs of Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada, in 1988, rising to the position of vice president for sales and marketing. He was involved in over 80 of the company’s pipe organ projects, with most of these in the United States. Upon Fernand Létourneau’s retirement in November 2019, Oakes purchased the company, and as president spent the next three years leading the firm toward its current five-year backlog.
William Dudley Oakes is survived by his husband J. Thomas Mitts as well as two older brothers and their families. Memorial services were held at St. Charles Avenue Church, New Orleans, on May 18; at Augustana Lutheran Church, Washington, D.C., on May 20; and at Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, Winchester, Virginia, on May 21.
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