OXFORD, Miss. – Mary Lee Sneed Hill knew the power of music
– how it can chase away the blues, and brighten the darkest
days. That’s why, for more than 40 years, the University of
Mississippi alumna shared her voice with the sick and
shut-in, performing at nursing homes throughout Memphis and
the Mid-South.
“To her, music was a way of communicating with people,”
said her son, Richard Dean Hill. “Whenever she sang, there
was something special about her voice that brought out the
joy and love in other people. That’s what she was trying to
do – to communicate the good parts of humanity.”
Mary Lee Sneed Hill of Memphis died in January 2007. But
her family has ensured that her legacy will live on in the
Mary Lee Sneed Hill Vocal Music Scholarship Endowment,
established with a $25,000 gift, and a gift of flutes to
the UM Department of Music.
The scholarship is to provide assistance to deserving
students pursuing a degree in music in the College of
Liberal Arts. Selection of recipients will be made on the
basis of academics, leadership abilities and/or the display
of talent in the vocal music field, specifically religious
music. The family hopes a spirit of service will live on as
well.
“We hope recipients will share their talents with those who
need it most – the elderly, the poor and the sick,” said
Dean Hill, Mary Lee’s widower.
“We want to be able to pass her thoughts and attitude on
life, through her music, to other people out there,” said
Richard Dean Hill. “If the recipient can convey that
message, we’ve accomplished what we wanted to do.”
Dean Hill also donated a collection of 54 flutes from
around the world to the music department. He and his wife
collected the traditional folk instruments during their
missionary work to such exotic locales as China, Argentina,
Yugoslavia, Haiti and Spain.
” The collection started with me and my father,” Dean Hill
said. “I traveled with the United Methodist Church as a
missionary, and later Mary Lee said she’d go with me. And
we’d go out on tourist-type visits, and our collections
grew from there.”
The flutes enhance the university’s efforts to include
music from all cultures in its curriculum, said Ron Vernon,
associate dean of liberal arts and professor of music. “We
plan to use these instruments as resources in our world
music and music appreciation classes,” he said.
Linda Pereksta, a UM music instructor and former member of
the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, is also grateful for
the gift. She knows these flutes will impact her students.
“With this gift, they will be able to gain a greater
perspective of the flute outside of its Western category,”
Pereksta said. “These flutes will help open their eyes that
the world is a bigger place.”
To the surviving members of the Hill family, their gift is
an extension of Mary Lee’s undying love of music and
people. She earned a degree in music and fine arts from UM
in 1941. She spent much of her life sharing her voice, and
even after a near-fatal car accident in the 1970s, she
continued to perform for the sick and elderly at nursing
homes, said Richard Dean Hill.
“That was a miracle to me,” he said. “She would be in such
pain, but she wouldn’t turn anyone down. I went with her to
nursing homes several times, and people would be sad for
one reason or another. As I watched the people she
performed for, I saw their faces go from sorrow to just
smiling and clapping.”
It was only after she suffered two strokes toward the end
of her life that she was no longer able to give the gift of
music, said Richard Dean Hill.
“She really lived and breathed music,” he said. “Whenever
she sang, there was something special about her voice. That
was the magic she created.”
For more information about the UM Foundation, go to