The Musician

William Card taught music and directed the Glee Club and Choir during his long tenure (1919–1923; 1925–1947) at the Loomis School. He is also remembered as a “serious and conscientious musician” at the piano and organ.

In the summer of 1946, Card’s health was compromised by injuries sustained in an accident and a subsequent heart attack. He took a break from teaching that fall and took up residence in the campus infirmary. During this convalescence Card “exercised his fingers, wrist, and arm constantly, learned to knit, and kept testing his skills” hoping for a speedy return to the piano and organ. The Loomis Alumni Bulletin reported that in a matter of months, Card could be heard “again at the console…playing vigorously and with a touch peculiarly his own.”

His final performance took place in Founders Chapel and at the school’s Austin organ of which Card was so fond. He played Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress” during a Chapel service just days before his death on March 28, 1947.

The Composer

William Card is perhaps best known for his 1923 composition, “Out of the Hearts of the Founders”, music that served as the Loomis School song for decades.

However, two years earlier Card and Loomis teacher John Barss collaborated on “Yule Log Carol”. Headmaster Nathaniel Horton Batchelder remembered, “We were seeking for some enrichment of our Christmas ceremonial. I called [Mr. Barss] to see if he knew appropriate verses by Washington Irving. He didn’t but almost in a twinkling of an eye he out-Irvinged Irving. Then Bill Card was consulted, and before lunch we had words and music.”

The carol was first sung in 1921 at the annual December celebration. With Card’s music setting a joyful tone, members of the Student Council processed into Founders Lounge, then used as the school’s library. Students dressed as a woodsman and a jester followed, carrying the ceremonial yule log to the fireplace. Later Mr. B read from Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol. In 1943, the LOG remarked that Mr. B’s “impressive reading” was “as much a tradition as the senior path.” He had shared Dickens’ words with the very first Loomis students in December 1914 and continued doing so—with one year’s exception—until his retirement in 1949.