Beloved Chattanooga music director Glenn Draper dies at 90

Retired Chattanooga Singers director Glenn Draper will attend the April 7 Chattanooga Singers and Chamber Singers concert at Second Presbyterian Church. All alumni of UTC singing groups are invited to join the collegians for the finale, a performance of "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" directed by Draper. Retired Chattanooga Singers director Glenn Draper will attend the April 7 Chattanooga Singers and Chamber Singers concert at Second Presbyterian Church. All alumni of UTC singing groups are invited to join the collegians for the finale, a performance of "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" directed by Draper.

By Staff Report June 15, 2019 2 min read

Glenn Draper, an internationally known music director whose groups, including the Singing Mocs and Chattanooga Singers, performed for presidents and heads of state, has died at his Signal Mountain home.

Draper, 90, was surrounded by family, including his wife, Lounelle, when he died, according to Heritage Funeral Home of East Brainerd.

Longtime director of music at First Presbyterian Church, Draper served as choral activities director and music professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for more than three decades. He also worked with the military, Lake Junaluska Methodist Center and the University of Miami, among others.

By any measure, his career was a long and successful one, but when he spoke with the Times Free Press in 2016, humility tempered his remembrances.

“You know, I don’t think I’m really all that good,” he said with a laugh.