Memorial service honors Prof. Tuttle

When the Pacific Crest Wind Symphony performed at former PSU professor William Joel Tuttle’s memorial service Sunday, the audience was hushed and teary.

Although the memorial was emotional, the audience wasn’t all tears. When family and friends spoke of the former PSU Department of Music professor, and conductor of the Pacific Crest Wind Symphony, they often laughed and smiled in remembrance.

More than 100 of Tuttle’s family members, friends and former students gathered to honor his life during the memorial service in the Lincoln Performance Hall, which featured four musical pieces and speeches from Tuttle’s children, sister and colleagues.

Samantha Tuttle, Tuttle’s daughter, read a Shel Silverstein poem and joked about the crowd size when she took the podium.

“I wish I had known my dad was so popular when I was a teenager,” she said.

The Pacific Crest Wind Symphony, which Tuttle was the conductor and musical director of from 1999 until 2006, performed on Sunday under current conductor and PSU Director of Bands Dr. Edward Higgins. Members of the audience and the 30-plus ensemble were brought to tears during the poignant performances and speeches about the late conductor.

Higgins preceded the closing piece, “An American Elegy,” by saying it was fitting to Tuttle’s memory because Tuttle had played the trumpet at the beginning of his career, and “Elegy” features an off-stage trumpet.

“The service and performance were a very appropriate way to honor my father,” said Andrew Tuttle, one of William’s four sons, after the service. “The symphony was spot-on, and the service could not have ended better.”

Tuttle was born in Webster City, Iowa, and he worked in the PSU Department of Music for 25 years. He earned a bachelor’s degree in trumpet performance from Simpson College, a master’s degree from Northwestern University and a musical doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin.

Tuttle was 64 when he passed away after struggling with Parkinson’s disease and post-polio syndrome for seven years. He passed away at home, on hospice, where much of his family had come to pay their last respects, according to Andrew.

Tuttle is survived by: his wife, Margaret, daughter Samantha, sons William, Daniel, Nathan and Andrew, stepson Phillip McGowan, and six grandchildren. McGowan, who read a statement at the service, said that though Tuttle was not his birth father, he learned much about the value of hard work and dedication from his stepfather.

“He personified delivery. To him, you either delivered or delivered pizza,” McGowan said. “We love you and we will miss you.”