Goodbye Dr. Ogiasapian, rest in Peace with the voices of Angels

Dr. John Ogisapian



1941-2005

"My time at Lowell stretches back to the days of Lowell State and Lowell Tech." he continued. "I started in 1965, so my early years coincided with the martyrdom of Dr. King, Vietnam and that climactic spring of 1970 ... when finals and commencement were canceled just about everywhere. I've professed through the dynamic 60s and disco 70s, the selfish 80s and cynical 90s.

"Above all, I shall try not to ramble on about students from 30 or 40 years ago -- your parents' and grandparents' generation; and I shall certainly not babble away about how much nicer and smarter they were. Take it from me, they were no nicer and no smarter than you are. I was there. I know. But also remember that you are no nicer or smarter than your children will be.

"Without a doubt, I shall recount how I've taught music history ... to majors and non-majors; from freshman and sophomore lectures of a hundred or more to graduate seminars of three or four. I've loved every minute of it, and I still do. I love my subject, I love my research, and I love my students, every one of them; the brilliant ones, the not-so-brilliant ones and all the ones along that continuum in between.

"I hope I've helped them gain some of their maturity; and I know they've helped me keep some of my youth.

"On that day, I shall try not to waste time moralizing, or ladling out advice; musty morsels of senescent wisdom. It wouldn't do any good anyway, for nobody will listen. Nor should they.

"As some sage somewhere -- I forget who at the moment -- observed, the great tragedy of life is that it can only be lived forward, yet it can only be understood backward."

-Dr. John Ogisapian on his last lecture.