Where are they now? — Dr. Milburn Price still busy at work and play

For years, Dean Milburn Price has been a respected member of the Samford faculty, a great influence on the direction of church music in America, and a fine tennis player. Dr. Price officially retired in 2006, but much remains the same.

He still teaches one course at Samford each semester, which he calls a "pleasure and privilege." He is also interim conductor of the Samford Orchestra, which he began in 1995 when he was Dean of the School of Music.

In July of 2006 he was invited to serve as an editor for Celebrating Grace: Hymnal for Baptist Worship. He collaborated with five committees composed of ministers of music, pastors and university church music teachers on the challenging task of selecting and organizing hymns to include in the book. Mercer University Press will publish the now completed work in 2010.

He also continues playing tennis competitively. "Tennis has been an avocation for me since I was ten years old, growing up in a junior college town across the street from the college tennis courts," he says. He played all four of his undergraduate years at the University of Mississippi and has been competing ever since, winning state championships in four states.

Most recently, he and his son, Steve, placed third in the 2008 USTA National Senior Father & Son Clay Court Tennis Championships in Sarasota, Florida, and he was runner-up in his age division in the 2009 Southern Indoor Championships in Nashville, Tennessee, in January.

He speaks most proudly, though, of his family: Barbara, his wife of 47 years; Steve and Catherine, his son and daughter-in-law, who serve as co-pastors of Harvest United Methodist Church in Bradenton, Florida; and his "bright, intelligent and attractive" grandchildren, Shelby Hart and Sidney.