Introduction

Biography

George was the son of Gib­son Ol­iv­er and Mar­tha A. John­son, and hus­band of Fran­ces Um­ple­by.

He is re­mem­bered as a the­ater man­ag­er, dra­ma cri­tic, or­gan­ist, and di­rect­or of mu­sic for the pub­lic school sys­tem of Al­ba­ny, New York.

He at­tend­ed the Al­ba­ny Clas­sic­al In­sti­tute, and la­ter the Al­ba­ny Aca­de­my (gra­du­at­ed 1872), where he re­ceived the Gan­non Me­dal for ex­cel­lence in che­mis­try.

He went on to Har­vard, but was forced to quit due to poor eye­sight, so he took up mu­sic.

He played the or­gan at All Saints Ca­thed­ral, Ema­nu­el Bap­tist Church, Second Pres­by­ter­ian Church, and St. Paul’s Epis­co­pal Church in Al­ba­ny.

He taught three ge­ne­ra­tions of mu­sic stu­dents in Al­ba­ny, and it was said he ne­ver for­got the first names of his thou­sands of pu­pils.

Two years be­fore his re­tire­ment from the pub­lic school sys­tem in 1936, his form­er stu­dents gave him a din­ner at­tend­ed by 700.