Donald Victor DRURY

Donald V. Drury, a third-generation stained glass artist and former head of the Menlo College library, died at Stanford Hospital Saturday, March 3, 2018, at the age of ninety.

Don was born October 22, 1927, in Fulham, London, in an apartment adjacent to Glass House, his family's place of business: a stained glass studio and workshop for independent artists. The company, Lowndes and Drury, was founded in 1897 by his grandfather, Alfred John Drury; Alfred designed and constructed the building in 1906. Don's parents were John Victor and Mary Angus Drury; he was their only child. Mary, one of four sisters, had come to London from Edinburgh as a young woman.

Don grew up in London, but the family relocated to Hampton during the War, and Don spent some time safely in Scotland with relatives. In 1945, he won an open scholarship to Cambridge University and studied modern languages at Gonville & Caius College, graduating in 1949 with honors. During the 1950s, He spent a year in Vienna, studying for an advanced certificate in German, to qualify him to teach that language.

He entered the family firm, continuing his art studies at Twickenham School of Art in Middlesex. He also pursued studies in experimental stained glass at the Central School of Arts & Crafts in London, studying under John Baker. He learned techniques including etching, plating, painting, staining, and faceted glass in concrete.

Don emigrated to the U.S. in 1957, to work with firms that were interested in new and experimental techniques. He first was employed with Cummings Studio in San Francisco and John Hogan Studios in San Jose. In 1962 he established his own studio on Mary St. in San Francisco. He created installations for several churches and other buildings in the Bay Area, including his Creation Series windows at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Berkeley (1964-68); clerestory windows in the Santa Rosa Public Library (1965-67) - an abstract panorama of Sonoma County from the ocean to the Sierras; and windows for the Christian Brothers retreat house chapel in St. Helena. His major work was St. Bartholomew's Catholic Church in San Mateo, a truly impressive and inspiring structure whose glass walls were designed and constructed by Don and one assistant.

Don met his wife, the former Dorothy Perry, shortly after his arrival in the Bay Area; they married on November 25, 1959 and were devoted to each other until her death on November 20, 2003. Dorothy was a native of Calcutta, India, where her father was stationed with the Royal Scots Regiment. Thirteen years Don's senior, she had a rich and fascinating life before meeting Don; to support his stained glass studio, she worked and earned her degree in English literature at San Francisco State in 1967.

Don began a second career after completing a degree in library science at UC Berkeley in 1972. He served as librarian at Menlo College for more than thirty years; he and Dorothy lived in a cottage on the school grounds until he retired in 1995. They then bought a home in Redwood City. After Dorothy's death, Don moved to Channing House in Palo Alto, first to an apartment, and later to the skilled nursing area, after he fell and injured his back.

Don was musically gifted and sang with the Berkeley Chamber Singers in the 1960s. He joined a small, informal madrigal group in Palo Alto, and his fellow singers remember his beautiful, resonant bass voice. He was very knowledgeable about many styles of music and their interpretation, and those who sang with him learned a great deal from his kindly tutelage. Sadly, his hearing loss in later years precluded him from continuing to enjoy live concerts and recorded music.

Ian Angus Gordon of London, Don's first cousin, died five days before him. He is survived by second cousins and many friends in both the U.S. and the UK. We suggest memorials in his name to a charity of the donor's choice, especially musical groups and organizations that support music.