Howard J. Slenk passed away on January 2, 2025 at the age of 93. He was born in Holland MI, the eldest son of Edward and Alice Slenk. He was preceded in death by his brothers, Edward and Alan and sister, Carolyn Raterink. He was a member of Pillar Christian Reformed Church and attended the Holland Christian Schools and Calvin College. In 1953-54 he was a Fulbright Scholar at the Amsterdam Conservatory of Music, after which he served in the United States Army in Germany. He returned to Calvin College to teach organ and music theory in 1957. He married Marilyn Rutgers in 1960 and spent the next three years at Ohio State University earning a Master's degree and PhD in musicology. He wrote his doctoral dissertation in Belgium, where he was a Fellow of the Belgian-American Foundation. He founded the Music Department at Trinity Christian College where he taught from 1965 to 1967. He and Marilyn moved to Grand Rapids and taught in the Calvin College Music Department until 1995. During this period Howard was Director of music at Woodlawn Christian Reformed Church. After retirement, Howard held positions as Interim Director of Music in several west Michigan churches. His professional loves were the Christian Reformed Church, Calvin College, the cathedral music of England, and the organ and choral music of J.S. Bach. He founded The Conference on Liturgy and Music for his denomination, directed the Capella and Oratorio Society for his college, and was a passionate advocate of Christian Education. In 1975, while on tour in England, The Capella was invited to sing Evensong at Westminster Abbey, after which the presiding Bishop requested that the choir be the resident summer choir for the Abbey.

Howard's first love was his family, his wife Marilyn of 64 years, his four children: Catherine (Gale) Tien, Joel (Judith) Slenk, Jerome (Tammy) Slenk, Christina (Todd) Barry, 13 grandchildren, and 6 great grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at La Grave Avenue Christian Reformed Church on Wednesday January 8 at 11:00 am with visitation at 9:30 am. In lieu of flowers, please send contributions to the Howard Slenk Music Scholarship Fund of the Calvin University Music Department or Calvin University.

The family expresses gratitude to DeVos Manor at Raybrook and Hospice at Breton Woods for their loving care.