Thomas Vennum

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Vennum, Thomas 82, died Sunday, September 24, 2017. He was born on November 13, 1934 in Edina, MN, the son of the late Thomas, Sr. and Margaret "Mike" (Newhall) Vennum. He was preceded in death by his sister Margaret "Margie" V. Daly. Tom graduated from Blake High School, Yale University, and Harvard University, where he earned a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology. He spent summers growing up on Madeline Island after his parents opened a resort called Chateau Madeline in 1949. Thus began Tom's life-long love of Native American culture and music. He served in the U.S. Army as a bandleader and music director, then taught music in New England prep schools while earning a degree in organ at the New England Conservatory of Music. He was also a talented jazz pianist. On one of his many trips to Haiti recording Haitian music, he met Alan Lomax, the most prominent field collector of American folk music, who suggested the Smithsonian Center for Folklife hire Tom. He worked there as the Senior Ethnomusicologist for 22 years. "When Tom came, we were trying to document American Indian culture before it disappeared. Tom worked with Native Americans to document it as a living culture," said Richard Kurin, former Director of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Tom recorded Native American music, organized summer festivals and brought a lacrosse game to the Capitol Mall. "He didn't want people to forget its Native American roots," said Kurin. His books on Ojibwe music, dance, drum-making, wild rice, and lacrosse have become classics, said author and friend Louise Erdrich. One of those, The Ojibwe Dance Drum, attracted the attention of Micky Hart, drummer for the Grateful Dead, who subsequently produced two CDs of Native American music with Tom and became a lifelong friend. Near his retirement home on Madeline Island Tom also made a movie called "Earl's Canoe" documenting the building of a birchbark canoe using materials and methods that would have been used in the mid-19th century. In the mid 1990s he set about building a house to his design and heavily influenced by his Native American research. He suffered a debilitating stroke in 1997. Tom's love for the island and the island's residents was enduring. A celebration of Tom's life will be held at 2 p.m. Oct. 6 at St. John's United Church of Christ on Madeline Island, with visitation one hour prior. Tom suggested memorials be sent to the Madeline Island Wilderness Preserve, Madeline Island Chamber Music, or the Madeline Island Museum.

Published on October 1, 2017