The Reverend Dr. Barry Davies, who directed the Kingston College Chapel Choir for more than a decade beginning in the mid-1950s, has died. A pillar of both musical and spiritual life in Jamaica and later in the U.S., Dr. Davies passed away peacefully at home in Palm Coast, Florida, on June 1, just days after celebrating his 96th birthday on May 29, 2025.
He is being remembered for his wide-ranging talents and generous heart. Over the course of a remarkable life, Rev. Dr. Davies wore many hats: teacher, choir director, radio and television host (including the beloved Children’s Corner), music critic, administrator at the Jamaica School of Music, and ultimately, Presbyterian minister.
Born in 1929 in Dudley, Worcestershire, England, Davies began life in the industrial Midlands but followed a calling that took him across continents and cultures. His years in the West Indies—mostly in Jamaica but also on several of the Bahamian “family islands” after 1976—formed a defining chapter. It was there he met and married his Jamaican-born wife, Laodice Dooley, who predeceased him. The couple shared over 40 years of marriage grounded in love, music, and faith. He was the father of four children and a grandfather to three.
Best known to many Jamaicans as co-host of Children’s Corner alongside Erica Allen, Davies contributed as a teacher, musician, radio and television presenter, music critic, and director of the Jamaica School of Music. His tenure as director of the Kingston College Chapel Choir from 1956 to 1967, during the leadership of Bishop Percival Gibson, saw the choir transformed into a nationally recognized concert choir—the first of its kind among Jamaican high schools. Under his leadership, the choir made public recordings and became the first in the West Indies to be designated a St. Nicholas Guild Choir of the Royal School of Church Music.
After moving to Atlanta in 1979, Dr. Davies established a weekly evening service for newly arrived Jamaicans who had yet to join a church. He remained in demand to provide music for Jamaican community events, preached at two Jamaican Independence services, and delivered the sermon at the memorial for former Prime Minister Michael Manley. He also supported the Kingston College Old Boys’ Association’s Atlanta chapter while serving at the Presbyterian church he once pastored.
Rev. Dr. Barry Davies completed seminary at Columbia Theological Seminary, was ordained, and served in numerous roles, including parish associate and organist at Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Even after retiring from formal ministry, he continued to contribute to the Atlanta Jamaican community and later in Palm Coast, Florida, offering both spiritual and musical guidance and officiating at major events.
Asked how he ended up in ministry, Davies once explained: “It had been in my blood since I first heard missionaries visiting my church when I was a young boy.” He had intended to go to seminary after earning his first degree but said he lost his faith and spent 30 years as a “humanist agnostic.” He added, “Faith returned at age 50 – as did my call to ministry.”
In keeping with his wishes, there will be no religious or formal memorial service. Friends are instead invited to gather informally—perhaps over a beer or two—to share stories, laughter, and music in his memory. A Celebration of Life video will be shared with loved ones at a later date.
Rev. Dr. Barry Davies once offered this guiding philosophy: “Try to make the most of every day of life, and if changes need to be made, make them – no matter what age.” By all accounts, he lived faithful to those words.
