Sterling Procter

Sterling Day Procter III, 75, of Dallas, passed away peacefully on August 20, 2025. He was born on January 19, 1950, at Florence Nightingale Hospital in Dallas, Texas, to Sterling and Marjorie Fredricks Procter.

From an early age, Sterling Procter possessed an ear for music. Sterling said that if he’s a “gifted” musician it is only because of all the gifts he received during his life. His father who loved to sing taught him how to harmonize. His mother gifted her encouragement. As a young boy, Sterling was playing in his sandbox outside. He ran inside and told his mother that he had sung all the songs in the world. Without missing a beat, she told him to go and make up some.

Sterling taught himself to play the ukulele and in fifth grade, rehearsed with a friend to perform “Cotton Fields” in the school talent show.

When Sterling was in junior high school a band director, his neighbor, offered to give him French horn lessons. “I don’t have a horn,” Sterling told him. “I’ll loan you one,” the man said. He would go home to practice and then write little duets which his teacher eagerly played with him.

He played piccolo in the Dallas Kimball High School marching band, French horn in the orchestra and guitar with the jazz band. He graduated from Kimball High School in 1968 and immediately began his college study at UNT (NTSU at the time), during the summer. He performed three years with the famed One O’Clock Lab Band at the University of North Texas. While at UNT, Sterling performed with the Les Beaux Eaux Brass Quintet which won acclaim and recognition as one of the outstanding brass ensembles in the southwest. Notable appearances included participation in the Second Annual Yale University Brass Symposium and on KERA TV, Channel 13. The group was together for three years and included Ray Sasaki, Jack Evans, Sterling, Dwight Robinett and David Dorrough.

After earning a master’s degree in music performance, Sterling joined the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in 1976. In 1977, Sterling moved to Medellin, Columbia to serve as principal horn in the orchestra and assistant conductor. He returned to Dallas in 1978 and continued in the FWSO until retiring in 2013. Throughout his career with the Fort Worth Symphony he served on players committees and was deeply committed to the mission of the FWSO.

Sterling joined the Festival Brass Quintet in 1979 and pursued his talent for composition. His interest in hymn arrangements dated back to his teenage years when his church youth choir sang “My Eternal King”. That rich harmonic anthem by Jane Marshall so impressed him that he asked the choir director for a copy of the music and taught himself to play it on the piano from memory. “It’s a beautifully crafted piece and somehow, by then, my ear knew it,” Sterling said. “Everything I’ve ever arranged has some element from that anthem.”

In the 1980s, Sterling made his mark as a talented studio musician, showcasing his skills on the French Horn. He played for many shows in the Dallas Summer Musicals at Fair Park. As the 1990s dawned, he embarked on a new journey by launching his music contracting business. It was during this time that Lake Pointe Church sought his expertise to hire string musicians for a Christmas Eve service, marking the beginning of a cherished and enduring relationship. Sterling not only contracted musicians for the church but also performed on the French Horn and penny whistle and took on the role of conductor. As Lake Pointe expanded with several new campuses, Sterling continued to unite the finest musicians for their Christmas services, sharing his passion for sacred music with them. His contributions to the music of Lake Pointe Church and the community are cherished memories.

Sterling looked forward to summers performing in the Music in the Mountains Festival in Durango, Colorado as early as 1993 and composed many fanfares and incidental pieces to entertain the patrons. Music in the Mountains commissioned him to write a special piece called Mesa Verde Suite that was played on several occasions for Music in the Mountains and Mesa Verde National Park.

When the Dallas Symphony and Houston Symphony orchestra horn sections collaborated on a compact disc (Texas Horns, Crystal Records) several top flight composers/arrangers were engaged to contribute. There are plenty of pyrotechnics on that CD: high notes, low notes, fast notes, loud notes. For many, however, the most beautiful and memorable work is Sterling’s rendition of “Amazing Grace.”

“I’m merely the messenger boy.” This was Sterling’s unassuming and humble reply to Al Travis after one of many compliments given to Sterling for his hymn concertos recorded on four CDs at Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

Sterling had a long association with Broadway Baptist Church working with Broadway Church musicians Tom Stoker, Dr. David Keith, Dr. Michael Cox and Organist, Dr. Al Travis. These CDs featured his arrangements for Festival Brass, Organ, Orchestra and Choirs.

The first of these CDs, Make Your Prayer and Music One was the first recording to feature the Rildia Bee O’Bryan Cliburn Organ, installed in 1995–1996. Van Cliburn and his mother, Rildia Bee, faithful and committed members of Broadway Baptist Church, became devoted supporters of Broadway’s music ministry, and of Sterling Procter.

A Festival of Hymns Celebrating the Music of Sterling was recorded in 2014 with Orchestra and Organ, and Fort Worth choirs of Arborlawn United Methodist Church, Broadway Baptist Church, First Presbyterian Church, the Choral Union of First United Methodist Church and University Christian Church. Sterling joins the multitude of church musicians whose legacies will live on to stir, thrill and inspire.

Sterling had many interests including remodeling homes, scuba diving, biking around White Rock Lake, and hiking the Colorado mountains. He was known for crawling under a house to make repairs and then quickly changing to perform in the Fort Worth Symphony later in the evening. He even showed up to one job wearing his tux because he was on the way to a play a concert.

As his contracting business grew, Sterling was committed to helping as many churches and organizations as possible to have quality musicians carefully selected for the situation. Even though he stopped playing his beloved French Horn in 2012, he continued to compose and contract musicians.

As his muscle condition progressed, he began falling more and more. When the falls became closer together, the decision was made to use the wheelchair exclusively. For several years, Sterling would drive his wheelchair into a van to travel to gigs and visit his sister’s farm. Once his hands could not control the wheelchair, Carol Anne used a hoyer lift to place him in the passenger seat of his Honda. They traveled many times to Louisiana and all over the metroplex. In 2023, Carol Anne began pushing Sterling in a wheelchair racer and they went around the neighborhood and White Rock Lake many times while training for races. In December 2024, Carol Anne and Sterling finished the Dallas Marathon together. What a joyful day!!

Sterling bravely battled a condition called Inclusion Body Myositis, which gradually took away his ability to walk, use his hands, and swallow. For two years, he courageously relied on a feeding tube, despite facing challenges with silent aspiration into his lungs. He showed incredible resilience, overcoming pneumonia during multiple hospital stays. Each time, his body grew weaker. Recently, the severity of the pneumonia and fluid in his lungs became overwhelming. After a week in hospice, Sterling peacefully entered eternal rest and is now with God for eternity.

Sterling’s greatest joy was his family. Left to cherish his memory are his devoted wife, Carol Anne Taylor; his daughters, Anna Mendenhall and husband Kent, and Kinome McGrane and husband Colin; his beloved grandchildren, Lily and Joe McGrane; his sister, Marjorie Procter-Smith and husband George; and his nephew, Jeremy Charles Procter-Smith, wife Lori and daughter Georgiana.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Marjorie and Sterling Procter Jr.

Sterling will be remembered for the love he gave so freely, the wisdom he shared, and the legacy of kindness and strength he leaves behind. His memory will continue to live on in the hearts of those who knew and loved him. Thanks be to God for Sterling Procter.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Sterling Procter Endowed Music Scholarship at the University of North Texas.