Dunster’s Fienning Mourned

The melodies of Liszt, Schubert, and the Harvard Krokodiloes filled the vaulted chamber of Memorial Church last night as students, faculty, and others gathered to bid farewell to music lover and avid public servant Henry C. Fienning ’06-’08.

Fienning’s favorite pieces of music were interspersed with accounts of his warmth, compassion, and dedication to service.

“Henry was an exceptional human being,” said Leone E. Price ’06, a close friend of Fienning. He was “one of those rare people with a special gift for bringing the world together.”

Fienning, a 24-year-old resident of Dunster House, died at his home in Sumter, S.C., in July. He was one semester away from completing his bachelor’s degree in music.

During his time at Harvard, Fienning made his mark through a variety of extracurricular activities.

In 2006, as an active member of the Phillips Brooks House Association, he served as co-director for Refugee Youth Summer Enrichment—a summer program that teaches English to immigrants in Boston high schools. And he raised more than $900 for this spring’s Harvard College Marathon Challenge, which funds Boston-area youth.

“For Henry, service was a natural response to need,” Roger Porter, master of Dunster House, said yesterday. “He never turned away or walked on the other side of the road when the opportunity for service beckoned.”

Fienning lived his love and talent for music as a member of the Krokodiloes, the all-male a capella group, and in the Harvard Radcliffe Gilbert and Sullivan Players’ production of “Ruddigore” in 2005.

Friends spoke of Fienning’s exuberance and ability to quickly engage others. Sabrina M. Forte ’08, who met Fienning through their mutual involvement with Phillips Brooks House Association, recalled a party for volunteers in Costa Rica, where they were both working as teachers in local schools. She said that after Fienning noticed that the only people not dancing were a group of older women, he promptly stepped over and chose a partner. By the end of the night, she said, he had danced with “every woman over the age of 50” in the Costa Rica town.

Fienning died on July 30. The cause of death was suicide. Fienning’s family has established a memorial fund at the First Presbyterian Church in Sumter to support the local Boy Scout Troop 86—Fienning was an Eagle scout—or the church’s music fund.

According to Fienning’s father, Charles E. Fienning ’86, the family is also working to establish funds to benefit the Refugee Youth Summer Enrichment program as well as musical initiatives in Dunster House.

As Price, Fienning’s friend, put it: “I take comfort in the fact that Henry is still with us, and that in double forte.”

—Staff writer Aditi Balakrishna can be reached at balakris@fas.harvard.edu.