OBITUARY:Voice of Prophecy singer dies

Wayne Hooper, a former Glendale resident who was best known for his musical contributions to the Voice of Prophecy radio ministry, died of cancer on Feb. 28, in Newbury Park.

He was 86.

Hooper was a baritone singer who was composer and arranger for the King’s Heralds, a quartet that performed on the Voice of Prophecy, a Seventh-day Adventist radio ministry broadcast across the nation.

Hooper joined the quartet in 1943, singing baritone for four years before he moved to Nebraska to complete his bachelor’s degree in music.

He returned to the Voice of Prophecy to resume his role in the quartet from 1949 to 1962.

Hooper was known for his trademark song, “We Have This Hope,” which he wrote for the 1962 Seventh-day Adventist General Conference session in San Francisco.

As a music arranger, Hooper worked on numerous arrangements for orchestras, quartets, choirs and soloists and, with the King’s Heralds, recorded a number of record albums.

“This guy was born for music,” said Del Delker, also a Voice of Prophecy vocalist and Hooper’s former secretary. “He had special talent.”

Hooper also mentored and coached Delker when she started her singing career with Voice of Prophecy.

Throughout his career, Hooper worked on nearly 1,500 compositions and arrangements, said Jim Hooper, his son.

“He starting arranging and composing as a teenager,” Jim Hooper said. “He was still creating new music right until the last months of his life.”

Jim Hooper remembered his father’s dedication to his work and career.

He would travel five months out of the year with the King’s Heralds, stopping in cities across North America to sing on Sunday radio ministry broadcasts, Jim Hooper said.

When he was home in Glendale, he was a devoted family man who had other talents besides singing and performing, he said.

Born on July 4, 1920, in Little Rock, Ark., Wayne Hooper received his high school diploma from Gem State Academy in Caldwell, Idaho. After completing his associate’s degree in music, he taught music at Portland Academy.

He is survived by his wife, Harriet, sons Jim, David and Dan Hooper; daughter Jan Lind; nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held on May 5 at Vallejo Drive Seventh-day Adventist Church in Glendale.