CAHILL, VAUGHN DABNEY - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

CAHILL, VAUGHN DABNEY (29 December 1889-29 July 1973) drew upon his musical training and accounting experience to head the Federal Music Project in Cleveland during the Depression. A native of Fairfield, Ohio, he was the son of Reverend Issac J. Cahill and Lillian Skidmore Cahill. He studied music at Hiram College, his instruments being violin and viola. Marrying Louise Ruth Wells in 1911, he taught music at BALDWIN-WALLACE COLLEGE and Rice University in Houston, Texas. During the 1920s, he moved to Galion, Ohio, where he worked as an accountant for the North Electrical Manufacturing Company. Cahill maintained his interest in music, composing various works including a symphony, a sonata for violin and piano, and an orchestral work entitled "Bolivar Road." Appointed to direct the Federal Music Project in 1935, Cahill commuted to Cleveland from Galion for the next five years. Following the death of his first wife on January 16, 1939, he married Ivana Perdan, a music project singer, in 1940 and moved to CLEVELAND HEIGHTS. Cahill joined the CLEVITE CORPORATION as an accountant in 1942 and eventually became procedures director. After retiring, he served as a systems analyst for NATIONAL CITY BANK and comptroller for the FOREST CITY HOSPITAL. He also continued teaching music privately until moving to Mantua, Ohio, in the 1960s. Dying there on July 29, 1973, he was buried in Galion. He was survived by his second wife and twelve children from his first marriage, sons Eric, Kevin, Phadrig Michael, Quentin, Timothy, Jerold, Morse, Larry, and Martin, and daughters Patricia Berry, Lillian Basil, and Sheila Spreenberg.

Related Article(s)

• FINE ARTS AND LITERATURE