Carver Blanchard passed away peacefully with the assistance of regular visits from Hospice Savannah. Carver was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in 1942 to Carver Blanchard and Dorothy Coquille Blanchard. His twin sister Nova Thrifley passed away a year ago, and he is survived by his brother Paul Blanchard of New York City.

Carver was encouraged in tennis and in music by his father, who directed a boys’ choir. An outstanding tennis player in his youth, Carver was nationally ranked in Junior Tennis and number one in Junior Tennis in Louisiana at age fifteen. He went to Northwestern University on a tennis scholarship where he majored in music, and later attended Juilliard School of Music.

After college he enlisted in the Air Force where he was selected as a singer with the Singing Sergeants. He enjoyed singing on the Capitol steps and traveling to countries around the world singing tenor with the Air Force Band. After his four years of service he remained in Alexandria, VA, where he taught guitar and learned to play the lute. He became the lutenist for the Smithsonian Institution where he enjoyed sitting in the Italian Renaissance exhibit playing Baroch music for visitors.

Carver taught music at Wesleyan University in Connecticut for many years, teaching students guitar and lute. He established Carver’s Barn, an Arts Center in Elka Park, New York, which attracted many audiences for plays and musical performances. Carver was known as a musician, performer and composer, as well as author of several one-act plays, all performed at Carver’s Barn.

The lute is traditionally a Renaissance instrument used to entertain audiences by playing early music, but Carver Blanchard changed all that with his renditions of popular music and rock and roll on the lute. His first album “Lute Unleashed” is still available at Albany Records, and includes songs from Stephen Foster to a variety of American classics.

Carver began coming to Savannah when he met Emmeline and Robert Cooper, who welcomed him and always provided him with a place to stay. Carver performed on a lute made by Robert Cooper in his workshop. He loved coming to Savannah, and spent the last five years of his life living at White bluff on the Vernon River with Laura Lawton. He enjoyed performing at the Learning Center and visiting Dr. Chris Chandler’s music appreciation class at Savannah State University. He loved it that Celia Howell convinced him to play every Tuesday morning at the Oaks at the Marshes of Skidaway Island, where he went from room to room singing and playing the guitar or lute up until a few weeks before he passed away.