Introduction

Biography

Hawkins grew up in Wal­la Wal­la, Wash­ing­ton. While in col­lege in Wal­la Wal­la, he served as Ca­det Band­mas­ter in one of the first Re­serve Of­fi­cer Train­ing Corps (ROTC) un­its in the Am­er­ican north­west.

Later, he stu­died vo­cal mu­sic un­der Fred­er­ick Kleop­per in Ta­coma, Wash­ing­ton, and in Se­at­tle, Wash­ing­ton, un­der John W. Bix­el, found­er and di­rect­or of the Se­at­tle Or­a­tor­io So­cie­ty.

Hawkins be­came a Na­za­rene min­is­ter in 1933, and served five pas­tor­ates ov­er the next 2½ de­cades, in­clud­ing 12 years at First Church of the Na­za­rene, Stock­ton, Ca­li­for­nia.

In 1957, he be­came a mu­sic ed­it­or for Lil­le­nas Pub­lish­ing, a di­vi­sion of the Na­za­rene Pub­lish­ing House. He pub­lished some 500 songs in his life­time.