Alphonse Dress

Choir leader, musical director, organist, songwriter and priest.
Born: April 22, 1877 Luxembourg Nov. 8, 1941 (age of 64)
Jud Conlon was in musical groups including the Vested Choir directed by Father Alphonse Dress.
He studied in Belgium before joining the St. Francis Seminary in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His postgraduate study was of Music in the School of Old Masters, Ratisbon, Bavaria. He studied Gregorian music at the Isle of England under the direction of Benedictine Fathers and received his doctorate from St. Joseph College, Dubuque, Iowa in 1912.
He founded the Loras Campus The Vested Choir in 1909 and founded the Columbia College Band in 1911 and was one of the oldest organizations on the campus. Three years after its organization, the band played at the opening of the American League baseball season at the White Sox park in Chicago, and for several years thereafter it was one of the most prominent bands in the midwest.
He was the Diocesan Instructor of Music in the Archdiocese of Dubuque. Head of the music department at Columbia College.
He was assigned to Loras College in 1905, became head of the music department in 1908, and remained a member of the faculty until his death in 1941. He was called "Doc" by his students.