Howard Frank Starks, 90, of Florence, died July 11, 2018. 

Born in Erie, Pa., he served in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he was a sergeant in the Second Marine Division Band. He attended Penn State University and Indiana University, where he earned a B.A. in music education, and also graduated from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he received his master’s degree in sacred music.

After serving in several Baptist churches in Indiana, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia, he moved to Florence in 1966, where he served as minister of music at Calvary Baptist Church for 27 years and retired from there in 1993. He served on several committees with the Southern Baptist Convention and on the pastor advisory board of Charleston Southern University. He was an accredited clinician and festival director named by the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers. He also served as president of the Singing Churchmen of South Carolina. He directed handbell workshops and festivals in more than 17 states. He was a composer with more than 250 published compositions and arrangements for choral and handbell choirs.

Survivors include his wife of 67 years, Nell Mitchell Starks, two children and four granddaughters.