Nunc Dimittis

William C. Hain, Max Burdorf Miller, William “Bill” Brant Mills, David D. Sly 

William C. Hain, 89 years old, died on December 29, 2012 in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania. Born January 13, 1923 in Pittsburgh, he worked for the Samuel Bowman Organ Company before serving in the Army during World War II. He returned in 1944, and continued his work with the Bowman Company. In 1950, he and Joseph Kibler started Organcraft, which they continued together until Kibler’s retirement in 1977. They both served as sales and service representatives for Casavant Organs during the 1950s and ’60s. Hain’s son William joined Organcraft in 1977, at which time both were appointed as service representatives for the Austin Organ Company. 

Hain continued working with his son until age 85; he had worked on most of the organs in the Pittsburgh area. Known for his expertise as well as his kind and gentle nature, William Hain dedicated his life to the pipe organ profession, even playing the organ for residents at his retirement home. Predeceased in 2012 by his wife, Anna Marie, William C. Hain is survived by his son, William C. Hain II, his daughter, Patricia Ann Witt, six grandchildren, and three great grandchildren.

—Edgar Highberger

Max Burdorf Miller, age 85, died January 5 in Marlborough, Massachusetts. Born in 1927, Miller began his study of the organ in his native California; while studying Arnold Schoenberg’s Variations on a Recitative, he received coaching from the composer. He and his wife Betty lived in Vienna for several years in the 1950s, while Max studied with Anton Heiller. Miller received his Ph.D. from Boston University, and was a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists; for many years he wrote the “Ask Uncle Max” column for The American Organist. 

Miller served on the faculties of the School of Music and the School of Theology at Boston University for 42 years until his retirement in 1991. He was simultaneously university organist, director of music at Marsh Chapel, director of the Master of Sacred Music program, conductor of the Seminary Singers (which he took on tour every year), and professor of organ in the School of Music. In 1983 he composed the tune Marsh Chapel for use with the text “Awake, O sleeper, rise from death.” 

Miller was the guiding spirit in the founding of The Organ Library, located in the Boston University School of Theology; it has grown to be one of the largest collections of organ music in the world, accessible though a searchable database. The Organ Library awards the biennial Max B. Miller prize to outstanding books devoted to organ literature and performance. Max Burdorf Miller is survived by his wife of 52 years, Elizabeth (Hyde) Miller, three sons, and five grandchildren. Contributions in memory of Dr. Max B. Miller may be made to the Organ Library in the School of Theology at Boston University, 745 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215.

William “Bill” Brant Mills, 68, died February 18, 2012, in Florence, South Carolina. He earned a BMus degree in organ from Florida State University, and MMus in organ from the University of South Carolina, and did postgraduate work at Indiana, Southern Methodist, and Stanford universities, and Columbia College. Mills was a diaconal minister in the United Methodist church and director of music-organist at Central United Methodist Church in Florence, South Carolina for more than 42 years. A well-known pianist and accompanist, he was founder and director of the Masterworks Choir in Florence in 1979; in 1995, the choir, along with the Central United Methodist Church Choir, toured Austria and Germany; they also participated in the Festival of Churches programs as part of the Piccolo Spoleto festival. The Masterworks Choir was selected to sing choral works of Robert Powell upon Powell’s retirement. William “Bill” Brant Mills is survived by a son, a daughter, and four grandchildren.

David D. Sly died October 20, 2012. He was 64 years old. Born in Saginaw, Michigan, he earned his BMusEd degree from Olivet College, and a master’s and doctorate in counseling from Michigan State University. Sly was organist and directed the chancel choir at Marshall United Methodist Church for more than 35 years, and directed many high school and community theater musicals. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Marshall Civic Theatre and an Outstanding Alumnus Award from Olivet College; he served twice as dean of the Southwest Michigan AGO chapter. David D. Sly is survived by his sisters, five nephews, and eight grand nieces and nephews.

Carlo Curley, Margaret Garrett Hayward, Daniel T. Moe, The Rev. Carl E. Schroeder, Florence Emily Westrum

Carlo Curley died at his home in Melton Mowbray, England, on August 11. He was 59. Born into a musical family in North Carolina in 1952, he attended the North Carolina School of the Arts. His organ studies were with Arthur Poister, Robert Elmore, Virgil Fox, and George Thalben-Ball.

Early in his career, he was invited by the President to play at the White House, and made history as the first classical organist to give a solo organ recital there. Carlo Curley played before crowned heads of Europe, including the late Princess Grace of Monaco, the Princess Royal of England, and several Command Performances for the Danish Royal Family; he made private recordings for the Sultan of Oman. Curley played in every state and province in North America and Canada, as well as Europe, Asia, Australia, and Hong Kong; he recently toured Japan with the King’s Singers. 

Carlo Curley also appeared on TV and radio. His network TV appearances in the United States, England, Australia, and Japan are well known. In England, he made innumerable appearances for the BBC, including organ spectaculars from the cathedrals at Ely, Lichfield, Norwich, Guildford, and Gloucester. Recently the U.K.’s Classic FM broadcast live his concert at Westminster Abbey, given in aid of the Abbey Choir School and the Royal School of Church Music. Carlo Curley’s recordings included CDs and the first-ever commercial video of a classical organ performance, Organ Imperial. His recordings have been voted “Best of the Month” by Stereo Review in the USA, “Record of the Year” in Scandinavia, and “Laser Disc of Exceptional Merit” by FM Fan in Japan, where his CDs enjoy particularly brisk sales.

Margaret Garrett Hayward of Centerport, New York, died February 1. She was 94 years old. A 1938 graduate of Skidmore College, she studied organ with a number of teachers, including Stanley Saxton, Palmer Christian, Paul Callaway, and Thomas Richner. She played at churches on Long Island for nearly 55 years, including 17 years at Locust Valley Dutch Reformed Church; she also served at Bayshore Methodist, Old First Presbyterian of Huntington, St. Paul’s Methodist, Trinity Episcopal, Huntington Episcopal, and others. Margaret Hayward retired in 1998 but continued to play as a substitute.

Daniel T. Moe died May 24 at age 85 in Sarasota, Florida. Born in Fargo, North Dakota, Moe served in the Naval Air Corps (1944–46) as a clarinetist and saxophonist. He later graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, and earned master’s (University of Washington) and doctoral (University of Iowa) degrees. Moe was a faculty member at the Oberlin Conservatory from 1972–92, where he directed the choral ensembles. He retired to Sarasota, Florida; at the time of his death he was conductor emeritus of the Key Chorale, and composer in residence at the Church of the Redeemer. His composition Cantata for Peace was performed in 1993 during the visit of Pope John Paul II. Daniel T. Moe is survived by his wife, five sons, seven grandchildren, two brothers, and a sister. 

The Rev. Carl E. Schroeder died June 12 in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania. He was 78. Schroeder earned three diplomas from the Peabody Conservatory; he served two large Lutheran churches in Baltimore, then came to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1964, where he served as organist and choirmaster of Trinity Lutheran Church, the former Zion Lutheran Church, the former St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church, and All Saints Anglican Church. He also taught organ, piano, and theory at Elizabethtown College, founded and directed the Music Sacra choral society, and served five terms as dean of the Lancaster AGO chapter. Other activities included private teaching, writing book and music reviews, music composition, and playing recitals. Schroeder studied at Scott Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, and was ordained a priest, after which he became the rector at All Saints Anglican Church in Lancaster. He retired from All Saints in 2010. Rev. Carl E. Schroeder is survived by his wife, Jane Elizabeth (Hymes), a daughter, a son, four grandchildren, two sisters, and two brothers.

Florence Emily Westrum died August 6 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She was Organist Emerita at First Presbyterian Church, Ann Arbor. Born in Beardsley, Minnesota, February 15, 1921, she earned a bachelor’s degree in music education at Hamline University and taught school for a year before moving to Berkeley, California, to work at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, where her future husband, Edgar F. Westrum, Jr., was working on the Manhattan Project. After their marriage, the couple moved to Chicago and then to Ann Arbor, where Edgar became professor of chemistry at the University of Michigan. Florence was a founding member of the First Presbyterian Church, where she served initially as music director and organist, and then as organist. She was active in the American Guild of Organists and in the Faculty Women’s Club, and volunteered at the University Hospital and Ronald McDonald House. Florence Emily Westrum is survived by her husband of 69 years, Edgar F. Westrum, Jr., four children, six grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

David Albert John Broome, Linda Lanier-Keosaian, Donald G. Larson, Elizabeth “Betty” Lankford Peek, Jane Elizabeth Sawyer

David Albert John Broome, 81, of Windsor Locks, Connecticut, died March 17 after a long illness. He is remembered as one of the world’s foremost reed voicers. Born in Leicester, England on February 21, 1932, he served two years in the Royal Air Force. In 1948, David began his career in organbuilding at J.W. Walker Sons, Ltd in London, England and immigrated to the United States after marrying Caroline Mason in Leicester on October 27, 1956. The Broomes settled in Windsor Locks, Connecticut in 1958 after moving from Hartford, where David had been recruited to join Austin Organs. 

By 1978, he had risen to the executive post of vice president and tonal director at Austin, a position he held until his retirement in 1999. Broome was responsible for the finishing and tonal design of more than 150 organs worldwide, including those at Brompton Oratory, London; Nassau Cathedral, Bahamas; Adelaide Cathedral, Australia; Riverside Church Chapel and First Presbyterian Church, New York City; Czestochowa National Shrine, Doylestown, Pennsylvania; St. John’s Episcopal Church, West Hartford, and Trinity College Chapel, Hartford. 

Since his retirement from Austin, David and his son Christopher operated Broome and Company, voicing reeds for restorations and new installations, including those at Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania; Woolsey Hall, Yale University, and the Duke University Chapel. David Broome is survived by his wife of 56 years, Caroline (Mason) Broome, four children, ten grandchildren, and nieces and nephews. 

Linda Lanier-Keosaian died January 28; she was 72. She received her BMus degree in organ from Westminster Choir College, and her MSM degree from Union Theological Seminary. At the time of her death, Lanier-Keosaian was working on her Ph.D. in music education at New York University; her doctoral dissertation concerned different interpretive approaches to Franck’s Choral No. 3 in A Minor. As a church organist and choir director, she served numerous churches, include Connecticut Farms Presbyterian in Union, New Jersey, First Congregational in Chatham, Massachusetts, Wilton Congregational in Wilton, Connecticut, and most recently, the Church of the Annunciation in Oradell, New Jersey. 

She and her husband, Rev. Gregory Keosaian, served for 20 years as musician and pastor, respectively, for several Presbyterian churches in New Jersey, including Second Presbyterian in Rahway and Trinity in Paramus. A longtime AGO member, Lanier-Keosaian was a music teacher and choral conductor in the New Jersey public school system for more than 25 years. She founded the New Jersey High School Women’s Choir Festival and was co-founder of the Essex County Choral Festival. Linda Lanier-Keosaian is survived by her husband of 30 years, Gregory Keosaian, two children, and five grandchildren.

Donald G. Larson died February 26 in Decatur, Georgia.  Born in Fargo, North Dakota, he was raised on a farm near Moorhead, Minnesota. He received his bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Minnesota and his master’s degree in church music from Northwestern University, where he was a student of Thomas Matthews. He served as a chaplain’s assistant in the U.S. Army and as organist at Wheaton College in Illinois. He moved to Atlanta in 1960.

Larson spent more than 30 years as music teacher and counselor at Georgia Perimeter College and was awarded professor emeritus status in 1995. He also served as minister of music at three Atlanta-area churches. A long-time member of the Atlanta AGO chapter, he served on the executive committee several times and for 32 years offered monthly classes in training for the Guild exams. Donald G. Larson is survived by his wife of 61 years, Jacqueline, a son, a daughter Marcia, and grandchildren.

Elizabeth “Betty” Lankford Peek died March 24. She had served as associate minister of music at Covenant Presbyterian Church for more than 47 years. Born June 10, 1929, in Spartanburg, South Carolina, she graduated from Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia, in 1950, and earned the MSM degree from Union Theological Seminary, where she studied organ and composition with M. Searle Wright.

On June 6, 1952, she married Richard Maurice Peek, whom she met at Union. The Peeks were invited to interview for positions at Charlotte’s new Covenant Presbyterian Church. They began their ministry at Covenant July 1, 1952. Over the next 47 years, the Peeks developed and led a music ministry that became one of the most renowned church music programs in the nation.

Arriving long before the city had a full-time symphony orchestra or a performing arts center, the Peeks introduced Charlotte to world-class music by producing free concerts and sponsoring visits by choirs and organists from around the world. There are three pipe organs in the sanctuary building, and the bell tower houses Charlotte’s first cast-bronze carillon.  

Mrs. Peek directed the children’s choirs at Covenant, and also directed the handbell choirs, the first in Charlotte. During worship services and also during special performances she often served as organist while Dr. Peek conducted. She led and participated in numerous music and worship conferences, and served as president of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians from 1978 to 1980. In the mid-eighties she was appointed to the committee to develop a new hymnal for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). 

In 1991 the Peeks led Covenant’s adult choir on the first of several concert tours in Great Britain and Europe, with programs in St. Paul’s Cathedral, York Minster, St. Giles Cathedral, Durham Cathedral, and other well-known churches. When Mrs. Peek and her husband retired in December 1999, Covenant published a 164-page book about the couple. Dr. Peek died in 2005. Mrs. Peek is survived by two sons and two grandchildren.  

Jane Elizabeth Sawyer died July 12, 2012 in Boulder, Colorado; she was 60 years old. The longtime director of music at the First Congregational Church in Boulder, she played the organ, directed vocal and handbell choirs, and was instrumental in rebuilding the church’s organ and in bringing in noted organists for recitals. Sawyer earned bachelor’s degrees in math and music at the University of Wyoming, earned a master’s degree in organ at Southern Methodist University, and did doctoral work in music theory at the Eastman School of Music, where she also was an instructor. In Rochester, New York, she served as director of music and organist at Irondequoit United Church of Christ from 1988 to 1997; she held other church positions in Boulder, Rochester, Dallas, and Laramie, Wyoming. Sawyer served on the executive board of the Denver AGO chapter and was a member of the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers and the Choristers Guild. Jane Elizabeth Sawyer is survived by her brother.

Nunc Dimittis

Henry L. “Hank” Hokans, 84, of Ogunquit, Maine, died June 2. Born and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, he received early musical training from his parents and studied organ with T. Charles Lee and William Self, whom he succeeded as organist at All Saints Church, Worcester, serving for 20 years. Hokans received bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the New England Conservatory and was inducted into Phi Kappa Lambda Honor Society. He was appointed organist of the Worcester Art Museum, director of music at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and chairman of the fine arts department of Worcester Academy. After serving with the 5th Air Force in the Korean War, Hokans received a Fulbright Scholarship to study for a year in Paris with Pierre Cochereau and Jean Langlais. 

Hokans served in residencies, was accompanist for many choral groups, founded and directed the Worcester Concert Choir, and played recitals in abbeys and cathedrals both in England and on the Continent. He accompanied the American choir, Canterbury Singers, USA, in England for the VE Day 50th Anniversary Commemorative Service at York Minster Cathedral in 1995.  

In 1989 he accepted a position at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke in Portland. He served as organist/choirmaster at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Frederiksted, St. Croix, as musical director of St. Ann’s, Kennebunkport, and since 2001, as music director of St. Peter’s-by-the-Sea, Cape Neddick, Maine. He also worked in organ design, building, and maintenance with several organ builders, and operated his own organ service company, H. L. Hokans Associates.

Henry L. Hokans is survived by his wife of 25 years, Louise (George) Hokans of Ogunquit; daughter Rebecca Hokans Nanof; son Richard W. Hokans; two grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and sister-in-law Ruth W. Hokans.

Robert L. “Bob” Milliman, 89, died March 1 in Des Moines, Iowa. Born in Des Moines on January 29, 1926, he graduated from East High School and was then drafted into the U.S. Army. He served during World War II in the Pacific from 1944–46. In 1947 he married Twylla Kurschinski at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Des Moines. In 1964 the family moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where Milliman worked for AT&T until his retirement in 1982. They then returned to Des Moines, where he tuned and repaired pipe organs. Milliman was a life member of the Beaverdale V.F.W. Post 9127, Urbandale, American Legion #663, and the Telephone Pioneers. Robert L. Milliman is survived by his wife of 67 years, Twylla, daughters Norma (Robert) Rees and Polly Milliman, six grandchildren, one great grandchild, and brothers, William (Barbara) Milliman and Paul (Kate).

Robert Lawson Van Doren, 99, died May 18 in Columbia, South Carolina. Born in Roselle Park, New Jersey, on March 8, 1916, he became organist at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Roselle Park at age 15. He attended Columbia University and the Juilliard School of Music, where he met his future wife, Lib, who was in the same graduate program. They married in 1943, sharing their passion for music for more than 59 years. After receiving a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Columbia University and Juilliard, he taught in the public schools of Roselle Park before joining the Army during World War II. In 1950 he received the degree of Fellow, Trinity College of Music, London, England. Van Doren became an instructor in music and music education at the University of South Carolina, where he rose in rank to full professor and retired as Distinguished Professor Emeritus in 1978.

From 1945 until 1970 he served as organist and choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church (now Cathedral) and organized and directed the citywide Junior Choir Festival for 25 years. In the 1950s, he was helped organize the Sewanee Conference on Church Music in Sewanee, Tennessee, and taught there for many summers. Van Doren served as president of the Columbia Music Festival Association, dean of the Columbia Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, president of the South Carolina Music Educators Association, and vice president of the Southern Division of the Music Educators National Conference. In 1988 he was elected to the Hall of Fame of the South Carolina Music Educators. He was a member of other clubs, including the “Friends of Music,” University of South Carolina School of Music.  

Robert Lawson Van Doren is survived by a son and a daughter, three grandchildren, and three great-granddaughters. 

Donald Stuart Wright, 74, died June 4. Born on December 26, 1940, he was most recently organist and choirmaster at St. Christopher Episcopal Church in Oak Park, Illinois, and for nearly a decade before that was at St. Richard of Chichester Episcopal Church in Chicago. Throughout his life, he served mainly Episcopal and Lutheran parishes. A graduate of the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, his organ teachers included Thomas Matthews, Austin C. Lovelace, and Flor Peeters. He was active for many years as a recitalist, largely in the Chicago metropolitan area. Don was married for 42 years to his wife, Lisa Curran Wright. He would always be recognized by his Hercule Poirot-like mustache and his dapper attire. Don was also proud of his 1930 V-16 cylinder Cadillac and his “yacht” (the family’s pontoon boat kept at their Wisconsin cottage). His popular piece, A Gigue for the Tuba Stop, published by World Library, was written for his son, Michael Slane Stuart. Donald Stuart Wright is survived by his wife Lisa, children Katherine, Thomas, Nicholas, Alexandra, Veronica Solis, Nathaniel, and Michael, as well as four grandchildren and one sister.

Nunc Dimittis

Raymond Daveluy, Canadian organist, composer and teacher, died September 1. He was 89. As a youth he studied with his father, organist and bandmaster Lucien Daveluy. Daveluy studied music theory with Gabriel Cusson and organ with Conrad Letendre in Montréal and with Hugh Giles in New York City. Daveluy presided over the 5-manual 1960 Beckerath organ at the Oratoire Saint-Joseph on Mont-Royal in Montréal from 1960 until 2002. He served as president of the Académie de musique du Québec and director of the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Trois-Rivières.

Peter Jay Hopkins, 57, died September 26. Born April 14, 1959, in Frankfort, Michigan, he was a singer, conductor, organist, harpsichordist, and a noted music and biblical scholar. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees with subsequent doctoral work at Michigan State University and studied with Helmuth Rilling in Stuttgart, Germany. He served the Oregon Bach Festival for thirty years as chorus master, harpsichordist, organist, vocal coach, and singer, winning a Grammy Award in 1997. He served as associate professor of music at Kalamazoo College and artistic director and conductor of the Kalamazoo Bach Festival. With his wife, Paula Pugh Romanaux, he moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, to serve as minister of music for Westminster Presbyterian Church, director of the Grand Rapids Choir of Men and Boys, chorus master of the Grand Rapids Symphony, and founder of the Michigan Bach Collegium. Peter and Paula moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to be co-directors of music for St. Peter’s Episcopal Church for 12 years. In 2014, Hopkins became director of music for St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia; he directed the Virginia Girls Choir and founded the Virginia Boys Choir. Peter Jay Hopkins is survived by his wife, Paula Pugh Romanaux, daughter Hannah Grace Hopkins, brothers James, Randy, Jeff, Paul, and Verne, sisters, Linda and Lynn, and their spouses and partners. 

Robert Burns King, 78, died September 27 in Burlington, North Carolina. Born in 1938, he grew up in Conway, South Carolina, where he began to play for Episcopal and Methodist churches. He earned a bachelor’s degree in music and French at Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina, and a master of sacred music degree from Union Theological Seminary, New York City, where he studied organ with Vernon de Tar. He studied as a Fulbright Scholar in 1961–62 with Maurice Duruflé and Jean Langlais and was the first American to win the Prix de Virtuosité from the Schola Cantorum in Paris. Later, he studied in Germany with Michael Schneider.

His early career was spent as organist for churches in Greenville, South Carolina, Rockaway Beach, New York, and in Paris. After a year of teaching at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, he served for 45 years as organist-choirmaster for an extensive music program at Burlington’s First Presbyterian Church, retiring in 2007. During this time he taught at Elon College (now University), Elon, North Carolina, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNC-G). He was a consultant for various new organ projects, including Schantz and Andover organs at the First Presbyterian Church and for an Andover organ at UNC-G. He performed recitals across the United States as well as in Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, and Portugal.

Robert Burns King is survived by a brother-in-law, Daniel Burn Shelley, Jr., a niece and nephew, Susan Shelley Sisk and husband Mike, and Daniel Burn Shelley, III, and wife April, and extended family. 

Arthur D. Rhea Jr., former organist and choirmaster for 23 years at the Church of the Redeemer in Baltimore and organ faculty member at the Peabody Conservatory, died August 14 of cancer at his home. He was 97. Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Rhea studied music for two years at what is now Carnegie Mellon University, and also studied organ for two years with Carl Weinrich at the Delacroze School of Music in New York City. During World War II, Rhea served in Europe as a field artillery officer with Gen. George S. Patton, Jr.’s 3rd Army. He was discharged in 1946 with the rank of captain. In 1949, he earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Yale University and in 1950 received a master’s in music from Yale. He studied further at the Berkshire Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, and the Salzburg Music Festival, where he studied conducting under Herbert von Karajan.

In 1950, Rhea was named organist and choirmaster at historic Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, Virginia. In 1951 he was appointed music consultant and resident harpsichordist for Colonial Williamsburg, Inc., which provided him in 1953 a research grant to study 18th-century music at the British Museum in London. He was also instructor in organ at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg and performed regularly at the Governor’s Palace, including command performances for such figures as England’s Queen Mother and the Crown Prince of Belgium.

Rhea came to Baltimore in 1961 when he was appointed organist and choirmaster at Redeemer. In 1963 he joined the Peabody Conservatory organ faculty, retiring in 1984. Rhea’s compositions included Toccata on an American Folk Tune, Te Deum Laudamus, and Psalm T wenty-Four. He also served on the Service Music Committee, which compiled and edited The Hymnal 1982 of the Episcopal Church. He was a past president of the Association of Anglican Musicians.

Arthur D. Rhea, Jr., is survived by his wife, Dorothea Rhea, sons Clifton L. Rhea and R. Douglas Rhea, and eight grandchildren. He was predeceased by a son, Arthur D. Rhea, III, in 2004.

Bene Wesley Hammel died July 21 at age 69 in University Place, Washington. He studied organ with Carl Scheibe in Chattanooga and at age 18 was the first-prize winner in the AGO national competition. He studied theory and composition at the University of Tennessee, and served on the faculty of William Jennings Bryan College, which awarded him an honorary doctorate. He did further study with Marilyn Mason, Sam Batt Owens, and Claire Coci. Hammel married his wife, Marti, in 1985 and performed duo recitals with her for 15 years, later assisting her in her position as organist-choirmaster at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Bellevue, Washington.

Elizabeth “Betty” Grace Lehoczky died June 20 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She was 81. As a girl she began playing the organ in her father’s Hungarian Baptist churches, and met her future husband while serving as a visiting musician. A graduate of the University of Akron (Ohio), Lehoczky served as a public school music teacher in Allentown, and also as organist, choir director, and minister of music at several Protestant churches for more than 40 years. Elizabeth Grace Lehoczky is survived by her son, two daughters, a sister, a brother, eight grandchildren, and nine nieces and nephews.

Robert P. McDermitt, 41, died September 23 in New York City. He earned BM and MM degrees from Westminster Choir College, and served churches in New Jersey while a student, later becoming assistant organist at Princeton University Chapel. In New York City, he became a fellow in church music at Christ and St. Stephen’s Church, and later assistant at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola. He also served as the assistant/associate organist at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin from 2001–2009, and was a music teacher in the New York City schools and director of the Marsh Singers, a corporate choir. A member of the New York City AGO chapter executive board, he was a member of the St. Wilfrid Club. Robert P. McDermitt is survived by a brother, John.

Robert W. Parris died September 22 at age 59. A native of Virginia, Parris received a BMus degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Performer’s Certificate, MMus, and DMA degrees from the Eastman School of Music; he did postdoctoral study in Boston and northern Germany. An international concert artist, he was a featured performer at the 2004 AGO national convention in Los Angeles, appearing in Walt Disney Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. His recordings include works of Mozart and Reger on the Spectrum label, music of Sowerby for Premier, and works of Buxtehude, Bach, Franck, Sowerby, and, in 2006, Dupré on Land of Rest for Loft Recordings. Robert W. Parris is survived by his wife of 31 years, Ellen Gifford Parris, four children, his parents, and sister.