Nunc Dimittis

Donald Trowbridge Bryant, age 95, died on April 11. Born in Chesterville, Ohio, he began piano study at age 8, and received bachelor’s degrees in music education and composition at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. After four years of service in the Army during World War II, he entered the Juilliard School of Music in 1946; he earned a master’s degree in piano, studied singing with Mack Harrell, and served as Harrell’s studio accompanist.

During the next 20 years, Donald Bryant served as director/pianist of the Columbus Boychoir, now known as the American Boychoir. The choir toured Japan, Italy, and South America, recorded ten albums for RCA and Columbia, and appeared many times on NBC-TV. The Columbus Boychoir was involved in such performances in New York as the official opening of Lincoln Center, the American premieres of Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 3 (“Kaddish”) and Britten’s War Requiem, and numerous concerts under Arturo Toscanini.  

In 1969, Bryant moved to Michigan to become the music director of the University Musical Society (UMS) Choral Union and director of music at First Presbyterian Church in Ann Arbor. At the church, he established the annual Boar’s Head Festival and Festival Sundays, which featured larger choral works.

Bryant’s compositions included anthems and responses, and an opera, The Tower of Babel. Commissions included settings for the poems of Hungarian poet Sandor Weores and Polish-American Nobel Laureate Ciesław Miłosz; a choral work, Death’s Echo, set to poetry of W. H. Auden for performance at the 1984 Ann Arbor Summer Festival; and a Missa Brevis, premiered at First Presbyterian in 1988. In honor of his retirement as director of the Choral Union, the UMS commissioned the three-act oratorio Genesis, given its world premiere in a special tribute concert to Bryant on January 14, 1990. In 1992, the U of M’s Museum of Art commissioned him to compose a choral work on the biblical Esther, which was premiered in conjunction with an exhibit featuring the museum’s painting by Guercino of Esther before Ahasuerus. 

After his retirement from First Presbyterian Church, Bryant continued to compose: A Requiem for Our Mothers (premiered at the Chapel of the Holy Trinity at Concordia University in Ann Arbor on June 5, 1999); a set of piano miniatures, Pictures from Childhood; and several songs based on texts by his ancestor, William Cullen Bryant. He also continued to conduct a small choir that performed several times a year, and to practice piano every day, performing a recital as recently as February 27, 2014, for his friends and new acquaintances at Chelsea Retirement Community. 

Bryant was awarded an honorary doctorate by Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey; an Annie Award by the Washtenaw Council of the Arts in Ann Arbor; and was named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Club of Ann Arbor. 

Donald Trowbridge Bryant was preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Lela Neoma Cultice Bryant. He is survived by his sister, Doris (Theodore) Bruckner; his son, Milton Travis Bryant of New York City; son and daughter-in-law, Stephen Lee Bryant and Caryl Heaton Bryant of Montclair, New Jersey; grandsons David and Andrew Bryant; and friends and former students.

James K. Hill, age 72, died on April 16 in Bay City, Michigan. He received a bachelor’s degree in music education and a master’s degree in organ performance from Central Michigan University, and a master’s degree in education from Michigan State University. He was a music and elementary teacher in the Essexville-Hampton Public Schools, and a member of the Saginaw Valley AGO chapter. Hill played organ at several regional churches, sang with the Bay Chorale, and played with the Saginaw Valley State University Collegium. 

James K. Hill is survived by his wife Rosemary, a son, a daughter, a granddaughter, a brother, a sister, a niece, and a nephew. 

Frances Kelly Holland died in Charlotte, North Carolina, on April 3; she was 92. Born in Mount Holly, North Carolina, she received a bachelor of music degree from Greensboro College in 1938. She served as organist and choir director at the First United Methodist Church, and the First Presbyterian Church, both in Mount Holly, for many years, until her retirement in 1984. Holland was an officer of the Charlotte AGO chapter for 22 years, and was certified as an organist by the Presbyterian Association of Musicians. Frances Kelly Holland is survived by her husband of 69 years, Thomas Marshall Holland, two children, five grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. 

Ronald A. Nelson died April 18 at the age of 86. Born in Rockford, Illinois, he received a B.Mus. from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, and an M.Mus. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In 1955 he became music minister at Westwood Lutheran Church in suburban Minneapolis, serving for 37 years; he directed nine choirs and a resident orchestra and founded a children’s choir school. His compositions were published by Augsburg Fortress, GIA, Santa Barbara, and Selah; he is well known as the composer of Setting 2 of the Communion Service in the Lutheran Book of Worship. Nelson received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from St. Olaf College and the F. Melius Christiansen Award from Minnesota American Choral Directors Association.

Ronald A. Nelson is survived by his wife, Betty Lou, daughter Rachel, sons Peter and Paul, and
a grandson.

Robert J. Schaffer died on May 20 at the age of 92 in Edgewood, Kentucky. Born in 1921 in St. Bernard, Ohio, he received his early education in Cincinnati. During World War II, he served in England in a U.S. Army band, which played the national anthem for Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower during the embarkation ceremony for troops heading to fight on Normandy’s beaches. After the war, he returned to Cincinnati, serving as an organist, freelance trombonist, and pianist, while studying Gregorian chant at the Athenaeum of Ohio and earning a bachelor’s degree in music from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. He moved to New York and earned a master’s degree in musicology from New York University. 

In 1949 Schaffer was hired as organist by the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington, Kentucky, beginning an association that would endure for more than sixty years. After a short break to conclude his doctoral studies, he returned in 1952, and was named director of music in 1958. In 1953, Schaffer married his wife of 55 years, Rita, former organist at Cincinnati’s Christ Church Cathedral and Church of the Redeemer. She died in 2009. Schaffer composed several Masses and other compositions, which were published by World Library Publications. He taught music in the parish elementary school, in high schools, at Villa Madonna College (later Thomas More College) in Covington, and at St. Pius X Seminary, and served as an organist for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. In 1975, to celebrate the addition of the Matthias Schwab Organ to what were eventually the three organs of the basilica (the pipes and other parts were dismantled and carried two blocks from Old St. Joseph Church, which had formerly housed the instrument), Schaffer began the Cathedral Concert Series. Robert J. Schaffer is survived by his son Gregory Schaffer, daughter Rebecca Wells, and four grandchildren. 

Betty Jean Taylor Bartholomew died October 11, 2008, at the age of 84 in Eugene, Oregon. Born in Eugene on December 10, 1923, she had a career as a piano and organ recitalist and church musician in five states before returning to Oregon in 1990, where she was music director-organist at the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection. She established the Leadership Program for Church Musicians in the Diocese of Oregon, and presented workshops at AGO conventions and for the American Choral Directors Association, the Association of Anglican Musicians, and at diocesan conferences. Ms. Bartholomew was dean of the Seattle and Eugene AGO chapters and served as a regional and national councillor. She also held positions on the AGO special projects advisory board, the national convention committee, and the professional concerns committee.
Bartholomew was the recipient of the Bishop’s Cross of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia in 1991, and in recognition of her achievements and service to the AGO for more than 50 years, she received the Edward A. Hansen Award during the 2004 national convention in Los Angeles. She is survived by five children and five grandchildren.

Margaret E. Brakel died July 17, 2008, at age 85 in Reading, Pennsylvania. Born in Marshall, Minnesota, in 1923, she earned a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Minnesota and a master’s in organ performance from the University of Oregon–Eugene. She served as organist at First Congregational Church, Eugene, before moving to Pennsylvania in 1965. Brakel served as organist for West Chester United Methodist Church, West Chester, Pennsylvania, for 37 years until her retirement in 2002. During her years there, she continued organ studies with Harry Wilkinson and Vernon deTar. She is survived by a son, daughter, sister, brother, and three grandchildren.

N. Frederick Cool, long-time organ builder, died December 27 in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, at the age of 80. He was born June 1, 1928, in Independence, Missouri, where a memorial service was held at the Stone Church, the same building where, as a small boy, he fell in love with the church and the church’s Pilcher organ. He married Beryl Romaine Lafferty in 1949 while at Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa. They had seven children over the next eleven years, all of whom worked at one time for the organ building firm that he founded in 1953, Temple Organ Company.
Starting in Independence, the company was moved to Lamoni in 1958 and then to Burlington, Iowa in 1966, where six organs were built. The company was moved to St. Joseph, Missouri in 1975, where it has been ever since, now under the direction of oldest son David.
Early in his career, having apprenticed with the late Charles McManis, Cool eschewed the style of organ building prevalent in this country during the 1950s, opting for the more classical approach. Obtaining a contract for a large rebuild in the Episcopal church, then a cathedral, in Quincy, Illinois, he secured the consultation help of Robert Noehren and designed a 51-rank organ in 1955. It had, before being destroyed with the church in a recent lightning strike, 23 ranks of mixtures and seven reeds, including a horizontal trumpet.
Before his retirement in 1999, Cool had built 150 organs, including several digital instruments in conjunction with Classic Organ Works of Ontario, Canada, after he could no longer do intricate voicing work due to the onset of Parkinson’s disease. The company continues to operate in St. Joseph, based on the tonal concepts of a balanced organ, with the legacy of N. Frederick Cool’s determination to build church organs suitable for edification and musical uplift in divine worship.
—David Cool

Carol A. Griffin died September 14, 2008, at age 76 in San Jose, California. Born in French Camp, California, she majored in organ at San Jose State University. She was a church organist for 59 years, serving in various churches in the Bay Area, including First Christian Church, San Jose; Willow Vale Community Church, and Trinity Presbyterian Church. A member of the San Jose AGO chapter, Griffin earned the Colleague certificate in 1981. She was also a member of the Music Teachers Association of California and for 41 years held various offices for MTAC, including president and vice-president. She is survived by her husband Bill, a son, a daughter, six grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Alfred John Neumann died October 13, 2008, at age 79. Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1928, he earned a bachelor’s degree from Davidson College in North Carolina, and a master’s from the University of Michigan. From 1958–94 he was organist-choir director at Christ Congregational Church, Silver Spring, Maryland, during which time he took the choir on 20 singing tours in the U.S., Canada, Hawaii, and Europe. Under his leadership, the choir premiered two of his sacred operas on NBC-TV in Washington, DC. During his tenure at Christ Church, Neumann produced and directed many musical works, and the choir recorded two commercial LPs on the Crest label. In 1976, he was coordinator and music director of the national convention of the United Church of Christ. During the summer months, he served as assistant to the director of the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina.

Wesley T. Selby, Jr. died July 3, 2008, at age 80. He was raised in Salisbury, Maryland and enlisted in the Army in 1946. He earned a bachelor’s degree in composition from the University of New Mexico and a master’s degree from the University of Colorado, where he studied with Everett Jay Hilty. He served two tenures each at the Cathedral of St. John and St. Paul Lutheran Church in Albuquerque, and was organist-choirmaster at the Church of St. Michael and All Angels. For four years he was minister of music at Montview Presbyterian Church in Denver, and he taught at the University of Colorado in Boulder. As professor of organ at the University of New Mexico, he taught organ, music theory, composition, and conducting. He directed the installation of the Holtkamp organ in Keller Hall and the Wicks organ in the Alumni Memorial Chapel. He served as dean of the Albuquerque AGO chapter, was coordinator for two regional conventions, and served as state chairman for New Mexico. He built a harpsichord, which he donated to UNM, and a small practice pipe organ for his home.

Noel Goemanne, Catholic Church musician and composer, died January 12 in Dallas. He was 83. Born in 1926 in Poperinge, Belgium, Goemanne was a graduate of the Lemmens Institute of Belgium, and studied organ and improvisation with Flor Peeters, and at the Royal Conservatory of Liege. During World War II, he refused an offer from the Nazis to become a composer for the Third Reich; he was later arrested for playing the music of Mendelssohn during the Nazi occupation of Belgium.
In 1952 he and his wife Janine immigrated to the United States, settling in Victoria, Texas, where he was organist at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. In response to the liturgical changes brought about in the 1960s by the Second Vatican Council, he composed the first Vatican II-approved Masses in English. During that time he gave sacred music workshops on college campuses; he also established the sacred music program at St. Joseph College in Rensselaer, Indiana.
Goemanne held organist and choirmaster positions in the Detroit area, at St. Rita’s Catholic Church and Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church, and in Dallas, at St. Monica’s Catholic Church, Holy Trinity Seminary, and Christ the King Church, where he served from 1972 until this past summer.
His compositional output includes over 200 sacred compositions, with over 20 Masses. His organ work Trilogy for Dallas was the first work commissioned for the Lay Family Organ at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center.
Goemanne’s many honors include an award from the Institute of Sacred Music in Manila, Philippines in 1974; the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Cross from Pope Paul VI in 1977; honorary doctorates from St. Joseph College in Rensselaer in 1980 and Madonna University in Livonia, Michigan in 1999; and numerous ASCAP awards. Goemanne was a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, the American Guild of Organists, the American Choral Directors Association, and the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. He is survived by his wife Janine, daughter Claire Page and husband Mike, son Luc and wife Candy, and three grandchildren.

John B. Haney, longtime Canon Organist and Choirmaster of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Columbia, South Carolina, died February 13 at age 77. Born in Illinois, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in organ from the University of Illinois, and received the Master of Sacred Music degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
In 1970 he moved to Columbia, South Carolina, to become organist and choirmaster at what was then Trinity Episcopal Church, where he served for the next 33 years. Prior to that, he held positions at Reveille United Methodist Church, Richmond, Virginia; Central Presbyterian Church, Montclair, New Jersey; and Temple Emanu-El, New York City.
While at Trinity, he began the cathedral choir’s periodic residencies at English cathedrals and developed the Wednesdays at Trinity concert series. Haney was a member of the American Guild of Organists and the Association of Anglican Musicians.

John Wright Harvey died December 31, 2009. “Organ—my hobby, my work, my play, my vocation, my recreation. Recital work a specialty.” So wrote Professor Harvey on a faculty information sheet dated October 26, 1961. He went on to list “Carillon—(and bells of all sorts)—a lifelong interest.” These dual interests defined John’s 24 years as professor of music at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a career which began in September 1960, and ended with his retirement in June 1984. In 1962 the UW Memorial Carillon received 27 new bells and two claviers, enlarging it to a total of 51 bells. On February 2, 3, and 4, 1970, John gave identical recitals initiating the Austin Organ Company’s Opus 2498 in the University’s Eastman Recital Hall. John taught organ and carillon to students from freshman level to doctoral candidates. Announcements of his carillon recitals appeared regularly and often.
John Harvey was born in Marion, Indiana, on June 15, 1919. He began piano study at age 8, trombone at age 14, and organ at 15. He completed a Bachelor of Music degree in organ from Oberlin Conservatory in 1941. The degree was awarded in absentia since John was by then stationed aboard a destroyer participating in the Battle of Midway. While in the Navy, John served as a musician, a signalman, and a quartermaster. He survived the loss of the USS Atlanta, sunk off Guadalcanal in November 1942. Following the war, John received a bachelor’s degree in music education from Oberlin in 1946 and a master’s degree from the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary in 1952. His master’s thesis was on the history and development of the organ in the chapel at West Point. Before coming to Madison, he served the First Presbyterian Church in Englewood, New Jersey; Webb Horton Memorial Presbyterian Church in Middletown, New York; Central Union Church in Honolulu, and National City Christian Church in Washington, D.C.
Beginning in 1947, John was active in the American Guild of Organists. In 1952 he organized the Northern Valley chapter in Englewood, serving as dean for its first three years and scholarship chairman for two years. In 1958 he was secretary of the Washington, D.C. chapter. In Madison he was dean of the AGO chapter from 1964–66. In 1953–56 John contributed to The American Organist, including a three-issue story on the West Point organ.
In Madison and beyond the university, John was active as well. He was organist at First Congregational Church. He also served as organ consultant and advisor to many congregations, including St. John’s Lutheran, Luther Memorial, Bethany Methodist, and Mt. Olive Lutheran. He was particularly involved with the design of the Austin organ at First United Methodist. An instrument of interest was the Hinners organ at St. Mary’s in Pine Bluff. John gave recitals statewide, in venues large and small, including several on the Casavant organ at St. Norbert’s Abbey in DePere.
John Harvey’s interests extended well beyond music. Pictures of Clarissa, his 1932 Chevy roadster, appeared in the newspaper, as did pictures of his model railroad. He also collected disc recordings from the early 1900s.
John married Jean Cochran on May 25, 1945, and was the father of three daughters, Ann, Carol, and Jane. John suffered from Alzheimer’s and died on December 31, 2009. Survivors include his wife, Jean, his daughters, and a brother.
—John R. Krueger
Madison, Wisconsin

August “Ed” Linzel, Jr., died January 19 in Arlington, Texas, at the age of 84. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, he attended the Princeton School of Music, and served as organist and choirmaster at St. Mary the Virgin Episcopal Church in New York City for 16 years. He was active in the American Guild of Organists, performing as organist, harpsichordist, and conductor at national (1948, 1950, 1952) and regional conventions. Linzel also served as dean of the New York City AGO chapter from 1956–59. In 1964 he served as organist-choirmaster at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, and in 1972 he served in that same capacity at St. Boniface Episcopal Church in Sarasota, Florida. He later returned to Little Rock, where he was organist at Pulaski Heights Presbyterian Church, Christ Episcopal Church, and First Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville, Arkansas. August Linzel, Jr. is survived by his sons Ted and John, daughters Patricia and Jennifer, and brothers Milton and Jesse.

William Bernard MacGowan, concert organist, choir director, and college professor, died December 15, 2009 in Gainesville, Florida. He began organ study with Nelson Brett in Jacksonville, and during the 1940s studied organ with Robert Baker and piano with Percy Grainger at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Michigan, where he studied with Palmer Christian, Robert Noehren, and Maynard Klein. A naval communications officer during the Korean War, MacGowan established choirs and singing groups on the ships where he served. When in port, he studied choral conducting with Robert Shaw and musicology with Julius Herford.
His many positions included those at St. Philip’s Church in Durham, North Carolina; Old North Church in Boston, Maple Street Congregational Church, Trinity Episcopal Church, and the Tanglewood Music Center, in Massachusetts; All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California; and Bethesda by the Sea Episcopal Church in Palm Beach, St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in High Springs, and St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Gainesville, in Florida. As a recitalist, he performed at important venues in New York City, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and in Assisi, Italy, and in Germany. MacGowan was a member of the American Guild of Organists, Society of St. Hubert, Phi Gamma Delta, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia; his hobbies included scuba diving and snorkeling.
William Bernard MacGowan is survived by brothers Bradford and John and their wives, two nephews, and two nieces.

Richard Thornton White died on December 8, 2009, in Memphis, Tennessee, in his home across the street from St. John’s Episcopal Church, where he served for 36 years. He was 95. His first organ study was with Adolph Steuterman; in 1935, he was awarded the William C. Carl Scholarship to the Guilmant Organ School in New York City. In 1937, he won a gold medal in performance from that school. The Diapason (July 1, 1937), in reporting the event, noted that “Guilmant graduates have built up an enviable reputation for brilliancy, interpretative power, and poise in their playing, and the class of this year sustained that reputation.” White also studied with Frank Wright and Frederick Schlieder. He held organist-choirmaster positions in New York City and New Jersey, served in the U.S. Army in the South Pacific during World War II, and in 1950 returned to Memphis to serve at St. John’s Episcopal Church, where he led the music program until his retirement in 1986. White was also active in the Sewanee Church Music Conference, which he served as a faculty member and secretary/registrar.
He earned Associate (1938) and Fellow (1940) certifications with the American Guild of Organists, of which he was a member for 74 years, serving the Memphis chapter as dean several times, and also as chapter examination coordinator.
Richard Thornton White is survived by his wife Anna, whom he married in 1938, sons Richard White, Albert White and his wife Betsy, two grandchildren, and nieces and nephews.

John C. Campbell died March 4 in Abilene, Texas. He was 73. A long-time teacher and organist, he began piano study with his mother at age eight; his father acquired a two-manual and pedal Estey reed organ for their church, and Campbell began playing the organ in church at age 13. At Hardin-Simmons University, he studied piano with Thurman Morrison and organ with T. W. (Jack) Dean and Edward Wetherill; after graduation, he entered the U.S. Navy and for five years served as a pilot on an aircraft carrier. He later earned a master of music degree at the University of Oklahoma, studying organ with Mildred Andrews, and a doctorate at the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Russell Saunders. He also studied organ with Michael Schneider and harpsichord with Hugo Ruf at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Cologne.
Campbell taught for three years at Berea College in Kentucky, and was professor of organ and church music and university organist at Hardin-Simmons University from 1971–2000. He had also served as organist of the First Baptist Church in Oklahoma City (where he met Lillie Spurgin, whom he married in 1966), and First Baptist Church of Abilene, Texas. He was a member of the Big Country AGO chapter. John C. Campbell is survived by his wife, Lillie, sons Russell and Matthew, a sister, two brothers, and uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins.

Lawrence G. “Larry” Kelliher died on June 2 in Madison, Wisconsin. He was a lifelong resident of Madison. For the greater part of his career, he was director of music/organist at Bethel Lutheran Church in Madison, where he led a 70-voice choir and coordinated a regional church music workshop in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin. Kelliher received his bachelor of arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his master’s degree in organ performance there in 1954. While attending UW-Madison, he was a teaching assistant for organ majors and an accompanist for choral groups and voice studios.
He was organist and director of music at Trinity Lutheran Church 1957–60 and at Bethel Lutheran Church 1960–92. From 1994–96, he was the organist and choir/handbell director at St. Luke’s Church in Middleton. He served as the organist for the First Unitarian Society, Luther Memorial, Holy Cross, Grace Episcopal, First Congregational, St. John’s, and Central Lutheran churches in Madison. Before retiring, he was the choir director/organist at Monona Lutheran Church. He also served as an organist for the Madison Symphony. He was dean of the Madison AGO chapter 1959–60. A memorial service was held on June 9 at Bethel Lutheran Church in Madison, with music led by current director of music/organist, Gary Lewis.

Hazel-Thomas Baker King died at age 71 on April 8, in Charlottesville, Virginia. An alumna of Agnes Scott College, she received a fellowship to study in Belgium with Flor Peeters. For 31 years she was organist-choirmaster at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and a member of the AGO; the Charleston chapter produced a recording of her performance on the restored 1845 Erben organ at the French (Huguenot) Church. Mrs. King was also featured in recitals at Piccolo Spoleto. A talented choral director, she had studied at the Royal School of Church Music in England, and served as director of choral activities at Ashley Hall School, was accompanist for the Charleston Symphony Singers’ Guild, and was a member of the Charleston Baroque Singers. Hazel-Thomas King is survived by her husband, two children, one sister, and three grandchildren.

Paul E. Koch died on May 12 at age 79 in Springfield, Illinois. Born May 24, 1929 in Vanlue, Ohio, he was a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University (BMus), the Naval School of Music, and Union Theological Seminary (MSM). He served in the Army 1951–54 as a bandsman and chaplain’s assistant. He held church music positions as organist and choir director in churches in Oak Park, Springfield, and Decatur, Illinois. He was active in the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers, the American Guild of Organists, the Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts, and the Presbyterian Association of Musicians.
Koch played recitals and was a published composer; among his works are a volume of handbell music, a work for flute and organ, five anthems, two organ works, and two hymns. He taught numerous piano and organ students, and he was also a communications consultant with Illinois Bell Telephone 1970–1982. Paul E. Koch is survived by his wife Susan, three sons, a daughter, two stepdaughters, a sister, two grandchildren, and five stepgrandchildren.

George M. Williams, director of music and organist at the Northfield Community Church (UCC) of Northfield, Illinois since 1967, died June 11, after a nine-month battle with recurrent lymphoma. Williams was a member of the American Guild of Organists, past dean of the North Shore chapter, and a trustee at the Music Institute of Chicago. In 2007, on the occasion of his fortieth anniversary at Northfield Community Church, the church established an endowed organ scholarship in perpetuity in his name at the Music Institute of Chicago.
Born December 3, 1935, Williams was a graduate of Chicago Musical College (now the Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University), where he received bachelor’s and master’s degrees and won the Oliver Ditson Award in organ. He later became an instructor of organ at his alma mater, and he taught music and conducted the chorus for ten years at Englewood High School in the Chicago Public School System. In 1968, he joined the faculty of Loop Junior College (now Harold Washington College), one of the City Colleges of Chicago, where he taught music theory, piano, and vocal music for thirty-four years.
Williams retired from the college in 2002 as an associate professor. In addition to being an organ recitalist, church musician and conductor, Williams was classical music critic for The Chicago Crusader, the oldest African-American-owned Chicago area weekly newspaper. George M. Williams is survived by his wife, the former Barbara Wright-Pryor, two children and two grandchildren.

Lukas Foss, composer, performer, and teacher, died in New York on February 2. He was 86. German-born, Foss was trained in Germany, in Paris, and at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia; he had studied composition with Randall Thompson and Paul Hindemith, and conducting with Fritz Reiner and Serge Koussevitzky. Known for composing in different musical styles, he often combined past and present influences and techniques. He served as the pianist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1944–50, and he conducted numerous orchestras including the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Jerusalem Symphony, and the Milwaukee Symphony. He taught composition and conducting at UCLA from 1953–62 and had served as composer-in-residence at Carnegie-Mellon University, Harvard University, the Manhattan School of Music, Yale University, and Boston University. Foss’s compositional output included many orchestral, chamber, and choral works, as well as several works for piano, and two organ compositions, Four Etudes (1967) and War and Peace (1995). Lukas Foss is survived by his wife Cornelia.

James Barclay Hartman died on January 23 at the age of 84. He was predeceased by his wife Pamela in 1983. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada on January 12, 1925, he was educated at the University of Manitoba (BA 1948, MA 1951), Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, and Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois (Ph.D.). He began a teaching career at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, returning to Canada in 1967 to teach at Scarborough College, University of Toronto. In 1974 he was appointed director of development and external affairs at Algoma University College, Laurentian University in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, and in 1980 joined the Continuing Education Division at the University of Manitoba as associate professor and director, humanities and professional studies. At the time of his retirement he held the position of senior academic editor.
A skilled photographer, he did commercial photography to help finance his university education. His great passion was music, especially the music of J. S. Bach, and in particular the works for organ and for harpsichord, both of which he played. He served for many years as book reviewer for The Diapason, and authored reviews and articles for numerous academic journals. His chief publication was the book The Organ in Manitoba, published by the University of Manitoba Press in 1997.
Dr. Hartman’s articles published in The Diapason include: “The World of the Organ on the Internet” (February 2005); “Alternative Organists” (July 2004); “Seven Outstanding Canadian Organists of the Past” (September 2002); “Families of Professional Organists in Canada” (May 2002); “Organ Recital Repertoire: Now and Then” (November 2001); “Prodigy Organists of the Past” (December 2000); “Canadian Organbuilding” (Part 1, May 1999; Part 2, June 1999); “Purcell’s Tercentenary in Print: Recent Books” (Part I, November 1997; Part II, December 1997); “The Golden Age of the Organ in Manitoba: 1875–1919” (Part 1, May 1997; Part 2, June 1997); “The Organ: An American Journal, 1892–1894” (December 1995); and “The Search for Authenticity in Music—An Elusive Ideal?” (June 1993).

Thomas A. Klug, age 61, died suddenly at his home in Minneapolis on January 8. He received his bachelor’s degree in music from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, and his master’s degree from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. An accomplished organist for 44 years, he began his musical career at St. Michael’s United Church of Christ in West Chicago, Illinois. He went on to serve the First United Methodist Church in Elgin, Illinois, Olivet Congregational Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, and most recently was the organist for 20 years at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Roseville, Minnesota. Tom was a member of the American Guild of Organists and the Organ Historical Society, an outdoor enthusiast, gardener, and an accomplished cook. He will be deeply missed by his family and friends. A memorial service was held January 13 at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, Roseville. He is survived by his parents, Armin and Marjorie Klug, brothers Kenneth (Cindy) and James (Diane Donahue), five nieces and nephews, one great-niece, and special friend Doug Erickson.
—Frank Rippl

Dutch organist and musicologist Ewald Kooiman died on January 25, on vacation in Egypt. He died in his sleep; the cause was heart failure.
Ewald Kooiman was born on June 14, 1938 in Wormer, just north of Amsterdam. He studied French at the VU University in Amsterdam and at the University of Poitiers, taking the doctorate in 1975 with a dissertation on the Tombel de Chartrose, a medieval collection of saints’ lives. He then taught Old French at the VU University, where he was appointed Professor of Organ Art in 1988.
As a teenager, Kooiman studied organ with Klaas Bakker. After passing the State Examination and encouraged by members of the committee to pursue music studies at a higher level, he continued with Piet Kee at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, earning a Prix d’Excellence—the equivalent of a doctorate—in 1969. While studying French at Poitiers, he simultaneously studied organ with Jean Langlais at the Paris Schola Cantorum, taking the Prix de Virtuosité in 1963.
Kooiman had a long and impressive international career as a concert organist. He twice recorded the complete organ works of Bach—first on LP, then on CD—and was awarded the Prize of German Record Critics in 2003. He was in the midst of recording his third complete Bach set—on SACD, using Silbermann organs in Alsace—which was scheduled to come out in late 2009 or early 2010.
Although Bach was at the heart of his musical activities, Kooiman took an interest in many other parts of the organ repertoire, for example the French Baroque. His study of this repertoire and the relevant treatises was, of course, greatly facilitated by his knowledge of the French language. His interest in the French Baroque organ also led to the construction of the so-called Couperin Organ (Koenig/Fontijn & Gaal, 1973) in the auditorium of the VU University.
But he also loved playing—and teaching—Reger and Reubke; he very much enjoyed learning Widor’s Symphonie gothique when he was asked to play the work as part of a complete Widor series in Germany; and he admitted to having “a weak spot” for Guilmant’s Variations on “Was Gott tut das ist wohlgetan.”
As a scholar, Kooiman edited some 50 volumes of mostly unknown organ music in the series Incognita Organo (published by the Dutch publisher Harmonia). Much of the series was devoted to organ music of the second half of the eighteenth and of the early nineteenth century, traditionally considered a low point in history of organ music. He also published widely on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century performance practice, mainly in the Dutch journal Het Orgel. His inaugural address as Professor of Organ Art was about the nineteenth-century roots of the French Bach tradition.
Besides teaching at the famous International Summer Academy for Organists at Haarlem—at first French Baroque repertoire, later Bach—Ewald Kooiman was for many years chairman of the jury for the improvisation competition in the same city. His fluency—besides French—in English and German and his ability to listen critically to the opinions of his colleagues made him the ideal person for such a job.
Although he was never the titulaire of one of the major historical Dutch organs, Kooiman served as University Organist of the VU University, playing the Couperin Organ in recitals and for university functions. But he also played organ for the Sunday morning services in the chapel of the university hospital.
In 1986, Kooiman succeeded Piet Kee as Professor of Organ at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, mostly teaching international students at the graduate level. I had the pleasure of studying with him for three years before graduating with a BM in 1989, having previously studied with Piet Kee for two years. Although much time was naturally spent with Bach—I learned at least two trio sonatas with him—he also taught later repertoire very well: Mozart, Mendelssohn, Reubke, Reger, Hindemith, Franck, and Alain come to mind. From time to time, I had to play a little recital, and he personally took care of “organizing” an audience by inviting his family.
As Professor Ars Organi at the VU University, Ewald was the adviser for three Ph.D. dissertations, all dealing with organ art at the dawn of Modernism: Hans Fidom’s “Diversity in Unity: Discussions on Organ Building in Germany 1880–1918” (2002); David Adams’s “‘Modern’ Organ Style in Karl Straube’s Reger Editions” (2007); and most recently René Verwer’s “Cavaillé-Coll and The Netherlands 1875–1924” (2008).
Ewald Kooiman was a Knight in the Order of the Dutch Lion; an honorary member of the Royal Dutch Society of Organists; and a bearer of the Medal of Merit of the City of Haarlem. For his 70th birthday, the VU University organized a conference in his honor and a group of prominent colleagues—including American Bach scholars Christoph Wolff and George Stauffer—offered him a collection of essays entitled Pro Organo Pleno (Veenhuizen: Boeijenga, 2008). Piet Kee’s contribution was the organ work Seventy Chords (and Some More) for Ewald. Earlier, Cor Kee (Piet’s father, the famous improviser and improvisation teacher) had dedicated his Couperin Suite (1980) as well as several short pieces to Ewald.
Though clearly part of a tradition and full of respect for his teachers, Kooiman was in many ways an individualist. He enjoyed frequent work-outs at the gym, not only because it kept him physically fit and helped him deal with the ergonomic challenges of playing historic organs, but also because he liked talking with “regular” people. Among colleagues—particularly in Germany—he was famous for wearing sneakers instead of more orthodox organ shoes. One of his favorite stories about his studies with Langlais was that the latter was keen on teaching him how to improvise a toccata à la française, a genre that Kooiman described as “knockabout-at-the-organ”—not exactly his cup of tea. “Non maître, je n’aime pas tellement ça,” he claimed to have answered: “No professor, I don’t like that too much.”
Ewald Kooiman is survived by his wife Truus, their children Peter and Mirjam, and two grandchildren. The funeral service took place at the Westerkerk in Amsterdam on February 4.
—Jan-Piet Knijff

Joseph F. MacFarland, 86, died on December 29, 2008, at the Westport Health Care Center in Westport, Connecticut. A native and lifelong resident of Norwalk, Connecticut, he was born on February 14, 1922. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School in New York, and studied organ with David McK. Williams and Jack Ossewarde at St. Bartholomew’s Church. For 56 years MacFarland served as organist-choirmaster at the First Congregational Church on the Green in Norwalk. He also was the accompanist for the Wilton Playshop, Staples High School, and Norwalk High School. He was a lifelong member of First United Methodist Church, Norwalk, Connecticut, and a member of the Bridgeport AGO chapter. He was a veteran of World War II, having served in the U.S. Army Air Corps.

Richard H. (Dick) Peterson died at age 83 on January 29, fourteen years after suffering a debilitating stroke. Besides spending time with Carol, his devoted wife of 53 years, and with his other family members, Richard’s greatest passion in life was applying modern technology to pipe organ building. His goal was always to make organs better, more affordable, and consequently more available for people to enjoy. During his long and prolific career, he was awarded over 70 U.S. and foreign patents.
Dick Peterson was born on February 26, 1925 in Chicago. He served in the U.S. Army as a radio engineer from 1943 until 1946 and studied electronics at the City College of New York. While stationed in New York City, he often visited Radio City Music Hall and loved the room-filling sound of the organ there while also being fascinated by the mechanics of pipe organs. It was during that time that he told his parents his goal in life was to “perfect the organ.”
Mr. Peterson soon co-founded the Haygren Church Organ Company in Chicago, which built 50 electronic organs for churches all around the Midwest. Soon thereafter, he founded Peterson Electro-Musical Products, currently in Alsip, Illinois. In 1952, he presented a prototype spinet electronic organ to the Gulbransen Piano Company. Gulbransen’s president was thrilled with the sound of the instrument, and they soon negotiated an arrangement where Richard would help the piano company get into the organ business and, as an independent contractor, he would develop and license technology to be used in building a line of classical and theatre-style home organs for Gulbransen to sell. One particularly notable accomplishment was Gulbransen’s introduction of the world’s first fully transistorized organ at a trade show in 1957. Gulbransen would ultimately sell well over 100,000 organs based on Peterson inventions.
Meanwhile, many of Peterson’s developments for electronic organs evolved into applications for real pipe organs. Especially notable among over 50 of Dick’s innovative products for the pipe organ are the first digital record/playback system; the first widely used modular solid state switching system; the DuoSet solid state combination action; a line of “pedal extension” 16-foot and 32-foot voices; and the first commercially available electronic swell shade operator. Many thousands of pipe organs worldwide utilize control equipment that is the direct result of Richard’s pioneering efforts. Also carrying his name is a family of musical instrument tuners familiar to countless thousands of school band students and widely respected by professional musicians, recording artists, musical instrument manufacturers and technicians.
In the 1950s, Dick Peterson enjoyed learning to fly a Piper Cub airplane, and in more recent times preceding his illness enjoyed ham radio, boating, and restoring and driving his collection of vintage Volkswagens. He was a longtime member of Palos Park Presbyterian Community Church in his home town of Palos Park, Illinois.
Memorial donations may be made to the American Guild of Organists “New Organist Fund,” where a scholarship is being established in Richard Peterson’s name.
—Scott Peterson

William J. (Bill) Stephens, 84, of Lawrence, Kansas, died suddenly at home of heart failure on December 19, 2008. Born in Jacksonville, Texas on June 28, 1924, his organ playing career began at the Episcopal Church in Jacksonville while in his early teens. He later studied organ with Roy Perry in Kilgore, Texas, and became interested in organ building at the workshop of William Redmond in Dallas. He graduated from the University of North Texas in 1949 with a bachelor’s degree in organ, where he was a pupil of Helen Hewitt. Stephens served in the Navy during WWII as a gunner’s mate 2nd class in the Pacific theater. He subsequently studied organ at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where he was a teaching assistant in organ and a pupil of Everett Jay Hilty in organ and Cecil Effinger in theory.
Stephens taught public school music in south Texas, was the organist-choirmaster of Trinity Episcopal and Trinity Lutheran Churches in Victoria, Texas, and was south Texas representative for the Reuter Organ Company, Lawrence, Kansas. He married Mary Elizabeth Durett of Memphis, Tennessee, in Denton on November 19, 1946. In 1968 Bill moved his family to Lawrence, Kansas, and installed Reuter pipe organs in all of the 50 states except Alaska. He operated an organ building and maintenance service business, covering most of the Midwest. He was also organist-choirmaster at Grace Episcopal Church, Ottawa, Kansas, for three years.
During his years at Reuter he taught many young men the mechanics, care and feeding of pipe organs and was very proud of their work when they became full-fledged “Organ Men.” For 40 years he was curator of organs at Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, and was proud of the recognition he received upon retiring. He also took special pride in rebuilding the organ at Trinity Episcopal Church, Aurora, Illinois. It had been water-soaked and inoperable for 25 years. Kristopher Harris assisted, and Christopher Hathaway played the dedication recital November 11, 2001.
Bill Stephens was a member of the Organ Historical Society. He is survived by his wife, Mary Elizabeth Durett Stephens, five children, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
—Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home
Lawrence, Kansas

Marguerite Long Thal died December 5, 2008, in Sylvania, Ohio. She was 73. Born January 27, 1935, in Quinter, Kansas, she studied organ with Marilyn Mason at the University of Michigan, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music. After graduation, she received a Fulbright grant to study in Paris, France for two years, where she attended the American University and studied with Jean Langlais and Nadia Boulanger. Returning to the U.S., she was appointed minister of music at the First Congregational Church in Toledo, Ohio, and taught organ at Bowling Green State University. In 1961, she married Roy Thal Jr., and they moved to Sylvania, where they remained for more than 40 years.
Active in the AGO, Mrs. Thal was a past dean of the Toledo chapter and served as Ohio district convener. She served as minister of music at Sylvania United Church of Christ for 18 years, gave many solo performances, and appeared with Prinzipal VI, a group of six organists who performed regionally. She is survived by her husband, Norman, two daughters, and three grandchildren.

Jan-Piet Knijff is organist-in-residence, Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College, CUNY; adjunct professor of music, Fairfield University; director of music, St.Michael's Lutheran Church, New Canaan, Connecticut; and concert organistin residence, St. Paul's Church National Historic Site, Mount Vernon, New York.

Corliss R. Arnold of Venice, Florida, died September 19, 2003, at the age of 77. He held the doctorate in sacred music from Union Theological Seminary in New York City and was Emeritus Professor of Music at Michigan State University where he taught for thirty-two years. He served as organist and director of music at the Peoples Church, East Lansing, for thirty-three years. Dr. Arnold was a Fulbright Scholar to France, studied at the Summer Organ Academy at Haarlem in the Netherlands, and held three certificates from the American Guild of Organists: the Associateship, Fellowship and Choirmaster. He was the author of the first major survey of organ literature in English: Organ Literature: A Comprehensive Survey, Scarecrow Press, Metuchen, New Jersey. The book is currently in its third edition. Dr. Arnold and his co-editor had almost completed the 4th edition, which will be completed and published this year.

Arnold received the B.Mus., Summa cum laude, from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, and the M.Mus. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Michigan. He had also been a church musician at First Presbyterian Church and First Methodist Church, both in Conway, Arkansas; First Methodist Church, El Dorado, Arkansas; Reformed Church of Closter, New Jersey; First Methodist Church and Templar B'nai Abraham Zion, both of Oak Park, Illinois. Corliss Arnold is survived by his wife of 42 years, Betty Arnold, their three children and five grandchildren.

Natalie Ferguson, copy editor for The Diapason, died on December 10, 2003, after a long battle with cancer. She was 69. Her work at Scranton Gillette Communications began as a typesetter and grew to include copy editing for many of the company's publications, production editor and copy editor for The Diapason, and editor of AV Guide. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana on October 31, 1934, she attended Shortridge High School, where she wrote for and edited the school newspaper and was a member of the Fiction Club. She studied piano and organ growing up and played for many groups in which she was active including church, Girl Scouts, D.A.R. and Job's Daughters. She attended Milwaukee-Downer College (now part of Lawrence University) and graduated with a degree in Occupational Therapy. She worked as an OT until her two daughters were born. She moved to the Chicago area in 1962 and was active at church and in local community theater groups. Prior to coming to Scranton-Gillette in 1985, Ms. Ferguson worked for many years at Bartlett Manufacturing in Elk Grove, Illinois. One of her joys was teaching piano, and at one point taught at the John Schaum School in Milwaukee, and taught for the past 20 years at Schaumburg Music. She was a member of Our Saviour's United Methodist Church, Schaumburg, Illinois, where her activities included the Evangelism Committee, singing in the choir, directing the chime choir, accompanying the children's choir and, proofreading bulletins and newletters. She is survived by daughters Linda Deneher and Susan Ferdon, grandchildren Jenna, Kate, and Jimmy Ferdon, and long-time devoted friend, Allen Johnson.

Dirk Andries Flentrop died on November 30, 2003 in Santpoort near Haarlem, the Netherlands. Born in Zaandam, the Netherlands on May 1, 1910, Flentrop was undoubtedly one of the most influential organ builders of the twentieth century worldwide. After an apprenticeship with the Danish organ building firm Frobenius, he entered the business of his father, H.W. Flentrop, and took over the firm in 1940. He was an early advocate of mechanical action and of the Rückpositiv, and after World War II built a whole series of new organs in a concept which was later to be labeled "neo-baroque," a term he himself disliked immensely. The contact with E. Power Biggs and with many Fulbright scholars in Europe led to an enormous production in America; in the 1960s, almost half of the firm's annual turnover came from America.

The best-known examples of Flentrop's art in America are perhaps the organs in Busch Hall at Harvard University (1959), St. Mark's Cathedral, Seattle (1965), and Duke University (1976). Flentrop's restoration activities include the famous Schnitger organs in Alkmaar and Zwolle--even though the Zwolle restoration has often been criticized--as well as organs in Portugal and Mexico City. Flentrop retired in 1976, selling the business to his employees. Almost thirty years later, Flentrop Orgelbouw--celebrating its 100th anniversary this year--is still a sought-after firm for both restorations (the Alkmaar Schnitger was again restored by Flentrop Orgelbouw in 1987) and new organs. The organ for Holy Name Cathedral, Chicago (1989) was the firm's last major project in America. Flentrop held honorary doctorates from Oberlin College and Duke University.

--Jan-Piet Knijff