Nunc Dimittis

Organist, choir director, composer, and teacher Roberta Bitgood died on April 15 at Lawrence and Memorial Hospital, New London, Connecticut, after a brief illness. She was 99. Dr. Bitgood, formerly of Quaker Hill, had been a resident of the Odd Fellows Home of Connecticut (Fairview) in Groton. She was also known locally as Roberta Wiersma, her married name.
During a long career in sacred music, Bitgood served as minister of music and organist in churches and synagogues throughout the United States. She worked first in New Jersey (Bloomfield), later in California (Riverside), and later still in Connecticut (Mystic and Waterford), as well as in upper New York state (Buffalo) and Michigan (Detroit, Bay City, and Battle Creek). She published more than 70 choral and organ compositions, including several pieces for organ and other instruments, and two choral cantatas based on biblical narratives. Her enthusiasm for making music accessible to all, and the broad scope of her musical activities, made her one of the most well-known 20th-century American music educators. She was known to organists worldwide as a committed yet down-to-earth professional leader, and to volunteer choir singers in many states as an inspiring and witty teacher.
Roberta Bitgood was born in New London on January 15, 1908, and began study of the violin at age 5. As a student at the Williams Memorial Institute (1920–24), she was already well known as a gifted performer on the violin and organ in local churches and school orchestras. Graduating with honors from Connecticut College for Women, she received postgraduate and conservatory training in New York, where she was awarded the William C. Carl Medal upon graduation from the Guilmant Organ School (1930), became a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists (also 1930), and earned a master’s degree in music education from Teacher’s College at Columbia University (1932), a master’s degree in sacred music from Union Theological Seminary (1935), and later the doctoral degree in sacred music (1945), also from Union.
Dr. Bitgood was honored for her achievements and service to her profession and maintained an active relationship with her alma mater through fundraising efforts and performances at annual college reunions. In 1974 she was awarded the Connecticut College Medal, and in 1975 was elected president of the American Guild of Organists, continuing until 1981. In 1976, upon retirement from full-time employment in Michigan, Dr. Bitgood returned to her family home in Connecticut, serving for another 18 years in local churches and synagogues.
In 1993, the New London AGO chapter established an annual scholarship competition for new organists in Dr. Bitgood’s honor, as part of a celebration of her contributions to sacred music and her 85th birthday. After retiring from professional life in 1999, Dr. Bitgood remained at home under the care of her family until 2003, when she moved to Groton. A memorial service took place April 21 at St. James Church, New London. Contributions may be made to the New London AGO-Bitgood Scholarship (P.O. Box 423, Quaker Hill, CT 06375), or to the Visiting Nurses Association of Southeastern Connecticut (Waterford).

Giuseppe G. Englert died of cancer on March 29 in Paris. He was 80. Born to Swiss parents in Fiesole, Italy, in 1927, he studied theory and composition with Willy Burkhard at the Zurich Conservatory (1945–48). From 1958 to 1963 he took part in the international summer courses at Darmstadt, attending seminars given by Leibowitz and Cage, among others. From 1970 to 1982 he taught at the University of Paris VIII–Vincennes, where he became a member of the computer department’s Art et Informatique group in 1973. From 1964 to 1969 he was a co-director of the Centre de Musique, an organization founded by Keith Humble that promoted performances of new music at the American Center for Students and Artists in Paris. He joined the Groupe Art et Informatique de Vincennes (GAIV) in the computer department of the same university in 1973. As a composer and performer he toured Europe, Israel, and the United States. Since 1986 he was associated with the Groupe d’Etude et Réalisation Musicales (GERM) founded by Pierre Mariétan in Paris.
In the 1950s Englert studied organ with André Marchal and substituted for him at the church of St. Eustache in Paris. He accompanied André Marchal on a number of his American tours and gave lectures on organbuilding at several American universities. In 1956 he attended the Organ Institute at Methuen Memorial Hall, where he was the translator for André Marchal. He assisted Peter Bartok in the Unicorn recordings of Marchal in 1957 at MIT in Cambridge. In 1961 in Oberlin, Ohio, he lectured on French organbuilding and at the 1963 Midwinter Conference on Church Music at Northwestern University, Evanston. He was married to Jacqueline Marchal in 1954. American organists familiar with Langlais’ Organ Book may remember that it was dedicated to Jacqueline Marchal as a wedding gift and the last piece, “Pasticcio,” contains the names of both Jacqueline and Giuseppe.
Englert’s works include orchestral pieces, chamber music, compositions for organ, cello, and works for ‘new music theatre’ and electronic music on tape for live performance using analog and digital means of production. In 1975 and 1976 he worked in the digital electronic music studio at SUNY/Albany, in 1977 at the New York Experimental Intermedia Foundation, and in 1978 in San Diego for the Ford Foundation at the Center for Music Experiment (CME).
Englert’s works for organ include: Palestra 64 (1959–64) and GZ50 Musica Barbara pro Organo (1979), the latter recorded by Gerd Zacher. In reference to his compositions for organ he stated:
The organ has always played a major role in my musical thinking. But it may be precisely because I know the instrument so well that I’ve written so little for it. The problem with the organ is that no two instruments are identical. Consequently the interpreter needs far more freedom because he or she has to play a piece differently depending on the instrument and the hall or church in which it stands. When I began working with a computer, I was thrilled by the possibility of programming the necessary freedom into an organ composition, in other words, of using a computer program to determine and define indeterminacy. That led to GZ50, the organ piece I wrote for Gerd Zacher’s fiftieth birthday. It gives Zacher enormous freedom of interpretation. Time values are notated proportionally, but the duration of each page is not fixed. That leaves tempo completely to the performer, and the same holds true for tone color.
Until his last days he was surrounded by his former students and his nurses who recalled that they took him to a piano where he improvised a fugue. A large number of friends, colleagues, and former students attended the graveside funeral held April 2 at Père-Lachaise Cemetery. During the interment, Marchal’s recordings of portions of Bach’s Orgelbüchlein were played, interspersed with readings and tributes. Englert is survived by his wife, Jacqueline Englert-Marchal, a nephew and a niece. Contributions may be made to the Académie André Marchal, c/o Ralph Tilden, “Longview,” P.O. Box 2254, Banner Elk, NC 28604.
—Ann Labounsky

Kenneth W. Matthews died January 19 in San Francisco at the age of 54. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, his first music lessons were with his father, who played organ in churches and in restaurants. Matthews earned a BA in music from Stetson University in 1976 and an MA in sacred music from Yale Divinity School in 1978. He then moved to San Francisco to study with Richard Purvis at Grace Cathedral. He also studied in Paris with Marie-Louise Langlais and played recitals in France.
Matthews was director of music at Old First Presbyterian Church in San Francisco from 1998 until his death. He had previously served All Saints Episcopal Church and the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in San Francisco, the First Unitarian Church of Berkeley, and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Belvedere. He also supervised the support staff at Boalt Hall at the University of California, Berkeley, 1990–96. He played recitals at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor and at national conventions of the Organ Historical Society. A memorial service took place at Old First Presbyterian Church on February 24.
Monsignor Richard J. Schuler, a major figure in sacred music in the 20th century and founder of the Church Music Association of America, died April 20 at the age of 87. Monsignor Schuler served as pastor at St. Agnes Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, for 32 years, from 1969–2001, and was the founding director of the Twin Cities Catholic Chorale in 1956.
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, December 30, 1920, he attended DeLaSalle High School and the College of St. Thomas before entering the St. Paul Seminary. He was ordained a priest on August 18, 1945, and was assigned to Nazareth Hall Preparatory Seminary to teach Latin and music. He held music degrees from the Eastman School of Music (M.A.) and the University of Minnesota (Ph.D.), and in 1954 spent a year of study of Renaissance music manuscripts at the Vatican Library on a Fulbright scholarship from the United States government.
An excellent organist and overall musician, he was also a pioneer in the use of large-scale polyphony and symphonic sung Masses after the Second Vatican Council. He is the author of many articles and lengthy studies on music and the liturgy. A funeral mass took place on April 24 at St. Agnes Church in St. Paul. Members of the Twin Cities Catholic Chorale sang the Mozart Requiem with orchestral accompaniment.

Gordon T. Whitley died April 20 at Obici Hospital in Suffolk, Virginia, from congestive heart failure. He was 66. Born November 16, 1940, to Moses and Mary Whitley in Suffolk, he attended Peabody Conservatory. His business included ownership of a beauty salon located in his home. Churches he had served as organist and choirmaster included St. Bride’s Episcopal, Norfolk, Virginia, Faith Lutheran Church in Suffolk, and Murfreesboro (North Carolina) Baptist Church. At the time of his death he was a countertenor in the choir at Trinity Episcopal Church in Portsmouth, Virginia.
Whitley was a member of St. Grace and St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Baltimore. A former dean of AGO chapters in Maryland and Virginia, he was a member of Northeastern North Carolina AGO chapter, serving as dean from 1997–1999. He was a member of the Association of Anglican Musicians and the Friends of European Cathedrals. Survivors include a niece and a sister-in-law. A memorial service was held on April 22 at R. W. Baker Funeral Home Chapel in Suffolk.
—Rodney Trueblood

Alec Wyton died on March 18 at Danbury Hospital in Danbury, Connecticut, at the age of 85. He had been a resident of Ridgefield, Connecticut, for the last 20 years. His career included two decades as organist and choirmaster at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. He was president of the American Guild of Organists 1964–69 and twice served as dean of the New York City chapter.
Born in London on August 3, 1921, he received his early musical training as a boy chorister and held his first job as organist at age 11. He earned the BA from the Royal Academy of Music and the MA from Oxford University and was awarded fellowships in five professional societies. In 1946 he was appointed organist-choirmaster at St. Matthew’s Church, Northampton, and also served as conductor of the Northampton Bach Choir and Orchestra. In 1950 he was appointed organist-choirmaster at Christ Church Cathedral in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1954 he was appointed to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, where he also served as headmaster of the cathedral choir school 1954–62.
Wyton left the cathedral in 1974 to become organist-choirmaster at St. James’ Church, Madison Avenue, in New York City. At that time he also became coordinator of the Standing Commission on Church Music that produced The Hymnal 1982 for the Episcopal Church. In 1987 he left St. James’ Church to become minister of music at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Ridgefield, Connecticut, a position he held until his retirement in 1997.
Wyton’s published compositions number more than 100. In addition to his work on the Standing Commission on Church Music, he edited numerous publications, including Anglican Chant Psalter (Church Publishing, Inc.), and he was a member of the editorial team that produced Ecumenical Praise (Hope Publishing).
Wyton founded the church music department at the Manhattan School of Music in 1984, serving as chairman until 1990. He also taught at Union Theological Seminary in New York City and was chairman of the music department at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. He was awarded honorary doctorates from Susquehanna University and Virginia Theological Seminary. Services were held at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Ridgefield, Connecticut.

Martha Novak Clinkscale, American musicologist and researcher in the history of the early piano, died in Dallas on April 24 from injuries sustained in an automobile accident. Born in Akron, Ohio (June 16, 1933), Dr. Clinkscale held piano performance degrees from the University of Louisville (Kentucky) and Yale University, and the PhD in musicology from the University of Minnesota. Her two-volume study Makers of the Piano 1700–1820 and Makers of the Piano 1820–1860 (both published by Oxford University Press) comprises nearly a thousand pages of carefully detailed information about extant instruments: an invaluable and oft-quoted source.
The introductory essays to these books immediately reveal both a mastery of vocabulary and the wide-ranging extent and geographical distribution of the many colleagues who contributed information about the instruments listed. Two short examples from the second volume: “Those musicians who preferred the caress of the clavichord’s tangent found in the early square pianoforte a felicitous addition to their musical experience” (p. ix); “[This book] is not intended to be a frivolous addition to its owners’ libraries. It seeks to inform . . .” (p. x).
Precise and carefully crafted prose as well as the avowed intent to maintain a consistency of style were also hallmarks of the author’s approach to life. John Watson, creator of the technical drawings accompanying the second volume and primary collaborator in a related online database Early Pianos 1720–1860, summed it up succinctly: “She was an elegant woman.”
Martha Clinkscale served the American musical community in many capacities, including as editor of the Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society (1993–6) and as treasurer of the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society (2004–8). She taught at the University of California, Riverside (1979–96) and the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University (1998–2004), where she was also a member of the organ department’s examining juries each semester of her years in Dallas.
Survivors include daughter Lise Loeffler-Welton and son Thor Loeffler, as well as professional colleagues and friends on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
—Larry Palmer

Anna G. Fiore-Smith died in Fall River, Rhode Island, on November 11, 2009, at the age of 81. She studied piano at the New England Conservatory and the Juilliard School, and studied organ with Homer Humphrey and later with George Faxon at the New England Conservatory; she also studied with Nadia Boulanger at Fontainebleau, France, winning first prizes in piano, organ, chamber music, and solfège. Fiore-Smith served as organist and choir director at St. Stephen’s Church, the Church of the Ascension, and Temple Beth El, all in Providence, R.I., and later at the Barrington Congregational Church; she also taught organ at Barrington College. A former dean of the Rhode Island AGO chapter, her name was given to a chapter award that is bestowed on a member organist who typifies her devotion to the organ. She was also active in the Greater Fall River Symphony Society, and was a member of its first executive board. Anna G. Fiore-Smith was preceded in death by her husband, Harold N. Smith; she is survived by her brother and sister-in-law, Faust D. and Susanne Fiore, and many nieces and nephews.

Martin Owen Gemoets died on February 3 in Galveston, Texas. He was 42. He earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Houston, and a master’s degree in organ from the University of North Texas at Denton in 1996. A member of the Dallas and later Fort Worth AGO chapter, Gemoets held the AAGO and ChM certifications and promoted interest in the certification exams, writing articles on music history for the Fort Worth chapter’s newsletter. He was working toward his FAGO certification. He had recently relocated to Galveston. Martin Owen Gemoets was interred next to his father in Houston during a private graveside service.

Donald M. Gillett died April 3 in Hagerstown, Maryland, at the age of 90. He was the last president of the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company of Boston, Massachusetts, which closed in 1972. Born April 8, 1919, in Southwick, Massachusetts, he earned a degree in business administration from the University of Maryland. He served four years in the Army Air Corps, stationed in Midland, Texas, as a chaplain’s assistant.
Don’s musical interest started when he was four years old, his parents having taken him to a number of organ recitals at the Municipal Auditorium in Springfield, Massachusetts. He started piano lessons at age six with Dorothy Mulroney, the Municipal Auditorium organist. After moving to Washington, D.C., he studied piano and organ with Lewis Atwater, organist at All Souls Unitarian Church and also Washington Hebrew Congregation. Don’s interest in organbuilding also started with the study of the organ.
His first organbuilding job was with Lewis & Hitchcock in Washington, D.C. Four years later in 1951, with a desire to learn voicing and tonal finishing, he was hired at Aeolian-Skinner, working under G. Donald Harrison and reed voicer Herbert Pratt. In later years, Don became a vice president and head tonal finisher. Upon the retirement of Joseph Whiteford in 1968, Don was offered the opportunity to buy up controlling interest in Aeolian-Skinner, and then became president and tonal director.
In the early 1970s, Aeolian-Skinner was building its last three instruments: St. Bartholomew’s NYC, Trinity Wall Street, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The company was in the final stages of Chapter 11 and eventual closing. Don’s last finishing for Aeolian-Skinner was the Kennedy Center.
In March 1972, Riley Daniels, president of the M. P. Möller Organ Company in Hagerstown, offered Don a job at Möller as head flue pipe voicer. After the death of John Hose, Möller’s tonal director, Don became tonal director, and eventually vice president. He retired from Möller in 1991.
Also an avid art collector, he served on the Board of Directors of the Washington County (Maryland) Museum of Fine Arts. Donald M. Gillett is survived by his companion of 40 years, Warren S. Goding of Hagerstown; sister-in-law, Jane Mace of Palm City, Florida; and cousin, Mary Davis of Fort Lee, New Jersey.
—Irv Lawless
Hagerstown, Maryland

Frances M. Heusinkveld, 83 years old, died February 22 in Forest City, Iowa. She attended Northwestern Junior College in Orange City, Iowa, and Central College in Pella, where she studied piano and began organ lessons. She pursued a master’s degree in piano at the University of Iowa and later eared a Ph.D. in organ literature there. Heusinkveld taught in various schools in Iowa, including Upper Iowa University and for 33 years at Buena Vista College in Storm Lake, where she taught theory, music appreciation, piano, and organ. She was also organist of the United Methodist Church in Storm Lake, where she helped the church install a Bedient organ in 2002. Heusinkveld earned the Service Playing, Colleague, and AAGO certifications, and served as dean of the Buena Vista AGO chapter; she also played the cello and was a member of the Cherokee Symphony Orchestra. She enjoyed the study of foreign languages and traveled extensively. Frances M. Heusinkveld is survived by two brothers and many nieces and nephews.

Richard Dunn Howell died January 26 in Dallas. He was 78. Born in Great Bend, Kansas, he began playing for church services at Grace Presbyterian Church in Wichita at the age of 13. He graduated from Wichita University in 1954 and Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in 1957; he received a master of sacred music degree from Southern Methodist University in 1966. Howell taught elementary music in Richardson and Dallas, and played for many children’s, youth, and adult choirs. He also directed various handbell ensembles. In the course of his activities, he worked with Austin Lovelace and Lloyd Pfautsch. Richard Dunn Howell is survived by his wife of 52 years, Bradley Sue, three children, and three grandchildren.

Austin C. Lovelace, composer and church organist, and Minister of Music, Emeritus, at Wellshire Presbyterian Church in Denver, died April 25 at the age of 91. Born March 26, 1919, in Rutherfordton, North Carolina, he began serving as a church organist when he was 15 and went on to do workshops and recitals in 45 states and six countries. He earned his bachelor’s degree in music at High Point College in North Carolina in 1939 and his master’s (1941) and doctorate (1950) in sacred music from Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
Lovelace was a chaplain’s assistant in the Navy and served as minister of music at a number of churches, including First Baptist Church and First Methodist in High Point, North Carolina; Holy Trinity Episcopal, Lincoln, Nebraska; Myers Park Presbyterian Church and Myers Park Baptist, Charlotte, North Carolina; First Presbyterian Church, Greensboro; First Methodist, Evanston, Illinois; Christ Methodist, New York City; Lover’s Lane Methodist in Dallas, and Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church and Wellshire Presbyterian in Denver.
He was still filling in as organist at area churches when he was 87. He taught at several colleges, including Queen’s College and Davidson College in North Carolina, Union Theological Seminary, Iliff School of Theology in Denver, and Garrett Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois.
Lovelace was fond of jazz. Twice, he had Dave Brubeck and Duke Ellington, both with their bands, join the choir at Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church for performances. Lovelace, known for his sense of humor, wrote five books, including “Hymns That Jesus Would Not Have Liked.” A prolific writer and composer, Lovelace has several hundred compositions in print, as well as numerous articles and books on church hymnody; he was involved with twenty denominations in the development of their hymnals. A past president and Fellow of the Hymn Society of America, Lovelace was also active in the American Guild of Organists, including serving as dean of the North Shore chapter. In 2009 he received the American Music Research Center’s Distinguished Achievement Award, and was honored by the Denver Chapter of the American Guild of Organists with a hymn festival.
Austin Lovelace is survived by his wife of 69 years, Pauline Palmer (“Polly”) Lovelace, daughter Barbara Lovelace Williams, and a grandson.

Marian Craighead (née Reiff), of Rochester, NY, died on May 8, at age 76, following a valiant six-year battle with ovarian cancer. At the time of her death, Mrs. Craighead was in her fortieth year as organist of Asbury First United Methodist Church in Rochester, where she was singularly beloved by her choir and congregation. A memorial service was held at the church on May 12, which included music of Bach, Brahms, Copland and Franck.

Born in 1919 in New Cumberland, PA, Marian Reiff began her organ studies at the age of 14 and went on to receive a BA in English from Lebanon Valley College. She then attended Westminster Choir College where she studied organ with Alexander McCurdy, receiving her BMus, and was later a member of the organ faculty at Westminster Choir College as well as assistant to Dr. McCurdy at the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Subsequent church positions were held in Los Angeles and Pasadena.

In 1948 she married David Craighead and in 1955 they moved to Rochester where he assumed the position as head of the organ department at the Eastman School of Music. It was at this time that Marian joined the staff at Asbury First, while continuing to play recitals in various parts of the country. In recent years she joined her husband in concerts for organ duet, performing in numerous cities nationwide. Westminster Choir College honored her during their 1993 commencement activities by presenting her with their annual Alumni Merit Award in recognition of her contributions and achievements as an organist.

Throughout most of her adult life, Marian Craighead's musical energies were focused on her church, whose sanctuary and organ were new when Marian came to Asbury First. Her service playing, accompaniments and solo repertoire were consistently of the highest quality, as was her sensitivity to worship. During her long illness she often remarked on the blessings of her work as it related to her courage to do battle with cancer. She wrote "As one whose entire adult life has been involved in church music, I find myself recalling snatches of solos and anthems based on the poetry of the Psalms and leaning on the strength and faith expressed in those wonderful words." In spite of continual discomfort from the effects of radiation and chemotherapy, in addition to pain from the disease itself, Marian Craighead continued to play until Christmas Eve, 1995. Although she was desperately ill that night, many spoke at the time of it having been the most beautiful service they had ever heard her play. Prior to that time she had not missed any rehearsals or services for which she was scheduled, except for short periods of hospital stays. She truly lived her belief in the power of music to uplift the lives of people, and it gave her immense strength and energy.

In 1990-1991, Asbury First United Methodist Church celebrated Marian's extraordinary contributions to the musical and spiritual life of the church. She was lauded for "her brilliant musical accomplishments, her never-ending loyalty, her boundless energy in pursuit of excellence, the generosity of her gifts and her time, the warmth of her friendship, her patience as a teacher, and her selfless contributions to Asbury First."

Marian Craighead is survived by David, her husband of 47 years; her son James; daughter Elizabeth Eagan and two grandsons, Christopher and Jeffrey Eagen.

Russell Bigelow Gress died in his sleep of a heart attack on March 28 at the age of 55. A lifetime resident of Little Rock, AR, he was a passionate organ music supporter, amateur organ builder, educator and locksmith. He was a member of Christ Episcopal Church and donated the Swell Diapason for the recently installed Nichols-Simpson organ. Mr. Gress graduated from Little Rock Central High School in 1958 and the University of Arkansas in 1963, earning a BA in English. He taught for 25 years in the Little Rock Public School District, taking early retirement for health reasons. A memorial service was held at Christ Church on April 1. Memorials may be made to the Organ Fund, Christ Episcopal Church, 509 S. Scott, Little Rock, AR 72201

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.

Sister Marie Theodore Girten, OP, died November 3, 2009, at St. Dominic Villa, Sinsinawa, Wisconsin. Sister Marie Theodore made her first religious profession as a Sinsinawa Dominican August 5, 1946, and her final profession August 5, 1949.
Sister Marie Theodore taught music and served as principal organist for the parishes at which she taught for 23 years. She ministered as principal organist at the Motherhouse in Sinsinawa for 36 years and as an assistant in the Motherhouse pharmacy for 20 years. She served in Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa, and as principal organist at St. Raphael Cathedral, Madison, while teaching at St. Raphael School and at the Motherhouse, 1969–2005.
Sister Marie Theodore was born March 20, 1923, in Chicago, the daughter of John and Elizabeth (Hoss) Girten. Her parents and a brother, Theodore Girten, preceded her in death. She is survived by two sisters, Ruth Mieling and Therese Breiter; a brother, Walter Girten; nieces, nephews, and her Dominican Sisters with whom she shared life for 63 years.

Markwell James Perry died October 5, 2009, at Brantford General Hospital in Ontario, Canada. He was 93. A former president of the Royal Canadian College of Organists, he was named honorary president in 2005. He was past president and an honorary member of the Ontario Registered Music Teachers Association and past vice president of the Canadian Federation of Musicians. For 53 years he served as music director at Colborne Street (Heritage) United Church in Brantford, and for more than 40 years as chapel organist at Beckett-Glaves Family Funeral Centre in Brantford.

Lorraine Schramm died October 4, 2009, in Albert City, Iowa, at the age of 75. She earned a BA degree from Buena Vista College and did graduate work at the University of Minnesota. She had served at the United Methodist church in Storm Lake, Iowa, and since 1996 at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Elbert City. During the 1980s and 1990s Schramm operated Music Plus, a music store where she gave piano lessons and sold sheet music. She was a past dean of the Buena Vista AGO chapter.

Richard A. Starkjohann died October 13, 2009 in Riverside, California. He graduated in 1952 from Doane College in Crete, Nebraska, where he majored in music. After service in the U.S. Air Force, he taught music in public schools in Montana, and then moved to California, where he did graduate study at the University of Redlands. He served as pianist and organist at Unity of the Crossroads Church in Riverside, and at St. Bernardine’s Catholic Church in San Bernardino for more than 25 years.

Sister Cecil Steffen, OP (Edmund), died December 8, 2009, at St. Dominic Villa, Sinsinawa, Wisconsin. Sister Cecil made her first religious profession as a Sinsinawa Dominican August 5, 1946. She taught piano and music to elementary and secondary students for 26 years. Sister Cecil served as a professor of music, composer, and liturgist at Dominican University (formerly Rosary College), River Forest, Illinois, for 30 years, in addition to serving in Oklahoma, New York, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota. She ministered as a musician and teacher at the Motherhouse in Sinsinawa from 2001 to 2005.
Sister Cecil was born March 21, 1919, in Chicago, the daughter of Richard and Frieda (Helmold) Steffen. Her parents and a brother, Richard Steffen, preceded her in death. She is survived by cousins and her Dominican Sisters.

Sally Slade Warner, organist and carillonneur, died December 4, 2009 at the age of 77, of cancer, in the Merrimack Valley Hospice, Haverhill, Massachusetts. Born September 6, 1932 in Worcester, Massachusetts, and raised and educated in Fitchburg, she majored in organ performance at New England Conservatory, and shortly afterward passed both the Associateship and Choir Master examinations of the American Guild of organists. As an organist, she was for some years associated with Everett Titcomb at the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Boston, eventually succeeding him after his death. After leaving that position, she served as a substitute organist and accompanist for the rest of her life. During the 1970s she studied carillon playing, first with Earl Chamberlain, and then at the Royal Carillon School in Mechelen, Belgium, where she received her diploma “with great distinction.”
In 1971 Sally moved to Andover, Massachusetts, initially as house counselor at Abbot Academy, but two years later she was hired as a music librarian at Phillips Academy, Andover, a position she held until her retirement 30 years later. During her tenure she is credited with having transformed a meager sound recording collection into one of the most extensive collections of its kind in any comparable school. Thanks to her encyclopedic knowledge of musical literature, she became a valuable resource to students and faculty alike, and was involved in many facets of the school’s musical life as an associate faculty member. Before long she also became carillonneur and carillon instructor at the academy, where she gave regular concerts and tutored a number of students in carillon playing, until the carillon tower was closed for structural reasons in the 1990s.
In 1985 she was appointed carillonneur of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Cohasset, Massachusetts, where she was responsible for both playing and engaging guest players for the annual summer series of carillon concerts, a position she held until the time of her death. She also composed a number of carillon arrangements popular with her fellow carillonneurs, and gave carillon recitals throughout North America as well as in Europe. In 1988 she received a medal for Distinguished Service to the Carillon from the University of California, Berkeley.
Sally was an active member of both the Boston and Merrimack Valley AGO chapters, having served both in several capacities, and was also an active member of the Guild of Carillonneurs of North America, from which she recently received a citation for her many contributions to the art of carillon playing. Since 1969 she had been a valued Trustee of Methuen Memorial Music Hall in Methuen, Massachusetts, serving for many years on the committee that plans and implements the summer recital series and other musical programs, and frequently playing the Great Organ for weddings and other events. During the year preceding her death, she was a productive member of the committee that organized a successful event commemorating the Music Hall’s centennial year.
—Barbara Owen

Wally Behnke died June 2 at the age of 91 in Alpena, Michigan. He was a contributor to the early development of
electronic organs for home and institutional use during the 1950s through the 1970s. Born March 16, 1920 in Alpena, Michigan, he received his teaching certificate from Alpena County Normal School and then continued his education at Eastern Michigan University until the interruption of
World War II, when he served in the U.S. Navy in the Samoan Islands. He then attended the University of Michigan, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music. Shortly after graduation, he was hired by the organ division of Conn Musical Instrument Co., Elkhart, Indiana, as music director and head of sales. 

During his tenure at Conn, he published many collections of arrangements of popular tunes. Among the published collections are Mills Popular Favorites for Conn Organs (1954), Mills Popular Standards for Conn Organs (1955), and Harms Hits through the Years for Conn Organs (1958). He also published several instructional books for specific Conn models. He was involved with the design of the Conn “Sound Reproducing System” of pipe speakers.

Behnke retired from Conn in 1978 and returned to his hometown, Alpena, Michigan. In retirement
he worked for Deadman Music Store, the area Conn organ dealer, teaching organ and piano. He was active at Trinity Episcopal Church, and in 2005 participated in the rebuilding of the church’s Aeolian-Skinner organ with Allen digital augmentation. Wally Behnke is survived by his sister, Marvis Woloszyk, and several cousins, nieces and nephews. 

Peter Möller Daniels of Chambers-burg, Pennsylvania, died January 30, at age 72. Born March 25, 1938, in Hagerstown, Maryland, to Martha Möller and Wilson Riley Daniels II, he was a graduate of Mercersburg Academy and attended Washington and Lee University. He had worked for M.P. Möller Pipe Organ Co. in Hagerstown, serving in production and sales and ending as the president of the company before moving to the West Coast in 1986. Daniels was treasurer of the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in Hagerstown, and was a life member of the American Guild of Organists and the American Institute of Organ Builders. For many years, he was involved with many civic organizations in both Chambersburg and Hagers-town. He was recently a member of the Franklin/Fulton County Drug and Alcohol Advisory Board, and a member of the board of directors for mental health of Franklin and Fulton Counties.

Richard Malcolm (Dick) Geddes died February 10, 2011, in Springdale, Arkansas. He was born on July 19, 1916, in Pleasant Valley, Connecticut, the son of William and Bertha Geddes. After many years of retirement in East Texas and Arkansas with his wife Gladys, Dick resided in Fayetteville, Arkansas for the past few years in the loving care of his daughter Sylvia Geddes.

Dick was a WWII veteran, serving in the Pacific aboard the USS Northampton as a machinist mate First Class. After the war, Dick and his wife built a house in Colebrook, Connecticut, where they raised four children: Richard, Jr., Pallas, Sylvia, and Michael. Dick was employed as a machinist with Gilbert Clock Company in Winsted, Connecticut. An avid musician, he expanded his piano and organ education in the late 1940s and ’50s, and was organist and choir director in many Connecticut churches. After working as a pipe voicer for Austin Organs in Hartford, Dick founded his own company, Richard M. Geddes Pipe Organs, in Winsted, Connecticut, in 1958. As of result of his artisanship and skill as a voicer, many churches in New England still reverberate with pipe organs Dick built, rebuilt, or kept in excellent repair.

After selling his business in Connecticut, he retired to East Texas, where he found that his pipe organ building and service talents were in demand, and came out of retirement for a few years to help many churches and service pipe organs in that area.

In addition, Dick was a talented and self-taught photographer, skilled woodworker and wood turner, avid reader, and loved to travel. Dick and Gladys were early members of the Experiment in International Living, and hosted young people from many different countries in their homes.

His wife of 58 years Gladys Schoonmaker Geddes and his daughter Pallas Ann Braun preceded Dick in death. He is survived by his son Richard Geddes, Jr. and his life partner Alfred Alvarez of Pahoa, Hawaii; son Michael Geddes and wife Carla of McGaheysville, Virginia; and daughter Sylvia Geddes of Fayetteville, Arkansas.

—Richard Geddes, Jr.