Nunc Dimittis

Henry Murlin Kelsay,
82, died August 23 in Springfield, Missouri. He was born on February 17, 1923
in Versailles, Missouri. After graduation from high school in Booneville,
Missouri, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1942, rising to the rank of 1st
lieutenant and serving as an air corps navigator. He fought in several World
War II battles and air campaigns in southern France and Italy, and was
decorated with numerous medals and citations. Kelsay graduated from Union
Theological Seminary in New York City, and went on to serve as music director
at several churches in the Little Rock, Arkansas area, including Pulaski
Heights Methodist Church and Christ Episcopal Church. He served as dean of the
Central Arkansas AGO chapter 1954-55 and 1959-61. Later in life he
became interested in interior decorating and was successful in that endeavor.

At the time of his death, Kelsay was a member of St. James
Episcopal Church in Springfield, Missouri. A memorial service took place there
on September 17. He is survived by his sister-in-law and three nephews.

--Virginia Strohmeyer-Miles

Noel Mander, MBE,
FSA, prominent British organbuilder, died September 18 at his home in Suffolk,
England, at the age of 93.

Born on May 19, 1912 in Crouch near Wrotham, Mander was
brought up in South London. Having left school (which he hated), he went to
work for A & C Black, publishers. The office work did not suit him,
however, and through his uncle, Frederick Pike, he met Ivor Davis who had
worked for Hill, Norman & Beard. After working with him for a while, Mander
started on his own in 1936, the first organ being that at St. Peter’s
Bethnal Green opposite St. Peter’s School, which years later was to
become the organ works. Unfortunately, Christ Church Jamaica Street, Stepney, where
he rented workspace, together with the organ he was working on and all his
equipment, were lost in the first air raid on East London 1940.

Shortly after that, he joined the Royal Artillery, seeing
service in North Africa and Italy, where he worked on a number of instruments,
including the organ in Algiers Cathedral, which had been silent for years.
Having been invalided out of active service in Italy, he joined the Army
Welfare Service and during his convalescence he repaired a 17th-century organ
in Trani.

After the war he assisted the London Diocese in getting
organs working again in bomb-damaged churches. He set up a workshop in an old
butcher’s shop in Collier Street before moving in 1946 into the old
buildings of St. Peter’s School in Bethnal Green, where the firm remains
to this day. In 1948 he married Enid Watson with whom he had five children,
living over the workshop in Bethnal Green. Most of his early work revolved
around the rebuilding of organs, many of which survive to this day.

He always had an affection for historic instruments and
restored a number of antique chamber organs, setting new standards for the time
with his sympathetic appreciation and restoration of them. Of particular note
was the restoration of the 17th-century organ at Adlington Hall in Cheshire in
1958-59, which was in a completely desolate state. It had not been
playable for perhaps a century, 
but with painstaking care the organ was restored and remains one of the
most important survivors in England.

In the 1960s he became aware that interest was growing in
tracker-action organs in the rest of Europe, and this encouraged him to
investigate this form of action himself, initially in the restoration of
instruments (which otherwise might have been electrified) and then in new
organs. Ultimately a number of such instruments were built including the export
of some to places such as Bermuda and the Sir Winston Churchill Memorial
Foundation in Fulton, Missouri.

Having been involved with the rebuilding of a number of
large organs, he was awarded the contract to rebuild the organ in St.
Paul’s Cathedral in London during the 1970s. This project, lasting almost
five years, was perhaps his greatest pride and was completed just in time for
the Queen’s Silver Jubilee celebrations at St. Paul’s. In 1978 H.M.
Queen Elizabeth made him a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). He
retired in 1983 to his home in Suffolk, but retained an interest in what the
firm was doing right to the end. The 60th anniversary of the Mander firm was
marked in 1996 by publication of a collection of essays in his honor entitled
Fanfare for an Organ Builder.

Noel Mander’s interests were by no means restricted to
organs. He was a keen historian and an avid bookworm. He was a Fellow of the
Society of Antiquaries and very active in the Council of Christians and Jews
for many years. He became a very popular member of the Earl Soham community in
Suffolk, where he retired to in 1983. He was also the British representative
for the Sir Winston Churchill Foundation in Missouri and secured a number of
significant pieces of antique furniture for the Wren church rebuilt there,
including, during the last year of his life, a fine 18th-century pulpit that
had once stood in a City church.

Philip Marshall, who
served as organist at both Ripon and Lincoln cathedrals, died on July 16. Born
in Brighouse in 1921, his early studies were with Whiteley Singleton, a pupil
of Edward Bairstow. He gained an Associateship of the Royal College of Music,
and in 1946 won three prizes in the Fellowship examination of the Royal College
of Organists. He earned his BMus at Durham in 1950, by which time he was
assistant to Melville Cook at Leeds Parish Church. He also served as organist
at All Souls, Haley Hill, Halifax, where he met Margaret Bradbury, whom he
married in 1951, and who survives him. The Marshalls moved that year to Boston,
working at the Parish Church and Grammar School. By 1957,
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  Philip Marshall had completed his
doctorate at Durham, studying with Bairstow’s York successor, Francis
Jackson, and was appointed organist at Ripon Cathedral. Founding the choir
school, rebuilding the cathedral instrument and producing a chant book were
highlights of his tenure at Ripon.

An accomplished model engineer, organbuilder and composer as
well as an outstanding organist, accompanist and teacher, Dr. Marshall served
as organist and master of the choristers at Lincoln Cathedral for 20 years
until retirement in 1986. The Dean and Chapter named him Organist Emeritus in
the early 1990s.

Dorothy Hildegard Nordblad died of congestive heart failure on September 9 at the Moorings, a
retirement community in Arlington Heights, Illinois. She was 93. A lifelong
member of Ebenezer Lutheran Church in Chicago, she served for 37 years as
organist and director of junior choirs at Edison Park Lutheran Church, where
she directed 60 children in three choirs. Nordblad also taught history, math
and music to hundreds of children, serving the Chicago public schools for 40
years.

The daughter of Swedish immigrants, she was born in Chicago
in 1911 and graduated from Senn High School before attending Northwestern
University, where she received her bachelor’s degree in education in 1932
and a master’s degree in education in 1946.

Her teaching career began at Stewart School, and in the late
1950s Nordblad moved to Beaubien Elementary School on the Northwest Side. In
addition to teaching, she was assistant principal, a position she held until
her retirement in the 1970s. After she moved to the Moorings retirement home,
she organized and directed the choir there, continuing as its director for more
than seven years. Funeral services were held on September 14 at Ebenezer
Lutheran Church, Chicago.

Donald W. Williams,
of Ann Arbor, died September 22 at the Chelsea Retirement Center, Chelsea,
Michigan, following a seven-month battle with cancer. He was 66.

Williams received his bachelor’s degree (1961) and
master’s degree (1962) from Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee,
where he studied with Scott Withrow. In 1979 he received the DMA from the
University of Michigan, where he studied with Marilyn Mason. At Michigan, he
was given the Palmer Christian Award by the Organ Department of the School of
Music in recognition of his accomplishments in teaching, performing, and choral
conducting.

Dr. Williams served as organist and choirmaster at Zion
Lutheran Church in Ann Arbor from 1963 until 1995, when he became
organist-choirmaster at Chelsea First United Methodist Church, a position he
held until his death. He was a member of the organ faculty of the National
Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan, from 1966 to 1970, and was adjunct
lecturer in organ at the University of Michigan in the early 1970s. He taught
organ performance and church music at Concordia University in Ann Arbor (1976-95,
1999 until his death). He was co-founder of the Ann Arbor Youth Chorale, which
he directed with Richard Ingram and Ruth Datz from 1987 to 2001, and was
founder and conductor of the American Chorale of Sacred Music.

Williams performed at churches and cathedrals in this
country and abroad, including the National Cathedral and the Shrine of the
Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., St. Thomas Episcopal Church in New
York City, St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal, and various European venues.
From 1981 to 1985 he performed as a member of Principal VI, a group of
organists from the greater Ann Arbor area. In 1986, he gave the world premiere
of Vincent Persichetti’s last composition, Give Peace, O God.

In addition to the various positions he held in the Ann
Arbor chapter of the American Guild of Organists, Williams was chair of worship
standards and repertoire of the American Choral Directors’ Association
(1995-2001), and a member of the board of the Boy Choir of Ann Arbor from
2000 until his death. He was a life member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.

Funeral services were held on September 26 at First
Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor. Williams is survived by his 97-year-old
father, Joel Williams, of Marietta, Georgia.

Ronald Edward Ballard, of Little Rock, Arkansas, died on January 23, from kidney, liver, and heart disease. Born on January 9, 1947, in North Little Rock, he was a graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University. He wrote theater and concert reviews for the Spectrum and Arkansas Times and was business administrator for Stanton Road School and First Christian Church in Little Rock. At the time of his death, Ballard was organist and choirmaster of Westover Hills Presbyterian Church in Little Rock. He previously served a number of churches in Little Rock, North Little Rock; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Brenham, Texas; and taught music, history, and mathematics in North Little Rock Public Schools and Stanton Road School. He served as dean of the Central Arkansas AGO chapter in 1976–77.

George A. Brandon died on March 30 in Davis, California, following a short illness. He was 76. Born in Stockton, California on February 4, 1924, he earned a BA in history at College of the Pacific in 1945 and a Master of Sacred Music degree in 1952 at Union Theological Seminary. He served as organist-director at several churches in the New York City area, and before returning to Union in 1955 to earn a master's in religious education he served two years as organist-director of the First Presbyterian Church in Burlington, North Carolina. While at Union, he met Dona Lee Banzett, whom he married in 1954. They taught for five years at two small midwestern colleges and then relocated to Davis, California, in 1962. During the 1960s, Mr. Brandon held positions at several Davis churches, including Incarnation Lutheran, Davis Community Church, and St. Martin's Episcopal Church. In 1994 he was commissioned by St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Sacramento, California, to write the "St. Paul's Suite," an organ work based on the last chorus of Saint-Saëns' Christmas Oratorio, for a concert that celebrated the restoration and 80th anniversary of the church's 1877 Johnson organ (opus 503). Mr. Brandon was a free-lance composer, with over 300 published compositions, including anthems, hymn tunes and texts, choir responses, secular choruses, organ and piano pieces. He researched and wrote about many aspects of church music and related fields, especially early American hymnody. He was a member of the AGO, the Hymn Society of the US and Canada, the Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Sonneck Society. A celebration of Mr. Brandon's life and work took place at St. Martin's Episcopal Church, Davis, on May 17. He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Dona Lee Brandon, a daughter, and a sister.

Otto Juergen Hofmann, organbuilder of Austin, Texas, died on May 12, at the age of 82. He was born of German immigrant parents in Kyle, Texas on December 9, 1918, the youngest of ten children. He attended the University of Texas, studied physics, music, philosophy, and sociology, and had a PhD in physics from UT-Austin. Hofmann built his first slider-chest and mechanical-action organ in 1938. One of his first contracts was to rebuild the organ at St. Mary's Cathedral, Austin. He then built the organ for St. Stephen's Episcopal School. This was soon followed by an organ for the chapel of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Hofmann built, rebuilt, and restored numerous organs throughout Texas and beyond. He was involved in the early efforts of the tracker organ revival, and collaborated with Flentrop in building an organ for Matthews Memorial Presbyterian Church in Albany, Texas, in 1955. He served as president of the International Society of Organbuilders, and in 1975 was awarded the Industrial Arts Medal by the Austin chapter of the American Institute of Architects. He retired from active organ building in 1994.

James Dale Holloway died on May 17, the random victim of a shooting on the campus of Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington. Holloway, age 40, was appointed assistant professor of music and university organist at PLU in the fall of 2000. Born in Columbus, Georgia, on July 4, 1960, Holloway received a BMus from Shorter College in Rome, Georgia; a master's degree from the University of North Texas; and after beginning doctoral studies at the University of Alabama, completed his doctorate at the University of Washington. As a church musician, he served parishes in Georgia, Texas, Alabama, and Oregon, before moving to Tacoma in 1989 to become minister of music at Trinity Lutheran Church. For ten years he taught part-time at PLU before his full-time appointment in 2000. He was a performer and lecturer at national and regional conventions of the AGO, the OHS, and the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians. He was current president of the western regional ACLM, and was a winner in 16 organ competitions at the state, regional, and national levels. A memorial fund, the "James Holloway Music Scholarship Fund," has been established at PLU in his memory. A memorial service took place on May 21 at the university. He is survived by his wife, Judy (Willis) Carr, and five stepchildren.

Antonio Ruffatti died on May 6, in Padova, Italy, at the age of 89. He co-founded Fratelli Ruffatti, organbuilders, in Padova in 1940--following a centuries-old tradition in that geographic area of Italy--a firm which continues today under the direction of his sons Francesco and Piero. In the 1950s, he succeeded in making Fratelli Ruffatti known internationally by building a five-manual organ for the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal. In the following decade, he built many organs in the United States. Following the classical tradition in his own country, he was among the first in Italy to call for the return to mechanical action. Fratelli Ruffatti built several tracker instruments in the early 1960s, a practice which was highly uncommon, if not controversial, at the time in Italy, but which has grown to become an important part of the current activity of the firm. He also delved into restoration techniques, and today Fratelli Ruffatti is one of the few firms licensed by the Italian government to do historical restoration on Italy's ancient instruments.

Elwin L. Myrick of Hillsboro, Oregon, formerly of Springfield, died February 28 of age-related causes. He was 88. Born on April 18, 1914, in Gardiner to Lester and Edith Patterson Myrick, he married Caroline ?Carrie? Eades in Portland on July 25, 1944. He was raised and attended schools in Portland, and graduated from high school in Huntington Park, California. He won a statewide piano contest held by the Oregon Music Teachers Association, which awarded him a scholarship to the University of Oregon. He played the first movement of the Grieg piano concerto with the UO symphony orchestra in 1934 and received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1939. While attending college, he served as organist at the Eugene First Christian Church. He later received bachelor?s and master?s degrees in music from the UO. Myrick served in the Navy as a radar technician on blimps and was stationed in Tillamook. He served as an organist and choir director at Ebbert Memorial United Methodist Church in Springfield. He began teaching organ, piano, theory and music history at Northwest Christian College in 1949 and retired in 1979, and was an organ instructor at the UO from 1953 until 1959. He was appointed organist at Central Presbyterian Church in Eugene in 1969. A charter member and past dean of the Eugene AGO chapter, he was also a charter member of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians and the Association of Disciples Musicians, in addition to being a member of Phi Mu Alpha music fraternity and of the Kiwanis. His interests included fishing, woodworking, photography and needlepoint, and he enjoyed a pre-dawn swim every day. A longtime resident of Springfield, he recently moved to Hillsboro to be near his family. Survivors include his wife, two daughters, two sons, 15 grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. The memorial service was held on March 15 at Ebbert Memorial United Methodist Church in Springfield. Memorial contributions may be made to Ebbert Memorial United Methodist Church in Springfield or to Northwest Christian College in Eugene.

Janet Kelsey Walsh died December 20, 2002, of cancer at the age of 75. Born on October 2, 1927 in Eugene, Oregon to Jesse and Lydia Storli Kelsey, she married James Walsh in 1956. A lifetime resident of Eugene, she attended local schools and St. Olaf  College. In 1950 she graduated from the University of Oregon School of Music. She served as executive secretary of the Oregon Law Institute until retirement in 1989. She also worked as a music teacher in the public schools, was a radio copywriter for KUGN radio, and an editorial assistant for Young Life International. She served as a substitute and regular organist for many churches in the community and for countless wedding and funeral services. She was a member of Central Lutheran Church, Mu Phi Epsilon, and the Eugene AGO chapter. Survivors include two sons, a daughter, a brother, and two grandchildren. Memorial contributions can be made to the University of Oregon School of Music?s Janet Kelsey Walsh Memorial Scholarship.

Malcolm Williamson, Australian composer who was master of the queen?s music for Elizabeth II, died on March 2 in Cambridge at the age of 71. Born in Sydney on November 21, 1931, he entered the Sydney Conservatorium at age 11 to study piano and French horn, and composition under Sir Eugene Goossens, and graduated in 1944 with a Bachelor of Music degree. He moved to London in 1950 and continued his compositional training, studying under Elisabeth Lutyens and, later, Erwin Stein. He converted to Roman Catholicism in 1952 and began a thorough study of the music of Olivier Messiaen. During this period Williamson worked as a proofreader for a publishing house, as an organist and choirmaster in a parish church, and as a pianist in a nightclub. These various types of music are reflected in his own compositions of the time, as were the influences of Stravinsky, Messiaen, and the music of the late 19th-century German and Italian operatic composers.

Williamson was able to devote himself entirely to composition since the early 1960s, and in 1975 became the Nineteenth Master of the Queen?s Music, the first non-Briton ever to have held that position. His compositional output included symphonies, stage works, chamber, choral and religious music, and film scores. He also had a interest in composing music for children, and composed a number of operas for children, including one based on Oscar Wilde?s The Happy Prince, and ?cassations,? miniature operas for audience participation. He was composer in residence at the Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey in 1970-71. Williamson received the CBE in 1976, a year after his appointment as master of the queen?s music, and the AO for services to music and the mentally handicapped in 1987. The University of Melbourne conferred an Honorary Doctorate of Music upon him in 1982. Williamson?s works for organ include Fons Amoris (1956), Symphony for Organ (1960), Organ Concerto (1961), Vision of Christ--Phoenix (1961, rev. 1978), Elegy--JFK (1964), Peace Pieces (1971), Mass of a Medieval Saint (1973), and Ochre (1978). He is survived by his wife Dolly, two daughters and a son.

Otto Alexander Altenburg died on October 18, 1997, at the age of 72. He was a Navy veteran, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and President of Altenburg Piano House in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The Altenburg Company is the oldest family-owned piano house in the U.S., and has remained in family hands since its founder made the first Altenburg piano in 1847. During his tenure as president, Mr. Altenburg expanded the house's operations to 11 showrooms, including one at Carnegie Hall in New York City. He continued to improve his own pianos while offering several lines of European and domestic instruments. Altenburg was also interested in pipe organs. He sponsored concerts to celebrate the openings of new houses of worship, and furnished organs to churches throughout the U.S. and abroad. He was an elder and trustee of the First Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth. Mr. Altenburg is survived by his wife Nancy, two sons, two daughters, a sister, and two grandchildren.

John-Michael Caprio, Director of Music at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York City, died on December 25, 1997. A native of Newark, New Jersey, Caprio was appointed to the cathedral in 1991. During his tenure he oversaw the restoration of the cathedral's historic Kilgen organs, and was conductor for several cathedral ensembles, including the Cathedral Choir, Chamber Singers, Schola, and Cathedral Singers. In 1976 he was appointed executive director of the Commission on Church Music of the Archdiocese of New York, and was also the founding director of the New York School of Liturgical Music. Mr. Caprio was also the founder and conductor emeritus of The Riverside Symphonia, a professional chamber orchestra based in central New Jersey. In October 1995 he coordinated and conducted the music for both the Papal Mass in New York City's Central Park and the rosary service celebrated by Pope John Paul II in St. Patrick's Cathedral. Prior to his appointment to St. Patrick's, Mr. Caprio served as director of music and organist at the Church of St. John the Evangelist, Lambertville, NJ; the Church of the Resurrection, Rye, NY; St. Patrick's Pro-Cathedral, Newark; and Church of St. Philip the Apostle, Clifton, NJ. He was a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music and Rutgers University. In September of 1997, Caprio was inducted into the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

Sister Lucilda Meyer, FSPA, 94, died on April 30, 1997 at Villa St. Joseph, La Crosse, Wisconsin. Sister Lucilda was born on September 30, 1902 on a farm south of Dedham, Iowa. She began piano lessons at age eight, walking two miles to the school for lessons. She entered St. Rose Convent on August 26, 1920, and continued studying music with visiting professors from La Crosse Teachers' College. She earned a Master's degree in piano from McPhail School of Music in Minneapolis. A second graduate degree in organ, theory and composition was earned from the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee. In 1940 she was awarded the AAGO certificate. Sister Lucilda served as a music instructor and organist for 57 years. From 1952-1979 she was a member of the music faculty at Viterbo College of La Crosse. She retired to the Villa St. Joseph in 1979 where even in retirement she served as organist and choir director at the Villa and at St. Joseph Ridge Parish. Sister Lucilda was a charter member of the La Crosse AGO chapter, and served as dean and secretary for many years.

Catherine Ritchey Miller died in Cary, North Carolina, on January 10 at age 93. A graduate of the University of Montana, she joined the AGO in 1930. She served as organ instructor and college organist at Peace College, Raleigh, North Carolina, for many years, retiring in 1973. Mrs. Miller served as organist at Edenton Street United Methodist Church, Raleigh, from 1948 to 1967, and at White Memorial Presbyterian Church, Raleigh, 1967-1971. In 1989 she was appointed organist emeritus at White Memorial, and in 1990 was made an honorary life member of the Central North Carolina AGO chapter. She is survived by her husband of 69 years, Dr. William D. (Ted) Miller, a sister, and a brother.

Earl V. Kelone, 82, of Little Rock, Arkansas, died on May 10 from a stroke. He was born on November 18, 1919 in Little Rock and was a member of Our Lady of the Holy Souls Catholic Church, where he served as organist and choir director for 48 years. He also served as treasurer of the Central Arkansas AGO chapter for several years, and was an Army veteran of World War II in the Pacific Theatre. Mr. Kelone is survived by his wife of 55 years, Gertrude Kelone, a daughter, a brother, a sister, and two grandchildren. Memorials may be made to the Msgr. Allen Trust Fund, c/o Our Lady of the Holy Souls Church, 1003 N. Tyler St., Little Rock, AR 72205; or St. Joseph's Endowment Fund, 1115 College Ave., Conway, AR 72032.

Frederick A. Lake, age 72, died on June 28 at Kaiser Hospital in San Francisco, California, after a lengthy illness. Fred served as senior voicer at Schoenstein & Co., San Francisco, where was employed since 1981. In his 21 years of dedicated service to the company, he was a major contributor in developing their American Romantic tonal style. He carried out numerous voicing research and development projects based on the firm's studies in France, Germany and England, and conducted numerous tonal experiments toward the creation of new stops such as the Schoenstein Symphonic Flute. Fred also took part in tuning and tonal finishing activities.

According to members of his family, Fred developed a passionate interest in the pipe organ and its music as he grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He studied organ in school and college and held posts as a church organist through much of his career. His organ work started with an apprencticeship at the firm of Rudolf von Beckerath in Hamburg, Germany. His training was primarily in flue voicing. In 1958 he joined John Shawhan, the Casavant representative in Saginaw, Michigan, where he took part in the installation and finishing of many new Casavant organs as well as rebuilding projects and tuning. In 1968, Fred joined the Berghaus Organ Company in Bellwood, Illinois, where he served as voicer and handled other organ building, rebuilding, and service responsibilities until moving to San Francisco and joining the Schoenstein organization. He was a member of the American Institute of Organbuilders.

Fred Lake was highly respected by co-workers and clients alike. He was a gentlemanly, soft-spoken, and learned colleague with extensive interests and knowledge in a wide range of scientific subjects. His thorough dedication to the study of pipe organ tone made him a valued member of the pipe organ community. He is survived by his sister Ruth Ann Saunders of Kirkland, Washington.

--Jack Bethards

President, Schoenstein & Co.

Robert Noehren died on August 4 in San Diego, California. He was 91. Dr. Noehren enjoyed a long career as a recitalist, teacher, scholar, and organ builder. He taught at the University of Michigan from 1949 to 1976, serving as head of the organ department and university organist, and was named professor emeritus in 1977.

Born on December 16, 1910, in Buffalo, New York, Noehren studied organ with Gaston Dethier, Ernest Mitchell and Lynnwood Farnam, and composition with Paul Hindemith. Early in his career he served as a church organist in Germantown, Pennsylvania; Buffalo, New York; and Grand Rapids, Michigan. He taught at Davidson College prior to his appointment to the University of Michigan. Noehren made over 40 recordings and was the first organist and one of only two non-French organists to receive the Grand Prix du Disque (for his recording of the Bach Trio Sonatas). In 1978 he received the Performer of the Year Award from the New York City AGO chapter.

Through grants from the Carnegie Foundation and the University of Michigan, Noehren toured France, Germany, and Holland extensively, gathering scaling and voicing data on the organs of those countries. Articles based on those experiences appeared in The Diapason beginning in 1948. He formed his own organ company in Ann Arbor and built 20 organs between 1955 and 1979, including large four-manual instruments at St. John's Cathedral, Milwaukee; First Presbyterian Church, Buffalo, New York; and First Unitarian Church, San Francisco. In 1999, Harmonie Park Press (Warren, Michigan) published Noehren's collection of essays, An Organist's Reader, which details his life in music and organ building. Recent recordings include The Robert Noehren Retrospective (Lyrichord LYR-CD-6005) and Johann Sebastian Bach (Fleur de Lis FL 0101-2).

[A tribute will appear in a later issue.]

Paul B. Batson, Jr. of Girard, Ohio, died on October 29, 2002, at the age of 72, after a 15 year battle with cancer. He was an active organist in the Youngstown, Ohio, area, having twice served as Dean of the Youngstown AGO chapter. He served other roles in the chapter and was an ardent supporter and manager of the chapter?s concert series for many years. He was also a dual member of the Pittsburgh chapter. In addition to his work in the office of the Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company, Mr. Batson served as organist for the First Baptist Church of Girard, Canfield Presbyterian Church, Christ Lutheran Church in Boardman, John Knox Presbyterian Church in Youngstown, Holy Name Roman Catholic Church in Youngstown, and Central Christian Church in Warren. He had studied organ in Salzburg, Austria, while in the U.S. Army, and then at Youngstown State University and Westminster College. He is survived by his mother and two nieces, and was preceded in death by his father and a brother. A memorial service was held on November 16 at Central Christian Church in Warren, where he had served for over 25 years, and on November 17 a two-hour program of organ music was played by members of the Youngstown AGO chapter at Canfield Presbyterian Church.

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George Guest, organist and choirmaster of St. John's College, Cambridge, died on November 20, 2002, at the age of 78. Born on February 9, 1924, in Bangor, Gwynedd, he had enjoyed a 40-year tenure at St. John's (1951-91). In 1947 he was appointed first undergraduate organ student under Rob Orr, and then succeed Orr upon graduation. In 1955 he oversaw the rebuilding of the chapel organ, adding a fourth manual. The addition of a solo trumpet stop was celebrated by a setting of the Evening Canticles by Michael Tippett. Much in demand as a recital organist, Guest had no fewer than eight of his former students go on to be cathedral chief organists.

George Howell Guest was the son of a grocery-man and traveling village organist. He was born in Bangor, North Wales, and was a chorister at the cathedral there and then at Chester, where he later served as sub-organist. He moved to Cambridge after four years in the Royal Air Force. In 1948 he won the John Stewart of Rannoch Scholarship for Sacred Music, and was appointed organist of St. John's in 1951. He also served as university lecturer in music from 1956 to 1982, and held the post of university organist from 1974 to 1991. In 1977 he was made a white Druid for his services to Welsh music. A member of the Council of the Royal College of Organists from 1964 until his death, he was its president from 1978 to 1980. He was also a member of the Council of the Royal School of Church Music from 1983, and was an examiner to the Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music from 1959 to 1992. He was president of the Cathedral Organists' Association from 1980 to 1982, and of the Incorporated Association of Organists from 1987 to 1989. He was president of the Friends of Cathedral Music and an honorary fellow of several universities and colleges.

George Guest and the St. John's Choir made some 60 recordings on various labels. His autobiography, A Guest at Cambridge, was first published in 1994 and is now in its second edition. A third edition is planned. He was appointed CBE in 1987. He is survived by his wife Nancy (née Talbot), whom he married in 1959, and by their son and a daughter.

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David H. Williams died on November 22, 2002, the day after his 83rd birthday, at his home in Tucson, Arizona. He was born on November 21, 1919, in Caerphilly, Wales, and arrived in New York City in 1927. There he attended at The Juilliard School, worked at H. W. Gray, and studied organ with Walter Wild. He served churches in New York, Connecticut, and Vermont, before moving to Arizona in 1963, where he was appointed organist and choirmaster at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. From 1966 until 1984, he served as minister of music, organist, choirmaster, and composer in residence at Catalina United Methodist Church, Tucson. A prolific composer of church music, Mr. Williams had more than 200 works published and had been recognized by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers since 1953. He was named an honorary lifetime member of the AGO. A memorial service took place on November 30, 2002, at Catalina United Methodist Church, Tucson. The service was planned in detail by Williams, and included music by Vaughan Williams, Elgar, Bach, Bobby McFerrin, Manz, Parry, as well as by Williams himself and by his son Peter Williams. The combined choir included members of the choirs from Catalina United Methodist Church and Trinity Presbyterian Church, conducted by his son Peter. A tribute written by former Catalina pastor Stan Brown was read, detailing their many years of collaboration. He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Ruth Williams, five children, and eight grandchildren.