Nunc Dimittis

Rayner Brown died on
June 16 in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 87, of pneumonia. A
distinguished teacher, performer, and composer, he was Professor of Music at
Biola University, La Mirada, California from 1948-1977. He held BMus and
MMus degrees from the University of Southern California, and was a long-time
member of the Los Angeles AGO chapter. A church organist for 50 years, he
served for many years at Wilshire Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, working
with director of music Robert Tusler. His more than 200 compositions include
six symphonies, 20 concerti, large ensemble and chamber works, choral, piano,
harpsichord, and numerous organ works. His compositions will be housed in the
library at the University of Southern California. Brown organized the
publication of several collections of new organ music, including The AGO
Prelude Book. He also promoted and edited two other publications, The
California Organist and the Wilshire Presbyterian Music Foundation Series. An
extensive article, "Rayner Brown, 80th Birthday Tribute," was
published in the March, 1992 issue of The Diapason, with contributions from
Robert Tusler, Jack Schwartz, Orpha Ochse, Cherry Rhodes, and Ladd Thomas.

Joseph Hofrichter
died on July 17 at Mitchell, South Dakota. Born in Lakewood, Ohio, in 1913, he
attended Oberlin College from 1931-36 with a dual major in organ and
music education, receiving two Bachelor degrees. His organ teachers include
George Lillich and Arthur Poister. He taught at Dakota Wesleyan University 1936-39,
and returned to Oberlin on a teaching fellowship to complete his Master's
degree 1939-41. During 1941 he taught in the Cleveland public schools.
After World War II, he taught organ at Oklahoma State College from
1947-50, and then taught at Oberlin 1950-52. He left teaching for a
career in business, and while working in New York City was organist at Staten
Island Presbyterian Church and Marble Collegiate Church. In 1957 he moved to
California where he taught organ, music theory and conducted chorus and orchestra
at Hollywood High School, retiring in 1974.

Larry Abbott, 75, died quietly in his home in Santa Monica, California, on June 29. He was a founding partner of Abbott and Sieker Organbuilders, the Los Angeles firm that led the revival of tracker organbuilding on the West Coast in the early 1960s. At the time of his retirement as firm president in 1991, Abbott and Sieker had built or rebuilt over 100 organs. Several established West Coast organbuilders worked at Abbott and Sieker before launching their individual firms. A native Californian, Abbott served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II. He attended Pomona College, graduating in 1950 with a degree in theory and composition. He was a founding member of the American Institute of Organbuilders and an active member of the Los Angeles AGO Chapter.

Roger Hannahs, AAGO, died on Christmas Day, 2000 at age 82 after a long illness. He sang as a boy at Trinity Episcopal Church, Potsdam, New York, receiving his earliest piano and organ training from Gilbert Macfarlane. He graduated from Crane School of Music and moved to Ithaca, New York, where he set up a voice and piano studio and sang bass in the Ithaca Civic Opera Company. He held a master’s degree in composition from the Eastman School of Music and a doctorate in composition from Cornell University. Hannahs taught harmony and counterpoint in various public schools and at RPI in Troy, New York, where he also conducted choruses. He was the conductor of the Burnt Hills Choral Society and the Thursday Music Club in Schenectady, New York, and served as organist/choirmaster at various Episcopal churches in New York. While busy as teacher, organist, and conductor, he wrote compositions for performance and publication, several of which have been recorded, and some have received awards. Funeral services were held at Trinity Church, Potsdam, New York. All of the organ music that was played for his Requiem Mass was composed by Dr. Hannahs; Susan Armstrong was the organist. Hannahs is survived by his wife, Mary, and four daughters.

Alice Martz, a pianist and voice coach well known in the Chicago musical community, died on July 12 of natural causes. Born in Ohio, she studied at Chicago Musical College and was a student of Rudolph Ganz. She played at Orchestra Hall and Grant Park in Chicago and is remembered for her work in later years in inspirational music, reaching out to those who needed the gift of music but were unable to travel to hear it. She also worked at Carl Fischer Music for many years. She is survived by her goddaughter, Soma Priddle, and her many students and friends. A memorial service was held at Joyce Methodist Church, Chicago, on July 17.

John Ogasapian, of
Pepperell, Massachusetts, died in Los Angeles on July 11, shortly after he was
diagnosed with cancer of the pancreas and liver. He was 64. Dr. Ogasapian was
professor of music at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, where he had taught
since 1965. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in organ
and a Ph.D. in musicology from Boston University, where he was a student of the
late George Faxon. He was organist and choirmaster of St. Anne’s
Episcopal Church in Lowell 1961-99, and interim organist and choirmaster
of All Saints Church in Worcester, Massachusetts 2002-03. He authored or
edited eight books and published over a hundred articles, essays and reviews in
many journals including The Diapason. The Organ Historical
Society honored him with its Distinguished Service Award in 1994 and the
designation of Honorary Member in 2000.

Dr. Ogasapian served as editor of The Tracker: Journal of
the Organ Historical Society
(1993’2000) and was a contributing editor of Journal of Church
Music (1985’1988). He was chairman of
the 1978 OHS national convention in Lowell, Massachusetts, and chairman of the
2000 OHS American Organ Archives Symposium in Princeton, New Jersey.

His books include Litterae Organi: Essays in Honor of
Barbara Owen (edited by Ogasapian and
others; he also contributed an essay; OHS Press, 2005); Music of the
Colonial and Revolutionary Era (Greenwood
Press, 2004); The Varieties of Musicology: Essays in Honor of Murray
Lefkowitz (edited by John Daverio and John
Ogasapian, Harmonie Park Press, 2000); English Cathedral Music in New
York: Edward Hodges of Trinity Church (Organ
Historical Society, 1994); Church Organs: A Guide to Selection &
Purchase (Baker Book House, 1983, AGO &
OHS collaboration, 1990); Henry Erben: Portrait of a
Nineteenth-Century American Organ Builder
(Organ Literature Foundation, 1980); Organ Building in New York City:
1700’1900 (Organ Literature
Foundation, 1977). He was working on a ninth book, Music Culture in
the Guilded Age: Civil War to World War I,
at the time of his death.

He played his last recital on May 25 at Methuen Memorial
Music Hall, featuring works by Paine, Buck, Chadwick, Foote, Parker, Hovhaness,
Still, Rogers, Beach, and Matthews. His memorial service was held at All Saints
Church, Worcester, on July 30. He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Nancy,
their daughter and son-in-law, and two grandchildren.

L. Robert Slusser
died May 29 in San Diego at the age of 83. He had served as minister of music
at La Jolla Presbyterian Church in California from 1968 to 1989. Born October
13, 1921, in Chicago, he studied piano and organ at the American Conservatory
of Music and was assistant organist to Leo Sowerby at St. James Cathedral.
During World War II he served as a lieutenant in the Navy. He earned a
bachelor’s degree in music at San Jose State College and served as
organist and assistant choirmaster at First Presbyterian Church, San Jose. He
received a master’s degree in organ from Northwestern University in 1953
and served as minister of music at First Presbyterian Church, Birmingham,
Michigan until 1968. In 1960 he was co-chair of the AGO national convention in
Detroit. When he was appointed to La Jolla Presbyterian Church, he developed
multiple choirs, string and brass ensembles, a Christian dance group, and a
Choir Festival series. Slusser was dean of the San Diego AGO chapter
1971’72 and was responsible for bringing many famous organists to San
Diego. In 1986 he received an honorary doctorate from Tarko College in St.
Louis. He is survived by his wife Shirley, two daughters, a son, two
grandchildren and two great-grandchilden. A service celebrating his life was
held on July 16 at La Jolla Presbyterian Church.

Ruth Virginia Sutton
died April 19 at her home in Ypsilanti, Michigan, after a long battle with
cancer. She was 59. Born May 12, 1945 in Detroit, Michigan, she graduated from
Wayne Memorial High School and then attended Capitol University. She
transferred to Eastern Michigan University where she earned bachelor’s
and master’s degrees in music. Mrs. Sutton served as a local piano
teacher for over 40 years, was organist at various area churches, accompanist
for the Ann Arbor Cantata Singers, and also the Walled Lake and Ypsilanti High
School choir programs. She is survived by her husband Ronald Sutton, two
daughters, and a granddaughter. Funeral services took place on April 22 at
First Presbyterian Church, Ann Arbor.

Bob G. Whitley died
July 31 at his home in Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania, from liver cancer. He was 76.
For more than 30 years he was organist and choir director at Fox Chapel
Episcopal Church. Whitley grew up in Oklahoma and was a 1951 graduate of the
University of Oklahoma at Norman. He was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to
attend the Royal School of Church Music, then in Canterbury, England. He also
studied organ at the Royal College of Music in London and played recitals in
Canterbury Cathedral and Dover Town Hall. He served in the Army during the
Korean War, and was organist and director of music at the Letterman Army
Hospital Chapel at the Presidio in San Francisco. After the Army, he was
appointed organist at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, San Francisco, where
he helped design and oversee the installation of a 55-rank Aeolian-Skinner
organ. In 1964, Whitley was appointed to Fox Chapel Episcopal Church. He also
directed the Pittsburgh Savoyards, a Gilbert & Sullivan opera company, the
Shady Side Academy Glee Club, and the glee club at The Ellis School. After
leaving Fox Chapel Episcopal Church in 1999, Whitley served as organist and choir
director at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Fox Chapel, where he remained
until his retirement last year.

Thomas Lassfolk Finch, 77, of Canton, New York, died of pancreatic cancer December 18, 2003. Born November 26, 1926, in Madison, Wisconsin, he graduated from Wisconsin High School in 1945. Attending the University of Wisconsin, he received a bachelor’s degree in 1947, a master’s degree in 1949, and a PhD in physics in 1954. He taught physics at Union College, Schenectady, New York, from 1955-1957, and then joined the faculty at St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York, where he taught until his retirement in 1989. He was interested in musical acoustics and did research on pipe organ acoustics with Arthur Benade at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and with Wilson Nolle at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, publishing some of the results in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. Dr. Finch became interested in the pipe organ in the 1940s, studying organ performance concurrently with his study of physics. He became a member of the American Guild of Organists in 1950, remaining a member of the St. Lawrence Valley chapter until his death. From 1990 he was a dual member of the Boston chapter, doing volunteer service at the Boston AGO Library. Dr. Finch served as organist of the Unitarian-Universalist Church in Canton, New York, from 1963 to 1989. He pursued a life-long interest in historic pipe organs, serving nine years as vice-president of the Organ Historical Society. He was presented with the Society’s Distinguished Service Award in 1990, and attended 45 of the Society’s annual conventions. In 1970 he organized one of the conventions in the North Country, with Canton as the base. He also served as a committee member for the 1980 convention in Ithaca, New York, and for the 2000 convention in Boston. In recent years he and his wife took part in OHS European tours to visit organs, including France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands, and most recently Sweden. He was also very interested in antique cars, and for many years was a member of the St. Lawrence chapter of the Antique Automobile Association of America. He married Frances Chilson on June 7, 1980, in the Unitarian-Universalist Church in Canton with the Rev. Max Coots officiating. Donations may be made to the Unitarian-Universalist Church, Canton, NY 13617, or to the Organ Historical Society Endowment Fund, P.O. Box 26811, Richmond, VA 23261.

Virginia R. Hebel died on January 1 in Mountain View, California. She had lived in Cupertino for 27 years, and was a dedicated area musician and choral accompanist at Los Altos High School for 20 years. Born on June 24, 1930, in Greencastle, Indiana, where her father was a professor at De Pauw University, Mrs. Hebel majored in music at De Pauw. At De Pauw she also married her college sweetheart, Chuck Hebel, her husband of nearly 51 years. A life-long church organist, Mrs. Hebel played at many local churches after moving to the Bay Area in 1976, when her husband came to Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center. In 1983, she began a long association with the choral programs of Los Altos High School, accompanying rehearsals and performances of thousands of students. Mrs. Hebel fought a long and often difficult battle against lung cancer, during which time she maintained a demanding schedule at Los Altos High School while substituting as organist at numerous churches, and serving for two years as organist at First United Methodist Church of Palo Alto. She is survived by her husband Charles Hebel, three children and seven grandchildren.

Lloyd Pfautsch died October 3, 2003, at the age of 82. Longtime professor of sacred music and director of choral activities at Southern Methodist University, he was also a widely published and performed composer. Born in 1921 in Washington, Missouri, Pfautsch received his bachelor’s degree in 1943 from Elmhurst College in Illinois and held degrees in divinity and sacred music from Union Theological Seminary. He was ordained a minister in the Evangelical and Reformed Church, but pursued a career in music. A bass-baritone, he sang with the Robert Shaw Chorale and the NBC radio chorus, and sang the title role in Mendelssohn’s Elijah throughout the country. He taught at Illinois Wesleyan University 1948-58 and then at Southern Methodist University 1958-92. At SMU he established the school’s Master of Sacred Music program offered jointly by the Perkins School of Theology and Meadows School of Music. He conducted the Meadows Chorale, Mustang Chorale and Choral Union, and for three years was associate dean of the Meadows School and chairman of the music division. Pfautsch also founded the Dallas Civic Chorus, which he directed for 25 years. He wrote three books on choral conducting, including English Diction for the Singer. Among the many honors he received during his career are honorary doctorates from Elmhurst College, Illinois Wesleyan University, and West Virginia Wesleyan University. He was selected the Meadows Distinguished Professor in 1984 and was named professor emeritus in 1992. In addition to his wife Edith, Mr. Pfautsch is survived by a daughter and three sons. A memorial service was held on October 7, 2003 at Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church, Dallas.

Philip Hahn, the immediate past president of the American Guild of Organists, died peacefully at his home in San Francisco, California on April 13, 2003, from complications of myelofibrosis, a disease of the bone marrow. From 1992 to 2002, he was a member of the AGO National Council and served as president from 1998 to 2002.

Hahn received bachelor and master of music degrees from the University of Michigan where he studied with Marilyn Mason and Robert Noehren, and earned a DMA in composition and organ performance from the American Conservatory of Music, Chicago, studying with Stella Roberts and Robert Lodine. He received certificates in organ, composition, and solfeggio from the Conservatoire Americain, Fontainebleau, France, where he studied with Nadia Boulanger and André Marchal, and held the AAGO certificate.

During his career, he was an associate professor of music at the University of Northern Iowa, where he oversaw the installation of a large four-manual organ built by Robert Noehren, and was director of music at Waterloo's First United Methodist Church. After moving to California, Hahn served as director of music at the First Presbyterian Church in Palo Alto for several years before being appointed artistic director of the San Francisco Boys Chorus. He played many recitals on notable instruments and was a featured recitalist, workshop leader, and adjudicator at many AGO conventions.

Philip Hahn was also a professional chef, holding the position of sous chef at the Clift Hotel in San Francisco, later running his own restaurant, Fanny's, in San Francisco. For several years Hahn ran the restaurant and served as organist at the First Presbyterian Church of San Anselmo, returning exclusively to church music in 1980. From 1990 until his death, Hahn served as organist-choirmaster at St. John's Episcopal Church in Ross, California.

Dr. Hahn's compositions include sacred anthems, pieces for trumpet and organ including The Trumpet Sings Thanksgiving; Spiritual; Fanfare for Five Trumpets and Organ; and two large concerted works: Fantasy for Orchestra and Acclamations! A Fanfare for Concert Band. For the organ, he wrote several short hymn-based compositions plus larger works including Sonata for Organ; Songs from the Forest: A Suite for Organ and Synthesizer; and Suite for Organ Celesta, Vibraharp, and Timpani. His Sonata for Violin and Piano was the recipient of a Sigma Alpha Iota Prize. His short ballet The Dance in the Desert was fully staged at both the First Presbyterian Church, Palo Alto, and at St. John's Episcopal Church in Ross.

He is survived by his partner of 29 years Norman Nagao, two sisters, and a number of nephews and nieces. A memorial service was held at St. John's Episcopal Church in Ross, California, on May 4.

Richard L. Johnson, 61, of Buffalo, New York, and East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, died on December 6, 2002, in Buffalo. Dr. Johnson was professor of humanities at Medaille College, Buffalo, joining the faculty in 1984. An accomplished musician and dedicated educator, he was known for his innovative theatre and music classes. He also directed numerous stage productions and was named the college's Professor of the Year for 2000-2001.

Dr. Johnson was born on May 17, 1941, in San Antonio, Texas. Upon receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in music from Trinity University of San Antonio in 1963, he went on to earn his Master of Music degree from Yale University in 1965. He spent 1966-67 in Copenhagen, Denmark, on a Fulbright Scholarship, studying organ with Finn Viderø. Returning to the United States, he held faculty positions at Wake Forest University, Amherst College, Smith College, and the University of Maine. In 1973, he graduated from the University of Michigan with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree. In 1992, he received a National Endowment for the Humanities award to study theatre at Columbia University, and at the time of his death he was pursuing a post-doctoral Master's degree in Theatre at SUNY-Buffalo.

In addition to teaching, Dr. Johnson performed organ recitals at venues across the country, including the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, and St. Thomas Church in New York City. Several of his recordings aired on National Public Radio stations throughout the country. He is survived by his parents, a sister, brother, nieces and nephews, and his long-time partner, Richard LaBorde of East Longmeadow.

Richard Eugene Livesay died on February 24 at the age of 87. A resident of Alexandria, Virginia, he was organist at Cherrydale United Methodist Church in Arlington from 1947 to 1988, when he was named organist emeritus. At that church he had played for more than 2,000 Sunday services, 600 weddings, and countless funerals, and helped design the church's Wicks pipe organ of 37 ranks. He was a former Dean of the Alexandria AGO chapter and was a guest organist at Washington National Cathedral. Born in Tulsa, he began piano study at age 12 and organ at age 16, and he attended Blackburn College in Illinois, Park College in Missouri, and American University. In the late 1930s, he worked for Jenkins Music Co. and demonstrated Hammond organs at churches around Tulsa. Mr. Livesay was also a Defense Department official from 1940 until retiring in 1973 as staff secretary to the secretary of defense. He is survived by his wife of 64 years Veradell Elliott Livesay, two children, and five grandchildren.

Dale Wood died on April 13 after a valiant battle against esophageal and lung cancer, at his Sea Ranch, California home. A renowned composer, organist and choral director, he was known for his numerous published choral works and hymn tunes, and his compositions for handbells, harp, and organ. He was for many years organist and choirmaster in San Francisco at the Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin and served in a similar capacity in Lutheran churches in Hollywood and Riverside, California. He had published numerous articles on worship, liturgy, and church music, and was a contributing editor to the Journal of Church Music for over a decade. His monthly column appeared in the Methodist journal Music Ministry for three years. Wood headed the publications committee of Choristers Guild from 1970-74. After serving as music director of the Grace Cathedral School for Boys in San Francisco (1973-74), he was appointed executive director for The Sacred Music Press, a position he held from 1975-96, and was editor emeritus 1996-2001. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) honored Dale Wood annually since 1967 for his "very important contribution towards the creation and development of contemporary American Music." The Board of Regents of California Lutheran University awarded Dale Wood the title of "Exemplar of the University," citing him as "an example of excellence in service and a worthy model of a good and useful life."

Enrique Alberto Arias, 63, died on December 1, 2004, at Weiss Memorial Hospital, Chicago. Survived by close friends and colleagues, there are no immediate family survivors. A musicologist, Dr. Arias was associate professor at DePaul University's School of New Learning, and president of Ars Musica Chicago.

The son of Enrique (the Consul General of Panama in Chicago) and Jeanne Arias, Enrique Arias was born April 26, 1941 in Chicago. He received a bachelor of music in piano performance from the DePaul University School of Music, a master of arts in musicology from the University of Chicago, and in 1971, a Ph.D. in music history and literature from Northwestern University. Dr. Arias was a faculty member, and later president, of the Chicago Conservatory of Music. He then served as chairman of Humanities and Graduate Studies at the American Conservatory of Music, and in 1993 began his tenure at DePaul. Arias was also a member of the American Musicological Society, and throughout his career he was a keynote speaker at numerous conferences on Latin American music.

As a researcher and writer, Dr. Arias traveled yearly to churches, archives and libraries around the world. His many publications include The Masses of Sebastian de Vivanco (circa 1550-1622): A Study of Polyphonic Settings of the Ordinary in Late Renaissance Spain (University Microfilms, 1971), Alexander Tcherepnin: A Bio-Bibliography (Greenwood Press, 1989), and Comedy in Music: A Historical Bibliographical Resource Guide (Greenwood Press, 2001). He was one of four editors of Essays in Honor of John F. Ohl: A Compendium of American Musicology (Northwestern University Press, 2001), and one of his most significant publications was the edition of Three Masses by Sebastian de Vivanco (A-R Editions, circa 1978). Arias also had numerous articles published in music journals, including Music Review, Tempo, Perspectives of New Music, Anuario Musical, Lituanus (The Lithuanian Quarterly), and the Latin American Music Review. His final two articles were "Maps and Music: How the Bounding Confidence of the Elizabethan Age Was Celebrated in a Madrigal by Weelkes" (published in the winter 2003-04 edition of Early Music America), and "Jules Massenet, French Cantatas for a Martyr, and Vincentian Composers" (published in the September 2004 issue of The Diapason).

As a pianist, Arias was most active in the 1970s and 1980s, performing regionally at many venues including Preston Bradley Hall, and internationally with the late soprano Dahlia Kucenas at concert halls throughout Asia, Eastern and Western Europe, and South America. He also served as president of Ars Musica Chicago, an early music ensemble, a position he held since 1988.

A memorial service took place December 12, 2004 at St. Vincent de Paul Church, Chicago, and a concert was given in his memory on January 9, 2005, also at St. Vincent de Paul Church. Contributions may be made in his memory to Ars Musica Chicago, P.O. Box  A-3279, Chicago, IL 60690.

Lois Rhea Land, 88, long-time teacher, composer, author, and mentor to many music educators throughout Texas, died December 9, 2004, of complications from a fall a year and a half ago that left her paralyzed. Born in Milton, Kansas, she was a child prodigy in piano and received music degrees from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. From 1945 to 1964 she taught music in the Corpus Christi, Texas public schools, and served as a judge and clinician throughout the southwest. A founding member of the Texas Choral Directors Association in 1950, she also collaborated with many conductors and singers as accompanist for the Texas All-State Choir in the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1964 she joined the music faculty at Southern Methodist University, where she taught music education and supervised the graduate music education division until 1980. From 1980-88 she served as adjunct professor of music education at Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth. A church organist from an early age, she served Dallas congregations as organist and choir director, including Northaven and Munger Place United Methodist Churches, and Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Rockwall.

Her numerous choral compositions were published by Plymouth, Southern Music, Bourne, Edwin Morris, Mark Foster, and Lawson-Gould, and was the co-author of numerous college and choral music textbooks. Most recent publications include several volumes of sight-reading materials and techniques published by Alliance Music Company in Houston, and A Cappella Songs Without Words (AMC).

She is survived by one daughter, Christina Harmon, of Dallas, Texas, and three grandchildren. A memorial service was held at Perkins Chapel, Southern Methodist University, December 27, 2004.

Charles Wilson McManis died December 3, 2004, in South Burlington, Vermont, after suffering a fall at his home the evening before. He was born March 17, 1913, in Kansas City, Kansas, and was preceded in death by his first wife, Charlotte Bridge McManis, an elder brother and a younger sister. He is survived by his second wife, Judith Fisher McManis of South Burlington, two sons and a daughter.

Mr. McManis grew up in a musical family. At age three, sitting in church with his mother (his father was choir director), he was fascinated by the sounds of the organ, and remembered humming its very high pitches. At age twelve he experimented with making wood and metal organ pipes from fruit crates and coffee cans. As a teenager he constructed an organ with four ranks of pipes that he installed in the family's finished attic. He completed studies at the University of Kansas in 1936 with a BA degree, specializing in theoretical courses useful to an organbuilder. Following this, in 1937, was a bachelor of music degree in composition and organ performance. While at the university, he apprenticed during vacations with an organ factory representative, repairing, voicing and tuning organs. On graduation he set up shop in Kansas City, Kansas, building or rebuilding half a dozen organs before Pearl Harbor and WWII halted U.S. organbuilding.

In April, 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. After basic training at Camp Roberts, California, he was retained to teach organists of the nine regimental chapels, and was assigned to 11th Regimental Chapel. The following year he was shipped overseas with the 221st General Hospital to Chalon-sur-Marne, France, ninety miles east of Paris. At war's end, he returned to Kansas City, where he married Charlotte Bridge on June 9, 1946.

At McManis Organs, Charles and his staff would build, renovate or restore more than one hundred thirty-five organs for churches, homes and universities throughout the USA over the next five decades. Because of his musical training, he was one of the first organbuilders who could actually play much of the literature written for the organ. His passion was to design and voice instruments suited to play this great variety of music. Even his smallest organs encouraged exploration of the rich and colorful repertoire available.

His ability at pipe voicing was legendary among his peers. Over the years, he wrote extensively, mentored younger organbuilders and conducted several clinics to teach others about his voicing "secrets." He was a founding member of the American Institute of Organbuilders.

Retiring (theoretically) in June, 1986, McManis moved to the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, Charlotte, who died of cancer four months after their arrival. He stayed on in California, occasionally tuning and repairing organs, and hiking in Yosemite and the Sierras. In July 1989, a Connecticut tornado that heavily damaged the McManis organ at St. John's Episcopal Church, Waterbury, Connecticut, took Charles McManis out of retirement, calling him east to replace 35 of 60 ranks in his Opus 35, first installed in 1957. Due to the extensive damage to the building, as well as the organ, several parishioners were appointed to coordinate a variety of repair programs, including Judith Fisher who was to oversee the organ restoration. After working together for eighteen months, she and Charles were married November 2, 1991. He continued working with organs in Connecticut, acting as consultant and overseeing the installation or restoration of several instruments in the area. He served as curator of the organ at St. John's for just over 10 years.

In 2001, Charles and Judith moved to Vermont. He was able to complete work on his autobiography just days before his death. A "Celebration of Charles' Life" took place January 8 at The Cathedral Church of St. Paul (Episcopal) in Burlington. Donations may be made to the Music Ministry of St. Paul's.