Nunc Dimittis

Thelma Olava Michelson died on March 3 at her home in Park Ridge, Illinois, after a long illness at the age of 96. She was a Chicago area music director, church organist and choir director most of her life. Throughout the years she was associated with Moorland Lutheran Church, Ebenezer Lutheran Church, Chicago; St. Luke's Lutheran Church, Park Ridge; St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Evanston for 21 years; and Congregation Solel of Highland Park for 14 years. She was a member of Edison Park Lutheran Church, Chicago, for over 50 years. Mrs. Michelson was born in Grand Meadow, Minnesota, in 1901, and began piano lessons at an early age. She became organist of Grand Meadow Lutheran Church while in high school and was valedictorian of her high school graduating class. She graduated cum laude from St. Olaf College in three years, and then went on to teach organ and piano there. She moved to Chicago in 1923 to become organist at Moorland Lutheran Church, where she married Harry Michelson in 1925. She earned the Master of Music degree from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, studying organ with Wilhelm Middleschulte, and a second Master's in organ and church music from Northwestern University. She was an active member of the AGO and the Chicago Club of Women Organists, for whom she organized the Gruenstein Competition for many years. Mrs. Michelson collaborated with another Middleschulte pupil Margrethe Hokinson on two books of choral music, Alleluia, Books I & II, published by Neil Kjos Publishing Co. She is survived by her son Rolf, one brother, two sisters, and one grandson.

Ronald Sauter, of Frank J. Sauter & Sons, died April 17 at the age of 67. For 41 years he built and repaired pipe organs at his family-owned business in Alsip, Illinois. A Chicago native, he studied French horn with Helen Kotas Hirsch of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for five years. Like his late brother Francis, he joined his father's pipe organ business and maintained a life-long love of music. He was a member of the Southwest Symphony and DuPage Symphony orchestras. He played in the 5th Army Band and was in the National Guard Band. Survivors include his wife, five daughters, and 10 grandchildren. A funeral mass was held at St. Adrian Catholic Church in Chicago.

Fred Tulan died on March 15 in Stockton, California. A native Stocktonian, he had an international career as an organ consultant and concert artist. Born on September 5, 1930, he performed Schoenberg's unfinished Organ Sonata for the composer in 1941 at the age of 11. A 1954 graduate of the University of the Pacific, he continued his education and earned a doctorate in music. Included was six years of European study of organ in Paris and of pedal harpsichord in Heidelberg, Germany. Further organ study was with Charles Courboin at New York City's St. Patrick's Cathedral. He performed recitals in 17 countries, including such venues as Notre-Dame in Paris, Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral in London, St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, Washington National Cathedral, and the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City. He performed eight times at Davies Symphony Hall and several concerts at Grace Cathedral and St. Mary's Cathedral, all in San Francisco. He was engaged by the San Francisco Symphony and Davies Symphony Hall as consultant for the new Ruffatti and Noack organs. He served for six years on the executive board of the San Francisco AGO chapter, and was a member of the program committee and Chairman of the Commissioned Works committee for the 1984 AGO national convention in San Francisco. He was honored twice by the Stockton Arts Commission, in 1976 "For outstanding contributions to the cultural life of the city," and in 1985 "For lifetime career achievement." Dozens of internationally prominent organists wrote works especially for him, including such names as Guillou, Newman, Pinkham, Peeters, Cochereau, and many others. He premiered works by many noted composers, among them Shostakovich, Khachaturian, Schoenberg, and Virgil Thomson, and played private recitals for such notables as Francis Cardinal Spellman and T.S. Eliot.

Elise Murray Cambon died December 30, 2007, at Touro Infirmary, New Orleans, Louisiana. Dr. Cambon received a B.A. from Newcomb College in 1939, a Master of Music in organ from the University of Michigan (1947), and a Ph.D. from Tulane (1975). For 62 years she served St. Louis Cathedral as organist, music minister, and director of the St. Louis Cathedral Choir and Concert Choir. She was named Director Emerita in 2002.
A Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Cambon studied in Germany in 1953, attended Hochschule fur Musik in Frankfurt-am-Main, and continued her studies in organ with Helmut Walcha, harpsichord with Marie Jaeger Young, and conducting with Kurt Thomas. She also did post-graduate work at Syracuse University, Oberlin College, and Pius X School of Liturgical Music in Purchase, New York. She spent a summer at the Benedictine Abbey of Solesmes, France, studying Gregorian chant.
Dr. Cambon was a professor in Loyola’s College of Music (1961 to 1982), founding their Department of Liturgical Music, and also taught music at the Louise S. McGehee School and Ursuline Academy. She was one of the founders of the local chapter of the American Guild of Organists. She received the Order of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the French government for encouraging French music in New Orleans. She led the St. Louis Cathedral Concert Choir on five pilgrimages to Europe, where they sang at St. Peter’s in Rome, Notre Dame de Paris, and other famous cathedrals and churches. In 2004, she made a gift of a new Holtkamp organ for the cathedral. Dr. Cambon was interviewed by Marijim Thoene for The Diapason (“Her Best Friends Were Archbishops—An interview with Elise Cambon, organist of New Orleans’ St. Louis Cathedral for 62 years,” October 2004).

Anita Jeanne Shiflett Graves died September 16, 2007, at age 86. Born September 20, 1920, in Lincoln, Illinois, she attended Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and earned a master’s degree in music at Northwestern University. She had worked as a church organist, choir director and funeral home organist, and taught at Drake University and San Jose State University. A funeral service was held at Campbell United Methodist Church in Campbell, California.

Kay Wood Haley died July 10, 2007, at age 90 in Fairhope, Alabama. Born March 26, 1917, in Sumner, Illinois, she began playing for church services in Flora, Alabama, at age 14. She attended Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, and then transferred to the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Harold Gleason and graduated in 1938. From 1939–1983, Mrs. Haley was organist at Judson College in Marion, Alabama, and at First Baptist, First Presbyterian, and St. Paul’s Episcopal churches, all in Selma, Alabama. She helped found the Selma Choral Society and the Selma Civic Chorus, and helped lead the Alabama Church Music Workshop.

Gerald W. Herman Sr. died August 25, 2007 at age 81 in Gainesville, Florida. Born November 9, 1925, he began his 61-year organist career on April 28, 1946, at Rockville United Brethren Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and played for several other churches in the area. A job transfer with Nationwide Insurance in 1979 brought him to Gainesville, Florida, where he served as organist at Kanapaha Presbyterian Church and then at Bethlehem Presbyterian Church in Archer, Florida. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Charlotte, a daughter, and a son.

Theodore C. Herzel died September 28, 2007, in York, Pennsylvania. Born October 10, 1927, in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, he held church positions in Lynchburg, Virginia, and Detroit, Michigan, and served as organist-director of music for 28 years at First Presbyterian Church, York, Pennsylvania, retiring in 1988. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Westminster Choir College and a master’s at the Eastman School of Music. He was an active member of the York AGO chapter and the Matinee Music Club.
H. Wiley Hitchcock, musicologist, author, teacher, editor and scholar of American as well as baroque music, died December 5 at the age of 84. In 1971 he founded the Institute for Studies in American Music at Brooklyn College of the City of New York, and in 1986 he edited, with Stanley Sadie, the New Grove Dictionary of American Music. He retired from CUNY in 1993 as a Distinguished Professor, but maintained a consulting relationship with ISAM until the end.
Born on September 28, 1923, in Detroit, Michigan, Hitchcock earned his B.A. in 1944 from Dartmouth College and served in the military during WW II. After the war he studied music with Nadia Boulanger at the Conservatoire Américan and at the University of Michigan, from which he earned his Ph.D. in 1954. His dissertation was on the sacred music of Marc-Antoine Charpentier.
He started teaching in 1950 at Michigan and in 1961 moved to Hunter College in New York. A decade later he went to Brooklyn College and became founding director of ISAM. In his honor, the ISAM is to be renamed the Hitchcock Institute for Studies in American Music. In addition to his work on Grove, Hitchcock edited numerous publications. His last book, Charles Ives: 129 Songs (Music of the United States of America), was published by A-R Editions in 2004.

Everett W. Leonard died June 9, 2007, in Katy, Texas, at age 96. Born March 4, 1911, in Franklin, New Hampshire, he began piano lessons at age nine and organ lessons in high school. He worked for 40 years for the U.S. Postal Service in Washington, DC. In addition, he served as organist at Central Presbyterian Church and Mount Olivet Methodist Church, both in Arlington, Virginia, and at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, Punta Gorda, Florida, and at the Lutheran Church of the Cross, Port Charlotte, Florida. A longtime member of the AGO, he served as dean of the District of Columbia chapter.

W. Gordon Marigold, longtime author and reviewer for The Diapason, died November 25, 2007, in Urbana, Illinois. Born May 24, 1926, in Toronto, he earned a B.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, and earned an M.A. from Ohio State University. He also studied in Munich, Germany. Dr. Marigold taught German at the University of Western Ontario, Trinity College Schools, the University of Virginia, and at Union College in Barbourville, Kentucky. At Union College, he was a department head, division chairman, and college organist, and he supervised the installation of a new organ by Randall Dyer in 1991. He retired as professor emeritus of German in 1991, and moved to Urbana, Illinois.
Dr. Marigold received his musical training in piano, organ, and voice at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and in Munich. He served as organist at churches in Toronto, at First Methodist Church in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he gave an annual series of recitals, and churches in Columbus, Ohio. He was heard in radio organ recitals broadcast by station WOSU in Columbus, and played on the annual Bach recital at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Champaign, Illinois.
Professor Marigold was an internationally known scholar of German Baroque literature and music, and author of five books, countless articles in scholarly journals (including The Diapason, Musical Opinion, and The Organ), hundreds of reviews of German literature for Germanic Notes and Reviews, and countless reviews of recordings and books for The Diapason. He was a recipient of many research grants for study and research in Germany.
Dr. Marigold is survived by his wife Constance Young Marigold, whom he married on August 22, 1953. A Requiem Eucharist was celebrated on December 1 at the Chapel of St. John the Divine in Champaign, Illinois. Linda Buzard, parish organist and choirmaster, provided music by Bach, Purcell, Byrd, and Willan, along with hymns Lobe den Herren, Austria, Slane, and Darwall’s 148th.
In addition to numerous reviews of new recordings and books, Dr. Marigold’s Diapason bibliography includes:
“Max Drischner and his organ writings: a neglected modern,” Oct 1955;
“Austrian church music experiences extensive revival,” May 1956;
“The organs at the Marienkirche at Lübeck,” Dec 1969;
“A visit to Preetz, Germany,” April 1971;
“Some interesting organs in Sweden,” May 1971;
“Organs and organ music of South Germany,” Oct 1974;
“Organs in Braunschweig: some problems of organ placement,” Aug 1982;
“18th-century organs in Kloster Muri, Switzerland,” Feb 1986;
“Organ and church music activity in Munich during the European Year of Music,” Aug 1986;
“A variety of recent German organs,” April 1989;
“Dyer organ for Union College, Barbourville, KY,” Dec 1991.
(Dr. Marigold continued to write reviews to within weeks of his death. The Diapason will publish these reviews posthumously.—Ed.)

Johnette Eakin Schuller died September 21, 2007, at age 66 in Brewster, Massachusetts. She earned degrees from the College of Wooster, Ohio, and the Eastman School of Music. She and her husband, Rodney D. Schuller, served for 31 years as ministers of sacred music and organists at the Reformed Church of Bronxville, New York. Johnette Schuller also held positions at Andrew Price Memorial United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee; the Presbyterian Church in Bound Brook, New Jersey; the Post Chapel in Fort George G. Meade, Maryland; and Calvary Lutheran Church in Verona, New Jersey.

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.

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.

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.

James G. Chapman, retired University of Vermont Choral Union conductor and longtime music professor, died February 8. He was 83. Born and raised in Manistee, Michigan, Chapman studied at the University of Michigan, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in music in 1949 and master’s in 1950. He began as a church organist while a teenager, and later taught at Flora MacDonald College in Red Springs, North Carolina, but was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1951. Though trained in cryptographic work, he was assigned as an organist and assistant choir director for the Far East Command Chapel Center in Tokyo (1951–53). He served from 1953–59 as the organist and choir director at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Forest Hills, New York.
Chapman taught music at Middlebury College from 1959 to 1963 and was one of 40 music teachers selected for a Danforth Teacher Grant in 1963–64. In 1964, he finished his Ph.D. in musicology at New York University. He also served as a guest conductor for the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and led tours to Europe.
In 1968, Chapman was the founder and director of the UVM Choral Union. Chapman teamed up with UVM English professor Betty Bandel in February 1973 to release the record album “Vermont Harmony” that featured music by Vermont composers between 1790 and 1810. Three years later, Chapman and Bandel released “Vermont Harmony II” with the works of Hezekiah Moors and Jeremiah Ingalls, and “Vermont Harmony III” appeared in 1986. Chapman—along with Mel Kaplan and Bill Metcalfe—helped create the Vermont Mozart Festival in 1973. Chapman was selected to perform the inaugural recital on the Vedder Van Dyck memorial organ in the new St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral in Burlington in 1974.

Musician, scholar, and philanthropist Roy Frederic Kehl died at his home in Evanston, Illinois, on February 12 at the age of 75 after a valiant 24-year battle with cancer. A Fellow of the American Guild of Organists, Kehl was a member of the Bishop’s Advisory Commission of Church Music of the Diocese (Episcopal) of Chicago. He also served as a member of the Hymn Music Committee of the Episcopal Church, making many contributions to The Hymnal 1982.
His generosity was extensive, benefiting his chosen interests: the American Guild of Organists and the North Shore University Health System, where he endowed the gastroenterology laboratory. At considerable personal expense, he conducted exhaustive research at the Steinway piano facilities in New York and became the world’s foremost authority on the history of Steinway & Sons piano production. Outside of his musical interests, Kehl was also a train and mass-transit enthusiast, and maintained a significant collection of historical documents and photographs of the mass transit systems of Chicago and St. Louis.
The only child of F. Arthur and Eleanor McFarland Kehl, he was born on November 22, 1935 in St. Louis. He was educated at the St. Louis Country Day School, Oberlin College, and Ohio State University, and he completed advanced musical study at Syracuse and Northwestern universities. His organ teachers included Grigg Fountain, Leo Holden, Wilbur Held, and Arthur Poister. He taught organ at Houghton College (NY), served as director of music at Kenmore Methodist Church (NY) and as organist and choirmaster at the Church of the Ascension in Chicago.
He leaves no immediate survivors, but his gentle spirit was infectious, resulting in a multitude of friendships from all walks of life. As a mentor to young musicians, he became an icon of caring, always offering encouragement and concern. He was a prolific letter-writer, known to friends all over the country for his distinctive prose.
A memorial celebration of his life was held at the Church of the Ascension, Chicago, on March 5. Memorial gifts may be made to the Endowment Fund of the American Guild of Organists, 475 Riverside Dr., Suite 1260, New York, NY 10115, or to North Shore University Health System Foundation, 1033 University Place, Suite 450, Evanston, IL 60201.
—Morgan Simmons
Evanston, Illinois

Richard Torrence, promoter and manager, died February 6 following a stroke. With his colleague and life-partner Marshall Yeager, Torrence promoted Virgil Fox’s “Heavy Organ” initiative back in the 1960s and 70s. He guided the career of Ted Alan Worth, collaborated with the Rodgers and Ruffatti organ companies, commissioned Fox’s “Black Beauty” touring organ, co-authored the irreverent biography, Virgil Fox: The Dish, shepherded the “Virgil Fox Legacy,” godfathered the ‘virtual organ’, and encouraged Cameron Carpenter.
Richard Torrence earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1958. He moved to New York and established a concert management in 1963, representing Virgil Fox and other leading artists. He worked with Rodgers Organ Company and Fratelli Ruffatti, handling marketing, public relations, advertising, product development, and sales until 1976, when the concert management grew into a production company. By 1983, Torrence was developing high-visibility fund-raising events for such clients as UNICEF, Dance Theatre of Harlem, New York City Opera, and the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR). Celebrities he worked with included Elizabeth Taylor, Leonard Bernstein, Mstislav Rostropovich, Eartha Kitt, Van Cliburn, Madonna, William F. Buckley Jr., Ted Turner, Jane Fonda, and Michael York.
During a trip to Russia in 1992, Richard Torrence became acquainted with Anatoly Sobchak, Mayor of St. Petersburg, and became Advisor to the Mayor of St. Petersburg on International Projects, 1992–96, facilitating cultural projects and investment opportunities in the Petersburg region. During his tenure he helped raise $1.3-million for city dental programs, and attracted the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. to St. Petersburg to build a $70-million factory. Vladimir Putin was Torrence’s immediate superior during this time. Torrence had twice produced the St. Petersburg Festival of American Films, and in 1998 he designed and marketed Le Club, a business and professional complex with two restaurants and special events facilities.