Nunc Dimittis

William Brant Mills, Don G. Campbell, Steven Alan Clark, Rockwell Lewis “Wes” Deaton Jr., Dale Alexander Gilliland, E. Robert Irwin

Nunc Dimittis

William Brant Mills of Florence, South Carolina, died on February 18 at the age of 68. A diaconal minister in the United Methodist Church, Mills had served as director of music and organist at Central United Methodist Church in Florence for over 42 years. 

Mills earned degrees in organ performance—a Bachelor of Music from Florida State University, and a Master of Music from the University of South Carolina. He also did post-graduate study at Indiana University, Southern Methodist University, Stanford University, and Columbia College. Mills was founder and director of the Masterworks Choir in Florence, which toured Austria and Germany, participated in the Piccolo Spoleto festival, and sang services at Washington National Cathedral. The Masterworks Choir also sang choral works of Robert Powell at Christ Episcopal Church in Greenville, South Carolina, when Powell retired. William Brant Mills is survived by his children, Brantley Rees Mills and Susan Mills Rana, and four grandchildren.

Don G. Campbell, age 65, died June 2 in Boulder, Colorado. A native of San Antonio, Texas, Campbell studied at the Fontainebleau Conservatory in France, and earned two degrees at the University of North Texas. He was the author of 23 books, including the bestsellers The Mozart Effect and The Mozart Effect for Children; his most recent book, released in 2011, was Healing at the Speed of Sound, co-authored with Alex Doman. Campbell founded the Institute of Music, Health, and Education in Boulder in 1988, serving as its director until 1997. He also was involved with Aesthetic Audio Systems, which worked with hospitals and health care systems to provide music systems to optimize healing. Campbell was a member of the Denver AGO chapter, for which he served on the executive board.

The American Music Research Center at the University of Colorado is creating the Don Campbell Collection to house his books, videos, DVDs, and documents, including source material for several of Campbell’s most popular works. The collection will also include private letters from Nadia Boulanger, Campbell’s teacher. 

Steven Alan Clark died July 14 in Nashville, Tennessee. He was 60 years old. He began organ study at age eleven, and earned a bachelor’s degree in organ and a master’s in choral conducting at the University of Tennessee. Clark served as organist-choirmaster at six churches in Tennessee and Florida, and served in a number of leadership roles in the AGO. He was also a licensed massage therapist. Steven Alan Clark is survived by his wife, Donna, two daughters, two grandchildren, his father, four siblings, a sister-in-law and two brothers-in-law, and seven nephews. 

Rockwell Lewis “Wes” Deaton Jr. died in Davidson, North Carolina on July 26 at age 59. He was organist at Davidson Methodist Church and earned a bachelor’s degree in music in 1974, studying organ with Wilmer Hayden Welsh. He earned a master’s degree from the Peabody Conservatory in 1976, where his major teachers were Cherry Rhodes and Donald Sutherland. Deaton moved to New York City in 1976 and studied with Calvin Hampton, and played for churches in the New York area, including St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Woodhaven, New York, and Church of the Transfiguration. Deaton’s advertising career took him around the world; he served as senior vice president at Publicis New York, among other positions that he held. In 2000, Deaton returned to Davidson, where he established a marketing company and became involved in local organizations. There he served in substitute and interim organist positions. Rockwell Lewis Deaton Jr. is survived by his partner Robert Guttman, two children, two grandchildren, in-laws, and cousins.

Dale Alexander Gilliland, age 79, died June 28 in Bellevue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He began organ studies at age twelve and started his 63-year career as a church organist at Knoxville Baptist Church in Pittsburgh in 1949. During the Korean War, Gilliland served as a chaplain’s assistant and organist at Fort Belvoir, Virginia; following military service, he served various churches. Gilliland served as treasurer of the Pittsburgh AGO chapter and was on the 1999 AGO Region III convention committee, was past president and treasurer of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians, and a committee member of the Pittsburgh Organ Academy. Dale Alexander Gilliland is survived by Elizabeth Douglas Gilliland, three daughters, and two grandsons. 

E. Robert Irwin died July 28 in Norfolk, Virginia. He was 73 years old. A native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, Irwin studied organ at the Oberlin Conservatory, receiving a bachelor’s degree in 1961. He earned a doctorate in organ and sacred music from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with David Craighead. Irwin was a professor of music at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, where he taught organ, music history and theory, and organ literature for 24 years and established a program in church music. He was honored twice by the university as teacher of the year. During retirement, he served as a church musician in Michigan, Virginia, and North Carolina. E. Robert Irwin is survived by his wife, Claudette Smith-Irwin, two sons, a daughter, a brother, and five grandchildren.

Royston John Merritt Jr. died on July 7 at the age of 84 in Matthews, North Carolina. After serving in the U.S. Army, he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Georgia and worked at DuPont, Reigle Paper, and First Union Bank. He also enjoyed a 53-year career as organist and choirmaster, serving numerous churches, the last of which was Central Steele Creek Presbyterian. Merritt was active in the Charlotte Oratorio Singers and the Charlotte AGO chapter, the North Carolina Train Host Association, and at the Plantation Estates Retirement Community where he resided. Royston John Merritt Jr. is survived by his wife of 61 years, Jean, three children, ten grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Thomas H. Schleis died July 19 in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. He was 62. Schleis studied piano, organ, and harpsichord at Lawrence University and received a master’s degree in musicology at the University of Wisconsin. He was also a Fulbright scholar, conducting research in Germany. An adjunct faculty member at the University of Illinois since 1981, Schleis taught music history and performance, and served as head coach of the opera department. He received the Excellence in Teaching and Faculty Service Award from the university continuing education association, and served as organist at the campus’s Newman Center for 33 years. Schleis was dean of the East Central Illinois AGO chapter for 15 years. Thomas H. Schleis is survived by a sister, a stepsister, and two stepbrothers.

Nunc Dimittis

Henry L. “Hank” Hokans, 84, of Ogunquit, Maine, died June 2. Born and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, he received early musical training from his parents and studied organ with T. Charles Lee and William Self, whom he succeeded as organist at All Saints Church, Worcester, serving for 20 years. Hokans received bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the New England Conservatory and was inducted into Phi Kappa Lambda Honor Society. He was appointed organist of the Worcester Art Museum, director of music at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and chairman of the fine arts department of Worcester Academy. After serving with the 5th Air Force in the Korean War, Hokans received a Fulbright Scholarship to study for a year in Paris with Pierre Cochereau and Jean Langlais. 

Hokans served in residencies, was accompanist for many choral groups, founded and directed the Worcester Concert Choir, and played recitals in abbeys and cathedrals both in England and on the Continent. He accompanied the American choir, Canterbury Singers, USA, in England for the VE Day 50th Anniversary Commemorative Service at York Minster Cathedral in 1995.  

In 1989 he accepted a position at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke in Portland. He served as organist/choirmaster at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Frederiksted, St. Croix, as musical director of St. Ann’s, Kennebunkport, and since 2001, as music director of St. Peter’s-by-the-Sea, Cape Neddick, Maine. He also worked in organ design, building, and maintenance with several organ builders, and operated his own organ service company, H. L. Hokans Associates.

Henry L. Hokans is survived by his wife of 25 years, Louise (George) Hokans of Ogunquit; daughter Rebecca Hokans Nanof; son Richard W. Hokans; two grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and sister-in-law Ruth W. Hokans.

Robert L. “Bob” Milliman, 89, died March 1 in Des Moines, Iowa. Born in Des Moines on January 29, 1926, he graduated from East High School and was then drafted into the U.S. Army. He served during World War II in the Pacific from 1944–46. In 1947 he married Twylla Kurschinski at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Des Moines. In 1964 the family moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where Milliman worked for AT&T until his retirement in 1982. They then returned to Des Moines, where he tuned and repaired pipe organs. Milliman was a life member of the Beaverdale V.F.W. Post 9127, Urbandale, American Legion #663, and the Telephone Pioneers. Robert L. Milliman is survived by his wife of 67 years, Twylla, daughters Norma (Robert) Rees and Polly Milliman, six grandchildren, one great grandchild, and brothers, William (Barbara) Milliman and Paul (Kate).

Robert Lawson Van Doren, 99, died May 18 in Columbia, South Carolina. Born in Roselle Park, New Jersey, on March 8, 1916, he became organist at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Roselle Park at age 15. He attended Columbia University and the Juilliard School of Music, where he met his future wife, Lib, who was in the same graduate program. They married in 1943, sharing their passion for music for more than 59 years. After receiving a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Columbia University and Juilliard, he taught in the public schools of Roselle Park before joining the Army during World War II. In 1950 he received the degree of Fellow, Trinity College of Music, London, England. Van Doren became an instructor in music and music education at the University of South Carolina, where he rose in rank to full professor and retired as Distinguished Professor Emeritus in 1978.

From 1945 until 1970 he served as organist and choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church (now Cathedral) and organized and directed the citywide Junior Choir Festival for 25 years. In the 1950s, he was helped organize the Sewanee Conference on Church Music in Sewanee, Tennessee, and taught there for many summers. Van Doren served as president of the Columbia Music Festival Association, dean of the Columbia Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, president of the South Carolina Music Educators Association, and vice president of the Southern Division of the Music Educators National Conference. In 1988 he was elected to the Hall of Fame of the South Carolina Music Educators. He was a member of other clubs, including the “Friends of Music,” University of South Carolina School of Music.  

Robert Lawson Van Doren is survived by a son and a daughter, three grandchildren, and three great-granddaughters. 

Donald Stuart Wright, 74, died June 4. Born on December 26, 1940, he was most recently organist and choirmaster at St. Christopher Episcopal Church in Oak Park, Illinois, and for nearly a decade before that was at St. Richard of Chichester Episcopal Church in Chicago. Throughout his life, he served mainly Episcopal and Lutheran parishes. A graduate of the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, his organ teachers included Thomas Matthews, Austin C. Lovelace, and Flor Peeters. He was active for many years as a recitalist, largely in the Chicago metropolitan area. Don was married for 42 years to his wife, Lisa Curran Wright. He would always be recognized by his Hercule Poirot-like mustache and his dapper attire. Don was also proud of his 1930 V-16 cylinder Cadillac and his “yacht” (the family’s pontoon boat kept at their Wisconsin cottage). His popular piece, A Gigue for the Tuba Stop, published by World Library, was written for his son, Michael Slane Stuart. Donald Stuart Wright is survived by his wife Lisa, children Katherine, Thomas, Nicholas, Alexandra, Veronica Solis, Nathaniel, and Michael, as well as four grandchildren and one sister.

Carlo Curley, Margaret Garrett Hayward, Daniel T. Moe, The Rev. Carl E. Schroeder, Florence Emily Westrum

Carlo Curley died at his home in Melton Mowbray, England, on August 11. He was 59. Born into a musical family in North Carolina in 1952, he attended the North Carolina School of the Arts. His organ studies were with Arthur Poister, Robert Elmore, Virgil Fox, and George Thalben-Ball.

Early in his career, he was invited by the President to play at the White House, and made history as the first classical organist to give a solo organ recital there. Carlo Curley played before crowned heads of Europe, including the late Princess Grace of Monaco, the Princess Royal of England, and several Command Performances for the Danish Royal Family; he made private recordings for the Sultan of Oman. Curley played in every state and province in North America and Canada, as well as Europe, Asia, Australia, and Hong Kong; he recently toured Japan with the King’s Singers. 

Carlo Curley also appeared on TV and radio. His network TV appearances in the United States, England, Australia, and Japan are well known. In England, he made innumerable appearances for the BBC, including organ spectaculars from the cathedrals at Ely, Lichfield, Norwich, Guildford, and Gloucester. Recently the U.K.’s Classic FM broadcast live his concert at Westminster Abbey, given in aid of the Abbey Choir School and the Royal School of Church Music. Carlo Curley’s recordings included CDs and the first-ever commercial video of a classical organ performance, Organ Imperial. His recordings have been voted “Best of the Month” by Stereo Review in the USA, “Record of the Year” in Scandinavia, and “Laser Disc of Exceptional Merit” by FM Fan in Japan, where his CDs enjoy particularly brisk sales.

Margaret Garrett Hayward of Centerport, New York, died February 1. She was 94 years old. A 1938 graduate of Skidmore College, she studied organ with a number of teachers, including Stanley Saxton, Palmer Christian, Paul Callaway, and Thomas Richner. She played at churches on Long Island for nearly 55 years, including 17 years at Locust Valley Dutch Reformed Church; she also served at Bayshore Methodist, Old First Presbyterian of Huntington, St. Paul’s Methodist, Trinity Episcopal, Huntington Episcopal, and others. Margaret Hayward retired in 1998 but continued to play as a substitute.

Daniel T. Moe died May 24 at age 85 in Sarasota, Florida. Born in Fargo, North Dakota, Moe served in the Naval Air Corps (1944–46) as a clarinetist and saxophonist. He later graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, and earned master’s (University of Washington) and doctoral (University of Iowa) degrees. Moe was a faculty member at the Oberlin Conservatory from 1972–92, where he directed the choral ensembles. He retired to Sarasota, Florida; at the time of his death he was conductor emeritus of the Key Chorale, and composer in residence at the Church of the Redeemer. His composition Cantata for Peace was performed in 1993 during the visit of Pope John Paul II. Daniel T. Moe is survived by his wife, five sons, seven grandchildren, two brothers, and a sister. 

The Rev. Carl E. Schroeder died June 12 in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania. He was 78. Schroeder earned three diplomas from the Peabody Conservatory; he served two large Lutheran churches in Baltimore, then came to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1964, where he served as organist and choirmaster of Trinity Lutheran Church, the former Zion Lutheran Church, the former St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church, and All Saints Anglican Church. He also taught organ, piano, and theory at Elizabethtown College, founded and directed the Music Sacra choral society, and served five terms as dean of the Lancaster AGO chapter. Other activities included private teaching, writing book and music reviews, music composition, and playing recitals. Schroeder studied at Scott Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, and was ordained a priest, after which he became the rector at All Saints Anglican Church in Lancaster. He retired from All Saints in 2010. Rev. Carl E. Schroeder is survived by his wife, Jane Elizabeth (Hymes), a daughter, a son, four grandchildren, two sisters, and two brothers.

Florence Emily Westrum died August 6 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She was Organist Emerita at First Presbyterian Church, Ann Arbor. Born in Beardsley, Minnesota, February 15, 1921, she earned a bachelor’s degree in music education at Hamline University and taught school for a year before moving to Berkeley, California, to work at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, where her future husband, Edgar F. Westrum, Jr., was working on the Manhattan Project. After their marriage, the couple moved to Chicago and then to Ann Arbor, where Edgar became professor of chemistry at the University of Michigan. Florence was a founding member of the First Presbyterian Church, where she served initially as music director and organist, and then as organist. She was active in the American Guild of Organists and in the Faculty Women’s Club, and volunteered at the University Hospital and Ronald McDonald House. Florence Emily Westrum is survived by her husband of 69 years, Edgar F. Westrum, Jr., four children, six grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Nunc Dimittis

Ronald Kent Arnatt, 88, died August 23, 2018. He was born January 16, 1930, in London, England, and was a boy chorister at Westminster Abbey and King’s College, Cambridge. He was educated at Trent College, Derbyshire, Trinity College of Music, London, and Durham University. From the latter, he was granted a Bachelor of Music degree in 1954. In 1970, Arnatt was awarded a Doctor of Music degree from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey.

Over the course of his career he held numerous positions, including instructor, American University, Washington, D.C.; director of music, Mary Institute, St. Louis, Missouri; professor of music and director choral activities, University of Missouri, St. Louis; director of music and organist, Christ Church Cathedral, St. Louis; founder and conductor, St. Louis Chamber Orchestra and Chorus; conductor and music director, Bach Society of St. Louis; director of music and organist, Trinity Church, Boston, Massachusetts; president, American Guild of Organists; director of music and organist, St. John’s Episcopal Church, Beverly, Massachusetts; professor of church music and department head, Westminster Choir College; and editor, ECS Publishing, Boston. He was also the recipient of numerous awards, fellowships, and prizes.

Ronald Arnatt married Carol Freeman Woodward, who died in 2017. They had two daughters who survive, Ronlyn and Sylvia. He is also survived by nine grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Jon L. Bertschinger, 65, died July 13, 2018, in St. Joseph, Missouri. He was born July 25, 1952, in Burlington, Iowa. Bertschinger began taking piano lessons at an early age, followed by organ lessons on the new M. P. Möller organ at his church, Messiah Lutheran Church, in Burlington, in 1958. He sang in and accompanied one of the five choirs at that church while in junior high school.

Bertschinger began work for the Temple Organ Company when it moved to Burlington in 1966, helping to install the rebuilt organ at First Methodist Church in 1967. He was still working with David Cool, son of the company’s founder, Fred Cool, when the church burned in 2007, and he accomplished the tonal finishing for the new 60-rank organ for the rebuilt church.

Bertschinger was on the volunteer staff for the Auditorium and Temple in Independence, Missouri, performing recitals under the direction of Jan Kraybill, former director of music for the Community of Christ Church. He also had regular church jobs in St. Joseph, sometimes two at a time, playing over the years at Westminster Presbyterian, Trinity Presbyterian, First Christian, and, up until his death, Brookdale Presbyterian.

Wesley Coleman Dudley, II, 85, of Williamsburg, Virginia, and Bar Harbor, Maine, died July 25 in Williamsburg. He was born in Buffalo, New York, December 15, 1932. He attended Nichols School and graduated from St. Paul’s School, Concord, New Hampshire, before receiving his bachelor’s degree from Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. After two years in the United States Navy in Hawaii, he returned to Buffalo in 1958 to work at Worthington Pump Company. Six years later he became an entrepreneur, managing Auto Wheel Coaster Company, North Tonawanda, New York, before joining his family’s management office. He began spending winters in Williamsburg, Virginia, and summers in Bar Harbor, Maine, allowing him to explore his two dominant passions: pipe organs and boating.

A quiet philanthropist, he supported many projects anonymously, but there was one exception, the public radio program, Pipedreams. He was also a frequent donor to the Organ Historical Society.

Wesley C. Dudley was preceded in death by his daughter, Katherine Mary Dudley. He is survived by his wife of sixty-two years, Lucinda Nash Dudley, and his children, Nanette (David) Schoeder, Donald M. (Janet) Dudley, three grandchildren, Nicholas Schoeder, Katherine Dudley, and MacLaren Dudley, their mother Meg Dudley, and two step-grandchildren, Grace and Madeleine Waters. Memorial contributions may be made to Minnesota Public Radio, attn. Jamie Ziemann, 480 Cedar St., St. Paul, Minnesota 55101, or to the Dudley Scholarship at the Eastman School of Music, attn. Suzanne Stover, 26 Gibbs St., Rochester, New York 14604.

Steven E. Lawson, 63, of New York, New York, died suddenly, August 19, of natural causes. He had completed his usual Saturday evening practice at the Church of the Heavenly Rest, where he had served as assisting organist for 21 years, and failed to show up on Sunday morning.

Lawson was born September 9, 1954, in San Diego, California, attended elementary school in Fullerton, California, and high school in Topeka, Kansas. He earned the Bachelor of Music degree in organ performance at Oklahoma City University, where he studied with Wilma Jensen, and the Master of Music degree in organ performance at Indiana University, also studying with Wilma Jensen. At Indiana University, he minored in carillon performance and accompanied the University Singers, working with conductors Robert Shaw and Margaret Hills. Before his appointment at the Church of the Heavenly Rest, Lawson served St. Luke’s Lutheran Church near Times Square in New York City for ten years.

As an active member of the New York City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, Lawson served as registrar, webmaster, and editor of the chapter’s concert calendar, but his towering achievement was the New York City Organ Project (NYCOP). Starting with his interest in gathering the histories of various pipe organs in churches he served or played in, the NYCOP grew into a seemingly limitless body of information, published online as part of the website of the New York City AGO Chapter. Thousands of organs are diligently documented with histories, specifications, and photographs. (For example, see the documentation of organs at the Church of the Heavenly Rest: www.nycago.org/organs/nyc/html/HeavenlyRest.html.) Friends and colleagues have joked that no one knew the organs of New York City as well as Lawson, given the countless hours he traveled around the city carrying heavy photographic equipment.

Lawson’s passion for collecting and making available this type of information drew him to the Organ Historical Society’s Pipe Organ Database, where he continued his vast contribution to the art of the organ, expanding his boundaries from New York City to include the entire United States. He worked closely with the OHS Database Committee, contributing and updating countless entries of organs, and behind the scenes with the development of a new, more user-friendly version of the database.

Steven E. Lawson is survived by his parents, George W. Lawson and Doris E. Lawson, and his cousin Linda Driskel.

­—John Bishop

Frank G. Rippl, 71, died August 11, in Appleton, Wisconsin. Born in Neenah, Wisconsin, Rippl earned the Bachelor of Music Education degree from Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, Appleton, where he minored in organ, studying with Miriam Clapp Duncan. He received a Master of Music degree in Orff-Schulwerk from the University of Denver. Rippl also studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music, as well as the Royal School of Church Music in England.

In 1979 he co-founded the Appleton Boychoir, for which he conducted and played organ for 26 years until his retirement from the organization in 2010. He initiated the Boychoir’s popular Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols held each Christmas in Memorial Chapel, Lawrence University. During Rippl’s tenure, the choir performed as choir-in-residence at the Green Lake Festival of Music under Sir David Willcocks and toured nationally and internationally.

Rippl taught elementary vocal music in the Appleton Area School District for 33 years. Upon retirement from school teaching, he pursued additional organ study with Wolfgang Rübsam. In 1996 he founded the Lunchtime Organ Recital Series held each summer in the Appleton area, attracting organists from all over the country.

Rippl began playing the organ at St. Mary Catholic Church, Menasha, later at Saint Bernard Catholic Church, also of Menasha. He was organist and choirmaster of All Saints Episcopal Church, Appleton, for over 46 years (1971–2018), retiring January 7. At his retirement, the parish established a choral scholarship for Lawrence University students to sing in the church’s choir. (For information on Frank Rippl’s retirement celebration, see the April 2018 issue, page 8.)

Rippl served as dean of the Northeastern Wisconsin Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, was active in the Organ Historical Society (OHS) and the Packerland Theatre Organ Society, and performed on Minnesota Public Radio’s Pipedreams. He penned numerous OHS convention reviews for The Diapason. He accompanied silent movies on the organ for over 20 years for the American Theatre Organ Society. He loved teaching and the pipe organ, and combined these two passions by giving organ lessons to many students.

In 2007, Rippl received the Rotary Club Paul Harris Service Award for service to the community; he played for the Appleton chapter’s weekly meetings for many years. While a student at Lawrence he was Vince Lombardi’s favorite pianist at Alex’s Crown Restaurant, as cited in David Moraniss’s When Pride Still Mattered. In 2014 he became director for the new Memory Project choir, “On a Positive Note,” for those suffering from memory loss and their families.

Frank Rippl is survived by his wife of 43 years, Carol Jegen, his brothers Bill Rippl, Rick (Marie) Rippl, and Dan (Becky) Rippl, as well as numerous extended family members. His funeral was held August 21 at All Saints Episcopal Church, Appleton. Memorial donations may be directed to All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Appleton, the Appleton Boychoir, or his family for an organ scholarship.

James Ralph Verdin, of Indian Hill, Ohio, died August 8. He was born July 30, 1936, in Cincinnati. He grew up in Mariemont and graduated from Mariemont High School in 1955. After graduation, Verdin served in the United States Army.

Verdin was president and chief executive officer of the Verdin Company of Cincinnati, a family-owned business since 1842 that installs bells, tower and street clocks, electronic carillons, and organs across the United States and abroad. Notable installations include the World Peace Bell, the Ohio Bicentennial Bell Project, and the Verdin Mobile Bell Foundry.

Verdin’s vision to redevelop and transform the Pendleton Neighborhood in Over the Rhine, Cincinnati, led to the founding of the Pendleton Art Center, Pendleton Square Complex, the old Car Barn (Nicola’s Restorante), and the restoration of St. Paul’s Church. The church became the corporate offices of the Verdin Company and is now the Bell Event Centre.

A funeral Mass was celebrated August 16 at Old St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Cincinnati. James Ralph Verdin is survived by his wife Carole (nee Conners), daughter Jill (Sam) Crew, and grandchildren Caroline Verdin Crew and Samantha Verdin Crew. Memorials may be made to Summit Country Day School, 2161 Grandin Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45208.

Bene Wesley Hammel died July 21 at age 69 in University Place, Washington. He studied organ with Carl Scheibe in Chattanooga and at age 18 was the first-prize winner in the AGO national competition. He studied theory and composition at the University of Tennessee, and served on the faculty of William Jennings Bryan College, which awarded him an honorary doctorate. He did further study with Marilyn Mason, Sam Batt Owens, and Claire Coci. Hammel married his wife, Marti, in 1985 and performed duo recitals with her for 15 years, later assisting her in her position as organist-choirmaster at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Bellevue, Washington.

Elizabeth “Betty” Grace Lehoczky died June 20 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She was 81. As a girl she began playing the organ in her father’s Hungarian Baptist churches, and met her future husband while serving as a visiting musician. A graduate of the University of Akron (Ohio), Lehoczky served as a public school music teacher in Allentown, and also as organist, choir director, and minister of music at several Protestant churches for more than 40 years. Elizabeth Grace Lehoczky is survived by her son, two daughters, a sister, a brother, eight grandchildren, and nine nieces and nephews.

Robert P. McDermitt, 41, died September 23 in New York City. He earned BM and MM degrees from Westminster Choir College, and served churches in New Jersey while a student, later becoming assistant organist at Princeton University Chapel. In New York City, he became a fellow in church music at Christ and St. Stephen’s Church, and later assistant at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola. He also served as the assistant/associate organist at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin from 2001–2009, and was a music teacher in the New York City schools and director of the Marsh Singers, a corporate choir. A member of the New York City AGO chapter executive board, he was a member of the St. Wilfrid Club. Robert P. McDermitt is survived by a brother, John.

Robert W. Parris died September 22 at age 59. A native of Virginia, Parris received a BMus degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Performer’s Certificate, MMus, and DMA degrees from the Eastman School of Music; he did postdoctoral study in Boston and northern Germany. An international concert artist, he was a featured performer at the 2004 AGO national convention in Los Angeles, appearing in Walt Disney Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. His recordings include works of Mozart and Reger on the Spectrum label, music of Sowerby for Premier, and works of Buxtehude, Bach, Franck, Sowerby, and, in 2006, Dupré on Land of Rest for Loft Recordings. Robert W. Parris is survived by his wife of 31 years, Ellen Gifford Parris, four children, his parents, and sister.

Nunc Dimittis

Margaret Smith McAlister died September 11, 2017. Born November 20, 1923, she was a lifelong resident of Tampa, Florida. McAlister’s early organ study began at the age of 13 with Nella Crandall, organist of First Christian Church, Tampa. At age 14, McAlister became organist at Highland Avenue Methodist Church. She earned her bachelor’s degree in music education and a certificate in organ studies from Florida State College for Women (now Florida State University), where she studied with Margaret Whitney Dow and Ramona Beard. Her organ studies continued as a graduate student at The Juilliard School in New York City with Vernon de Tar.

In 1947, McAlister became organist at First Presbyterian Church, Tampa, where she served faithfully until her retirement in 2012. During her 65-year tenure at the church, she also served as music director at various times. She served two terms as dean of the Tampa Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and several terms as AGO district convener for Florida. Each year, the Tampa Chapter of the AGO provides a scholarship in McAlister’s name to a local organ student. 

McAlister was a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, national music honorary, and was a member of the music faculties at University of Tampa and Clearwater Christian College. She served as music department accompanist for 25 years at Hillsborough Community College, Ybor Campus, Tampa. McAlister served as state chairman and member of the national executive board of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians, and was a Certified Associate Church Musician in that organization. McAlister also served as a member of the worship subcommittee of the Presbytery of Tampa Bay.

Margaret Smith McAlister is survived by a sister, six children, seven grandchildren, and three great grandchildren. A funeral service was held September 23 at First Presbyterian Church, Tampa. The choir, which she had accompanied for 65 years, performed her favorite anthem, My Eternal King, by Jane Marshall, as well as two responses composed by McAlister.

Hugh John McLean, organist, choirmaster, and musicologist, died July 30, 2017, in Naples, Florida. He was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, on January 5, 1930. McLean began organ study as a teenager with Hugh Bancroft in Vancouver. At age 15, he was appointed organist to St. Luke’s Anglican Church, Winnipeg, and at 17, presented his first broadcast organ recital on CBC. Attending the Royal College of Music, England, on an organ scholarship in 1949, studying with Arthur Benjamin (piano), William Harris (organ), and W. S. Lloyd Webber (composition), McLean was the first Canadian to be named Mann Organ Scholar at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, under Boris Ord, 1951–1956. He made his London debut in 1955 at the Royal Festival Hall with Adrian Boult and the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the premiere of Malcolm Arnold’s Organ Concerto, a command performance in the presence of Queen Elizabeth II. Returning to Vancouver, Hugh served as organist and choirmaster at Ryerson United Church (1957–1973). He founded and conducted the Vancouver Cantata Singers, the Hugh McLean Consort, and the CBC Vancouver Singers. He taught at the universities of Victoria (1967–1969) and British Columbia (1969–1973) before joining the faculty of music at the University of Western Ontario, London. While at Western (1973–1995) he served as dean (1973–1980) and taught organ, harpsichord, and music history. During his tenure as organist at St. John the Evangelist, London, he collaborated with organbuilder Gabriel Kney on the installation of an organ for the church, and again for the Roy Thompson Hall organ, Toronto, performing at the instrument’s inaugural gala concert in 1985.

McLean retired from University of Western Ontario to assume the post of organist and choirmaster at All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Winter Park, Florida (1995–2010). The parish Senior Choir undertook four summer sojourns as guest choir in residence in Anglican cathedrals of the UK and Ireland. In addition to broadcasts on the CBC, McLean also broadcast with the BBC, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Swiss Radio, and NHK Japan. The first Canadian organist to tour the USSR, he also performed in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and two of Bach’s churches (Muhlhausen and Leipzig’s Thomaskirche). He gave many Canadian premieres including Hindemith’s Organ Concertos No. 1 and No. 2, Vancouver (1970–1972) and appeared as organ soloist with the Toronto Symphony in 1979, 1982, and 1985. Specializing in 17th- and 18th-century musicology studies and awarded Canada Council grants to research at archives in Japan, Poland, and the the former East Germany, he served on the editorial board of the new C. P. E. Bach edition and wrote 19 articles for the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

Hugh John McLean is survived by his wife, Florence Anne, and their children, Ross Alan and Olivia Anne, his sons Robert Andreas, John Stuart, and Hugh Dundas (by his late wife, Gunlaug Julie Gaberg), nine grandchildren, two sisters, and several nieces and nephews.