Nunc Dimittis

Robert “Bob” Colby died November 22, 2011 in Buffalo, New York at the age of 87 from complications due to stroke. He had a long career in the organbuilding industry that began with the Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, developed at the Schlicker Organ Company, and bloomed into his own firm, the Delaware Organ Company. Upon retiring in 1989, he chose to continue his love of the trade by supplying pipes and voicing services through his firm Giesecke-Colby, based in Charleston, South Carolina. He leaves behind his wife Mary, four sons, and extended family. Two of his sons, Roger and Raymond Colby, along with one grandson, Brad Colby, one granddaughter, Sheila Colby, and one great-grandson, Jacob Colby, are active full-time in the organ industry. Bob also mentored and became a lifelong friend of Dennis Milnar, who developed his own firm with family.

—Roger Colby

Raymond P. “Ray” Gietz died at age 96 on December 28, 2011, in Syracuse, New York. A graduate of SUNY–Fredonia in 1941, he returned in 1947 for his master’s degree in music education. Gietz taught music for 28 years at Columbia High School in East Greenbush, from which he received the Teacher of the Year award in 1975, and served many congregations in Albany, Castleton, and East Greenbush as an organist and choir director. He served as an Army surgical technician during World War II, and used this experience to serve with the Castleton volunteer ambulance service for 31 years. Raymond P. Gietz, predeceased by Jean, his wife of 42 years, is survived by his daughter, two grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. 

Adelma Gomez died November 14, 2011; she was 77 years old. Born in Buenos Aires, she graduated from the Conservatorio Superior de Música Manuel de Falla; she studied organ with Julio Perceval and Hector Zeoli. Gomez served as titular organist for the Auditorio Juan Victoria at the Universidad Nacional de San Juan, and taught organ, counterpoint, and Gregorian chant for more than 25 years. She performed recitals at organ festivals in Europe, North and South America, and Japan, and was a juror for the Chartres competition. Gomez was an organizer of “Neighborhood Organ Recitals” for more than 28 years, and also helped care for many historic organs, especially in the Buenos Aires area. She organized an organ recital series at the National Library of Buenos Aires, installing her own historical organ of wooden pipes. For many years she had a weekly radio program. Gomez was a member of the Argentina AGO chapter.

John Halvorsen, age 91, died in Fort Collins, Colorado, October 29, 2011. A native of Seattle, Halvorsen graduated from the University of Washington, then enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving in the Aleutian Islands and on the USS Orielo. He then earned an MMus degree at Westminster Choir College, studying with Alexander McCurdy, and where he met his wife, Mildred Romer. Halvorsen served Methodist churches in Norfolk, Virginia, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and El Paso, Texas, where he also served as dean, sub-dean, and treasurer of the El Paso AGO chapter, and was a staff organist for the Plaza Theatre. John Halvorsen is survived by a sister, a daughter, and many nieces and nephews.

Hans-Erich Laukhuff passed away in Weikersheim, Germany on February 7, shortly before his 68th birthday. Born in 1944, he spent most of his early life in Weikersheim, where he attended the local gymnasium (high school), followed in 1960 by a year at boarding school in Eastbourne, England. 

An apprenticeship with the now 185-year-old family firm, Aug. Laukhuff GmbH & Co., culminated in journeyman status in 1965. A few years in the drafting department and other assignments provided experience in all aspects of organ building. 1966–67 brought Hans-Erich to St.-Hyacinthe, Québec for a year at Casavant Frères Limitée, then directed by Lawrence Phelps. The experience not only widened his horizon into North American organbuilding, but also provided an opportunity to learn Québéçois French. Later, a few months’ fieldwork with a small firm in North Dakota developed in Hans-Erich an appreciation for the problems faced by technicians in service organizations. Before returning to Germany, Hans-Erich purchased a round-robin Greyhound bus ticket and explored much of the United States, learning the idiomatic English that would later facilitate easy dialogue with his American clients.

In 1968, Mr. Laukhuff completed the Masters Course at the School for Organbuilding in Ludwigsburg, earning the Certificate of Master Organ Builder and establishing lasting friendships with colleagues in Europe and the Americas. His master’s project, a complete pipe organ built entirely by him, still stands in the family home. In 1972 Hans-Erich Laukhuff was appointed as fourth-generation Geschäftsführer (Managing Director) of Aug. Laukhuff, a position he shared jointly with his cousin, Peter Laukhuff, until Peter’s retirement in January of this year.

An avid traveler, Hans-Erich had visited 45 countries on all five continents. During rare off-duty moments, he enjoyed reading, music, walking in the forest with his black mongrel, Chappy, and occasional trout fishing. He was particularly fond of the 3-manual, 11-rank Möller theatre organ installed in Laukhuff’s erecting room. Originally built in 1947 for a South African client, it is thought to be the only Möller cinema organ in Germany. The occasional Kino Konzert and recordings have shared his enjoyment of theatre organ music with residents of Weikersheim. Hans-Erich Laukhuff is survived by his mother, sisters, cousins, niece, nephews, and a grandniece. 

Robert Prichard died on December 31 at the age of 84. Born June 4, 1927, he was raised in southern and central California, and began piano studies at age five. After being drafted in 1945, he served as post organist at Fort Lewis, Washington. He earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Southern California, and served as organist at Vermont Avenue Presbyterian Church and First Congregational Church of Los Angeles. In 1956, he became organist, and several years later organist/choir director, for Pasadena Presbyterian Church. During his 26 years there, he played over 1,000 recitals broadcast over the church’s radio station, and directed the Kirk Choir in many major productions including Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Bach’s Magnificat. 

After leaving Pasadena Presbyterian, he became organist and choir director for St. Therese Catholic Church in Alhambra, and retired from this post in September 2011. Prichard toured Europe twice, performing organ concerts, including at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Prichard taught at Occidental College, Whittier College, Long Beach City College, and the Los Angeles Music Conservatory. As the area representative of the Schlicker Organ Company, he was responsible for the design and installation of several instruments throughout the Southern California area, including the Schlicker organ at Whittier College. 

He was married to Bonnie Joy Berryman (who died in 2001) for over 50 years. Robert Prichard is survived by three children, David and Stephen Prichard and Mary Lynn Lundin, nine grandchildren, two brothers, and a sister.

Sally Cherrington Beggs, chair of the music department and college organist at Newberry College, Newberry, South Carolina, died March 17. Born in Allentown, Pennsylvania
in 1959, she received her undergraduate education at Susquehanna University, and master’s and doctoral degrees at Yale University, where she studied with Thomas Murray and Charles Krigbaum. While at Yale she won the Charles Ives Organ Prize and the Faculty Award from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and was named the Frank Bozyan Organ Scholar from 1989 to 1991. An instructor in organ at Yale as well as the minister of music at the First Congregational Church in Wallingford, Connecticut, she had served as staff organist and teacher for the Allen Organ Company.

Cherrington relocated to South Carolina in 2000 from the Chicago area, where she served for ten years as director of music at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Park Ridge, and as college organist and adjunct faculty at Elmhurst College. She served as a substitute organist throughout the Columbia area, including at Aveleigh Presbyterian in Newberry and St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church in Chapin, and as a part-time organist at St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church in Lexington. She had performed recitals and conducted workshops throughout the eastern seaboard and Midwest, including at two OHS conventions, as well as making several concert tours of Europe as a soloist or accompanist. Dr. Cherrington had articles published in The Diapason, Your Church, Grace Notes, and CrossAccent; her article on “Organ Pedagogy” appears in the new International Organ Encyclopedia published by Routledge. Sally Cherrington Beggs is survived by her husband of 19 years, Mike Beggs, sons Zachary and Nathan, and sisters Linda Svok and Peggy Reese.

David Craighead died March 26 in Rochester, New York, at the age of 88, after a long and distinguished career as a recitalist and as professor of organ at the Eastman School of Music. Craighead joined the Eastman faculty in 1955 and served as professor of organ and chair of the organ division of the keyboard department until his retirement in 1992. He was also organist of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Rochester from 1955 to 2003. He was named Professor Emeritus at Eastman and Organist Emeritus at St. Paul’s when he retired. 

A renowned recitalist, David Craighead performed throughout the United States and Europe. He played in seven national conventions of the American Guild of Organists as well as at International Congresses held in London, Philadelphia, and Cambridge, England. He made several recordings, including one with his wife, Marian Reiff Craighead, to whom he was married for 47 years. Until her death in May 1996, they presented concerts for organ duet in numerous cities across the United States.

“David Craighead’s contribution to the music world is incalculable,” said David Higgs, Professor and Chair of Organ and Historical Keyboards. “He was a virtuoso performer, able to make the most difficult technical passages seem easy; he was a tireless champion of new music for our instrument, having played the first performances of many of the pieces that are now in our standard repertoire; and a beloved teacher, mentor, and friend to the legions of students he taught in his 37 years as professor of organ and chair of the organ department here.”

Craighead received both teaching and performance honors. In 1974, the Eastman School of Music awarded him its first Eisenhart Award for Teaching Excellence. The New York City AGO chapter named him International Performer of the Year in 1983. He received honorary doctorates from Lebanon Valley College and Duquesne University, where he also served as adjunct professor of organ. He also was awarded an honorary Fellowship in the Royal College of Organists, London, England.

In 2008, the new organ in Rochester’s Christ Church was inaugurated as the Craighead-Saunders Organ, named in honor of Professor Craighead and Russell Saunders, who was professor of organ at Eastman from 1967 until 1992.

Born on January 24, 1924, in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, David Craighead was the son of a Presbyterian minister and received his first music lessons from his mother, an organist. He was awarded his Bachelor of Music degree in 1946 from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he also was the organist of the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church. While still at Curtis, he was a touring recitalist and taught at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, during his senior year.

In 1944 he was accepted as a touring recitalist by Concert Management Bernard R. LaBerge, which is now Karen McFarlane Artists, making his first transcontinental tour shortly after. 

Craighead was appointed organist at the Pasadena Presbyterian Church, where he helped design the church’s organ and did bi-weekly organ recital broadcasts. He also taught in the music department of Occidental College from 1948 through 1955 before his appointment to the Eastman School of Music.

Recordings include a 1968 Artisan LP disc of compositions by Franck, Mendelssohn, and Messiaen; and two recordings for the Crystal Record Company (one of works of Samuel Adler, Paul Cooper, and Lou Harrison; the second, The King of Instruments by William Albright and Sonata for Organ by Vincent Persichetti). He also made two recordings for Gothic, one of late nineteenth-century American composers, and the other of Albright’s Organbook I and Organbook III. The most recent recording, for Delos, features Reger’s Second Sonata and Vierne’s Symphony VI.

David Craighead is survived by his children, James R. Craighead and Elizabeth C. Eagan; grandsons Christopher and Jeffrey Eagan; his sister-in-law and three great-granddaughters.

Father Larry Heiman, a member of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood (C.PP.S.), died in his sleep on February 26, in the infirmary at St. Charles Center, Carthagena, Ohio. Born in 1917, he entered his religious community in 1932 and graduated from St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Indiana, in 1940. Soon after ordination, he began teaching music and drama at St. Joseph’s College; he spent most of his life teaching at this institution. In summer 1960, he initiated a summer program that would become the Rensselaer Program of Church Music and Liturgy. Father Heiman completed graduate studies at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome, earning his doctorate in 1970, and returned to Rensselaer to establish a similar education program in Gregorian chant and polyphony. 

Father Heiman served the National Association of Pastoral Musicians as a frequent contributor to Pastoral Music, as a speaker at NPM conventions, and as the calendar editor for Pastoral Music from 1976 until his “retirement.” NPM honored Father Heiman with its Jubilate Deo Award in 2002. 

Joseph Johann Karl Ritter II, organbuilder, age 70, died March 19, 2011, at Cape May Court House, New Jersey. Born in Clinton, Illinois, he was trained in structural engineering and industrial mechanics, and his interest in organbuilding began as an outgrowth of these disciplines. In 1973, he took possession of a 1905 II/15 Hinners tracker from a closed Baptist church in Clinton. He disassembled and reassembled the instrument two times in situ, and twice more after relocating to Ft. Pierce, Florida (where he worked for a small marine engineering company) and Green Creek, New Jersey, successively. While maintaining his full-time career in heavy industry, he began the study of organbuilding, with a focus on case design, structural layout, and 20th-century electro-pneumatic windchest design.

After settling in Green Creek in the early 1980s, Ritter converted a large portion of his workshop facilities to organ work, including woodworking, pipe repair, leathering, windchest construction, electrical wiring, and fabrication of structural and winding components. At this time he built a III/12 unit organ in his private studio. This instrument was combined with a full 35mm Simplex movie projector, screen, and seating for eight. In 1997 he began a long association with the firm of Russell Meyer & Associates of Bridgeton, New Jersey, becoming shop foreman, and was involved in the construction and installation of ten of the firm’s instruments.

In retirement, at the time of his death, Ritter was involved in a substantial remodeling of his home, which involved conversion of a room into an organ chamber, into which he was in the process of installing Midmer-Losh Opus 5025, a five-rank unit organ, and had begun work on expanding it to an expected ten ranks. 

Heinz Wunderlich, organ virtuoso, teacher, and composer, died on March 10, 2012, in Großhandsdorf, Germany, at the age of 92. He was predeceased by his first wife, Charlotte, in 1982, and by his second wife, the violinist Nelly Söregi Wunderlich, in 2004. He is survived by three daughters and a stepson.

Wunderlich’s early study was with his father and the local church organist. At the age of sixteen, he was admitted to the Academy of Music in Leipzig, where he was the youngest student. While he was studying with Karl Straube and Johann Nepomuk David, his lifelong interest in the music of Max Reger began. Despite growing up and living in the tumultuous time between the First and Second World Wars, he held prestigious positions and became well known for his many recitals and improvisations. Since he was trapped in the East, his career could not advance until he was able to escape in 1958 with his wife and daughters. He took the position of music director at St. Jacobi in Hamburg, where he oversaw the reconstruction of the well-known Arp Schnitger organ, which had been removed during the war. For many years he was also Professor of Organ and Improvisation at the Hamburg College of Music, where he met his second wife.

As he began to concertize throughout the world, including several tours with his choir, the Kantorei St. Jacobi, his fame grew exponentially. In the United States alone he made twenty-six tours. Students came from all over the world to study with him—many to study the works of Max Reger, as Wunderlich was one of the few musicians who was in a direct line of succession with Reger. 

Wunderlich leaves quite an extensive body of organ works, as well as choral music. He remained active as a recitalist until his 91st year, when he decided not to play any more. (See “Heinz Wunderlich at 90,” by Jay Zoller, The Diapason, April 2009, pp. 19–21; “80th Birthday Tribute—Heinz Wunderlich,” by David Burton Brown, The Diapason, April 1999, p. 18; “Heinz Wunderlich at 74,” by David Burton Brown, The Diapason, April 1994, p. 6; and “The Published Organ Works of Heinz Wunderlich,” by David Burton Brown, The Diapason, April 1994, pp. 12–13.)

—Jay Zoller

William Lewis Betts died October 8, 2011, in Colebrook, Connecticut. An organist and organbuilder in Connecticut, he was founder of the William Betts Pipe Organ Company in Winsted, Connecticut; he built, refurbished, and maintained numerous church organs in the Northeast. Among the instruments under his care were those in several churches in Winsted and New Haven; Norfolk Church of Christ, Congregational, Norfolk; St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, New Canaan; and St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, Bridgeport, Connecticut. In his younger years he worked for the Austin Organ Company, and he did technical work for the instruments at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and churches in New York City. 

He was also a charismatic musician and performed outstandingly at the console. He played each instrument under his care with great skill. After adjusting the tones of select pipes, he tested the instrument with music from his repertory, played from memory. Workers and visitors to the churches often stood to listen to his impromptu concerts. He had loyal friends who enjoyed the prospect of working on choral extravaganzas under Bill’s direction. 

After suffering a stroke in 1997, he spent time writing, including a musical history of Northwestern Connecticut. Bill is predeceased by Bonnie Lincoln Betts, his wife of 33 years, and his son Will Betts, Jr. He is survived by his daughter, Caroline Salevitz of Scottsdale, Arizona, two grandchildren, and his sister, Mary Durand Seacord of Roxbury, Connecticut. 

—James R. Harrod

Donald Arthur Busarow died October 24 in Houston. He was 77. Born in 1934 in Racine, Wisconsin, he received a bachelor’s degree from Concordia University in River Forest, Illinois, a master’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and a PhD from Michigan State University. Busarow was a professor at Concordia College in Milwaukee before going to Wittenberg University in 1975, where he was professor of music, university organist, and in 1982, was named director of the Wittenberg Choir, which performed throughout the United States and Europe. He played numerous organ recitals and led hymn festivals and choral and organ workshops throughout the country. A member of St. Matthew Evangelical Lutheran Church in Huber Heights, Ohio, where he served for 24 years as organist and choir director, Busarow was also the organist at the First Presbyterian Church of South Charleston, Ohio, for the past ten years. 

A noted composer of church music, Busarow’s many compositions can be found in the catalogs of seven publishing houses. He was also involved in organ consultation and design; most recently, he designed the organ at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. Honors awarded Busarow include an honorary doctorate from Concordia University in 1996, and a hymn festival in his honor in Dublin, Ohio, this past May by the Columbus Association of Lutheran Church Musicians Cantor Connection, under the direction of his grandson, Jonathan. In Celebrating the Musical Heritage of the Lutheran Church, published by Thrivent, he was named one of the ten Lutheran composers representing the 20th century. 

Donald Arthur Busarow is survived by his wife of 55 years, Peggy, six children, 14 grandchildren, a great grandson, a brother, sister, two sisters-in-law, and nieces and nephews.

Gene Paul Strayer, age 69, died October 10 in York, Pennsylvania. He received a BA from American University, an MA from the University of Chicago, a Bestatigung from the Goethe Institute in Passau, Germany, an MSM from Union Theological School of Sacred Music, and a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. Strayer taught the history of religions at Miles College, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the University of Pennsylvania, where he received the Dean’s Award for Outstanding Teaching. He also taught piano, organ, conducting, and composition. 

He served as organist-choirmaster at churches in Bethesda, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Chicago, New York City, Boulder, and York, where he served Trinity United Church of Christ for ten years, and since 1996, at St. Rose of Lima Church, where he developed an extensive choral program for children. Strayer performed widely, including at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York, Washington National Cathedral, and in England, Germany, and Switzerland. The founder and first director of the Boulder Bach Festival, he later founded the York Ecumenical Choral Society after moving to York. A past dean of the York AGO chapter, Strayer was a member of the American Academy of Religion, the American Musicological Society, the Organ Historical Society, and the Matinee Musical Club of York. Gene Paul Strayer is survived by relatives and friends.

Ronald Bishop had been the curator of Radio City Music Hall’s Grand Organ and was CEO of his own pipe organ maintenance business for more than 40 years. He had also been a sales representative for the Schantz Organ Company since 1987, and was the co-owner of Center Stage Dance Studio in Westfield, New York. He had been an active member of the First Presbyterian Church and Society of Westfield and served as a church elder. He was also a train enthusiast. He was the author of “What a Time It Was: A Fond Remembrance,” The Diapason, January 2009, pp. 23–27.

Ronald Bishop is survived by his wife of 51 years, Emma E. (Stiffler) Bishop, two sons, and two grandchildren.

William Lusk Brice died January 14; he was 80 years old. A Knoxville, Tennessee native, he received a bachelor’s degree in pre-med from Emory University, and an MMus degree in organ from the University of Michigan, where he studied with Marilyn Mason. He also studied choral conducting with Harold Friedell at the Juilliard School, and chant and conducting with Ray Francis Brown at General Theological Seminary in New York City. An organist and choirmaster for more than 50 years, he served cathedrals in Knoxville, Decatur, and Tulsa. Brice recorded with RCA, and was an organ designer as well as recitalist. He served as dean of the Knoxville and Memphis AGO chapters, and was a member of the RCCO. William Lusk Brice is survived by his wife, Mary, a stepson, and a sister and brother.

Paul E. Engle, 95 years old, died January 9. A Pennsylvania native, Engle learned to love organ music from his aunt; a member of the Pittsburgh AGO chapter, Engle was not an organist but was responsible for recording many Pittsburgh organs and chapter members’ organ recitals, for more than 50 years. He always gave a copy of the recording to the performer without charge. Engle’s recording efforts have helped to document many Pittsburgh organs that are no longer playable. A member of the Pittsburgh Area Theatre Organ Society and the American Legion, Engle had served in World War II, fighting in the Battle of the Bulge, for which he was awarded the Purple Heart. Paul E. Engle is survived by his wife of 69 years, Emma Sue (Susie), and three daughters.

Bart Ferguson Harris died January 13 at age 85. He studied music at the University of Mississippi, the Juilliard School, and McGill University. Harris served as organist at various churches, including Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Brooklyn, the Church of the Holy Communion in Norwood, New Jersey, St. Clements Anglican Church, Montreal, and the Verdun United Church of Canada. He was a longtime member of the New York City AGO chapter. Bart Ferguson Harris is survived by his life partner, John Heinz Olmer.

Thomas Hunter Russell died February 8 in Los Angeles at the age of 71. A graduate of Chapman College and the University of Southern California, he ran a successful law practice until his retirement in 2009. He began playing the organ at an early age, and served as assistant organist at the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, where he was one of the founders of the church’s organ concert series. In 1969, under his guidance, the Frank C. Noon Memorial Organ was installed in the west gallery of the sanctuary. Through his years of dedication and leadership, more additions were made to the chancel organ, and the north and south transept organs were installed. He also helped establish the Friends of the Los Angeles Bach Festival, and served on the board until his death. 

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.

Billy J. Christian died June 6 in Athens, Georgia. He was 86. A U.S. Navy veteran, he was a graduate of the University of Georgia and the School of Sacred Music at Union Seminary in New York City. He served as organist-choirmaster at Idlewild Presbyterian Church in Memphis from 1959–82 and at Germantown Presbyterian Church from 1984–93, and was a lifelong and active AGO member. Billy J. Christian is survived by a brother, a sister, cousins, nephews, nieces, grandnephews, and grandnieces. 

Elaine Sawyer Dykstra, age 65, died at her home on June 19. At age 15 she became the organist at the First Presbyterian Church of Iowa Park, Texas, where she met her future husband, Jerry Dykstra. She majored in organ performance at Midwestern State University of Wichita Falls, studying with Nita Akin, and earned MMus and DMA degrees in organ performance at the University of Texas, studying with E.W. Doty and Frank Speller. During her more than 40 years in Austin, she was organist at St. David’s Episcopal Church, University Presbyterian Church, and Tarrytown United Methodist Church; she also served as an accompanist, played with orchestral and chamber music groups, and played solo concerts as well. 

Dykstra’s publications include the book Deducing the Original Sounds of Bach’s Organ Works: An Historical Account of the Musical Capabilities of the Organs That Bach Knew, and Gabriel’s Message: Carols for the Season, a collection of ten Advent and Christmas organ chorales. Active in the Anglican Association of Musicians, Austin’s Committee for the Advocacy of the Pipe Organ, and the Southeast Historical Keyboard Society, Dykstra served as district convener for the AGO’s Region VII. Elaine Sawyer Dykstra is survived by her husband of nearly 46 years, her son, two sisters, a brother, two grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter. 

Albert Edward Kerr died February 17 in Plano, Texas at age 95. Born in England, he received his first music instruction at age 10 from William Broome, and by age 14 was traveling to St. Cuthbert’s Parish Church, Aldingham, by bus on Friday night, playing weddings and services on Saturday and Sunday, and returning home on Sunday evening. He became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, and married Mary Whalley Kerr in 1941. 

During World War II, Kerr served in the Royal Air Force and was sent to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, and served as organist at Christ Episcopal Church. After returning to England in 1944, the family immigrated to the U.S. in 1947, and Kerr again assumed the position of organist and choirmaster at Christ Episcopal in Dayton, where he oversaw the installation of a new 58-rank Tellers organ in 1967. In retirement, he served as organist at the Second Church of Christ, Scientist, in Dayton, later moving to Texas, where he worked at the First United Methodist Church in Frisco, a suburb of Dallas. 

Kerr composed in many genres including organ, choral, instrumental, and piano, and his later works were largely published by H.W. Gray. He was active in the Dayton AGO chapter, serving as dean (1961–63) and treasurer (1971–74). Albert Edward Kerr’s wife Mary followed him in death in April 2011; he is survived by daughter Maureen Norvell, three grandchildren, and eleven great-grandchildren.

Rosalind MacEnulty, 93 years old, died June 18. She earned a degree from the Yale School of Music in 1940, and became a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists in 1956. From 1956–88 she served as organist and musical director at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Jacksonville, Florida, and was also music director for several Jacksonville community theaters. From 1988 to 2004, MacEnulty was music director for St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Edenton, North Carolina. She composed works for church choirs, community choruses, and theatrical groups; her best-known work is An American Requiem. Rosalind MacEnulty is survived by three children.

Robert Mahaffey died February 6 in Delray Beach, Florida. He was 80. A Brooklyn native, he was educated at the High School of Music and Art in New York City, earned an MMus degree at Yale University, and the DMA from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago in 1997. He also earned the Licentiate and Fellowship of Trinity College of Music and the Diploma of Licentiate in organ performance from the Royal Schools of Music, both in London, and the Church Music and Fellowship certifications from the AGO, which he served as a national examiner. 

Mahaffey served Christ Church in Manhasset, New York and St. John’s in Pompano Beach, Florida, and in 1992 was appointed choir director and organist at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Lighthouse Point, Florida, where he designed its pipe organ in 1994.

Walter W. Umla, age 70, died in Jenkins Township, Pennsylvania on May 12. A 1962 graduate of Wilkes College with a degree in music education, he taught vocal music for 34 years in the Wilkes-Barre school district, retiring in 1996. Umla served Westmoor Church of Christ and Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, both in Kingston, Pennsylvania, and Westminster Presbyterian and later at the Episcopal Church of St. Clement and St. Peter, both in Wilkes-Barre. A member of the AGO, he was also an accompanist for the Choral Society of Northeast Pennsylvania. Walter W. Umla is survived by his wife, three children, and four grandsons.