Nunc Dimittis

Betty Jean Taylor Bartholomew died October 11, 2008, at the age of 84 in Eugene, Oregon. Born in Eugene on December 10, 1923, she had a career as a piano and organ recitalist and church musician in five states before returning to Oregon in 1990, where she was music director-organist at the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection. She established the Leadership Program for Church Musicians in the Diocese of Oregon, and presented workshops at AGO conventions and for the American Choral Directors Association, the Association of Anglican Musicians, and at diocesan conferences. Ms. Bartholomew was dean of the Seattle and Eugene AGO chapters and served as a regional and national councillor. She also held positions on the AGO special projects advisory board, the national convention committee, and the professional concerns committee.
Bartholomew was the recipient of the Bishop’s Cross of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia in 1991, and in recognition of her achievements and service to the AGO for more than 50 years, she received the Edward A. Hansen Award during the 2004 national convention in Los Angeles. She is survived by five children and five grandchildren.

Margaret E. Brakel died July 17, 2008, at age 85 in Reading, Pennsylvania. Born in Marshall, Minnesota, in 1923, she earned a bachelor’s degree in music from the University of Minnesota and a master’s in organ performance from the University of Oregon–Eugene. She served as organist at First Congregational Church, Eugene, before moving to Pennsylvania in 1965. Brakel served as organist for West Chester United Methodist Church, West Chester, Pennsylvania, for 37 years until her retirement in 2002. During her years there, she continued organ studies with Harry Wilkinson and Vernon deTar. She is survived by a son, daughter, sister, brother, and three grandchildren.

N. Frederick Cool, long-time organ builder, died December 27 in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, at the age of 80. He was born June 1, 1928, in Independence, Missouri, where a memorial service was held at the Stone Church, the same building where, as a small boy, he fell in love with the church and the church’s Pilcher organ. He married Beryl Romaine Lafferty in 1949 while at Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa. They had seven children over the next eleven years, all of whom worked at one time for the organ building firm that he founded in 1953, Temple Organ Company.
Starting in Independence, the company was moved to Lamoni in 1958 and then to Burlington, Iowa in 1966, where six organs were built. The company was moved to St. Joseph, Missouri in 1975, where it has been ever since, now under the direction of oldest son David.
Early in his career, having apprenticed with the late Charles McManis, Cool eschewed the style of organ building prevalent in this country during the 1950s, opting for the more classical approach. Obtaining a contract for a large rebuild in the Episcopal church, then a cathedral, in Quincy, Illinois, he secured the consultation help of Robert Noehren and designed a 51-rank organ in 1955. It had, before being destroyed with the church in a recent lightning strike, 23 ranks of mixtures and seven reeds, including a horizontal trumpet.
Before his retirement in 1999, Cool had built 150 organs, including several digital instruments in conjunction with Classic Organ Works of Ontario, Canada, after he could no longer do intricate voicing work due to the onset of Parkinson’s disease. The company continues to operate in St. Joseph, based on the tonal concepts of a balanced organ, with the legacy of N. Frederick Cool’s determination to build church organs suitable for edification and musical uplift in divine worship.
—David Cool

Carol A. Griffin died September 14, 2008, at age 76 in San Jose, California. Born in French Camp, California, she majored in organ at San Jose State University. She was a church organist for 59 years, serving in various churches in the Bay Area, including First Christian Church, San Jose; Willow Vale Community Church, and Trinity Presbyterian Church. A member of the San Jose AGO chapter, Griffin earned the Colleague certificate in 1981. She was also a member of the Music Teachers Association of California and for 41 years held various offices for MTAC, including president and vice-president. She is survived by her husband Bill, a son, a daughter, six grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Alfred John Neumann died October 13, 2008, at age 79. Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1928, he earned a bachelor’s degree from Davidson College in North Carolina, and a master’s from the University of Michigan. From 1958–94 he was organist-choir director at Christ Congregational Church, Silver Spring, Maryland, during which time he took the choir on 20 singing tours in the U.S., Canada, Hawaii, and Europe. Under his leadership, the choir premiered two of his sacred operas on NBC-TV in Washington, DC. During his tenure at Christ Church, Neumann produced and directed many musical works, and the choir recorded two commercial LPs on the Crest label. In 1976, he was coordinator and music director of the national convention of the United Church of Christ. During the summer months, he served as assistant to the director of the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina.

Wesley T. Selby, Jr. died July 3, 2008, at age 80. He was raised in Salisbury, Maryland and enlisted in the Army in 1946. He earned a bachelor’s degree in composition from the University of New Mexico and a master’s degree from the University of Colorado, where he studied with Everett Jay Hilty. He served two tenures each at the Cathedral of St. John and St. Paul Lutheran Church in Albuquerque, and was organist-choirmaster at the Church of St. Michael and All Angels. For four years he was minister of music at Montview Presbyterian Church in Denver, and he taught at the University of Colorado in Boulder. As professor of organ at the University of New Mexico, he taught organ, music theory, composition, and conducting. He directed the installation of the Holtkamp organ in Keller Hall and the Wicks organ in the Alumni Memorial Chapel. He served as dean of the Albuquerque AGO chapter, was coordinator for two regional conventions, and served as state chairman for New Mexico. He built a harpsichord, which he donated to UNM, and a small practice pipe organ for his home.

Edward D. Berryman died August 22 in Minneapolis at the age of 88. He was born on February 8, 1920, in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of Cecil and Alice Berryman, Paris-trained concert pianists. His musical studies began at the piano with his parents, and his first organ studies were with J. H. Sims at All Saints Episcopal Church in Omaha. In 1942 he received a B.A. with “Distinction in Music” from the University of Omaha, and then went to the University of Minnesota to study organ under Arthur Jennings. Berryman taught at the University of Minnesota from 1943 to 1959. In 1950, after receiving his M.A., he took the position of organist and choirmaster at the Cathedral Church of St. Mark in Minneapolis. Upon Jennings’ retirement in 1956, Berryman became university organist, playing on the 108-rank Aeolian-Skinner organ of Northrop Auditorium. Also in 1956, he married Gladys Reynolds, with whom he shared 35 years of his life.
After earning a doctorate in sacred music from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, Berryman served as organist-choirmaster at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis from 1962 to 1987. He also taught at Macalester College in St. Paul from 1965 to 1985, and at Northwestern College from 1976 to 1991. For many decades Dr. Berryman served as the Minneapolis Civic Organist, presiding at the 124-rank W. W. Kimball organ in the Minneapolis Auditorium.
In retirement, he maintained a large studio of piano and organ students. In 1991, his wife Gladys passed away. The next year, he married Maria Sandness, a childhood friend from Omaha. A memorial service was held at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis on September 6, at which several of his organ and piano students performed. Edward Berryman is survived by his wife, Maria, three stepchildren, a brother, and four grandchildren.
—Michael Ferguson

David Straker Bowman, associate professor of music and organ at Alabama State University, died October 4 at the age of 69. He served on the university’s faculty from 1971 until his retirement in August 2008. A native of Chattanooga, Tennessee, he earned a Bachelor of Music degree, cum laude, from the University of Kentucky in 1961. In 1963, he earned the Master of Music from Syracuse University, and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study with Helmut Walcha in Frankfurt, Germany for two years. He completed the Doctor of Musical Arts in 1970 at the University of Michigan, where he studied with Marilyn Mason and was a teaching fellow in music theory. He also studied with Russell Saunders at the Eastman School of Music, and at Union Theological Seminary and the University of Tennessee.
Bowman served on the faculty of Schoolcraft College in Livonia, Michigan, and as organist-choir director at Metropolitan Methodist Church in Detroit. Prior to his death, he was music director at All Saints Episcopal Church in Montgomery. He performed at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina, and at conventions of the American Guild of Organists. Beginning in 1970, he performed Marcel Dupré’s Stations of the Cross, which became his signature piece, in more than 60 venues throughout the United States.
David Bowman is survived by two brothers, three nephews, two nieces, and his long-time partner Malcolm E. Moore (Mike).
—Richard McPherson

Genevieve Cox Collins, 96 years old, died August 18 in Hammond, Louisiana. A life member of the American Guild of Organists and founder of the Baton Rouge AGO chapter with her late husband, Frank Collins, Jr., she earned degrees in organ performance from Louisiana State University. Following her marriage to Frank Collins, her former major professor, the couple traveled to Paris at the height of the Depression; Frank studied with Marcel Dupré and Genevieve with Louis Vierne. Returning to Baton Rouge, Frank continued as LSU professor of organ until his death in 1968, and Genevieve served as organist-choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church for 40 years and Temple B’nai Israel for 50 years. She served as dean of the Baton Rouge AGO chapter multiple times, and was an active member of the Philharmonic Club. Genevieve Collins is survived by her son Jimmy, his wife Helen, and two nieces, Mary Lee McCoy and Barbara Gordon.

Raymond Canfield Corey died August 6 in Castle Point, New York, at the age of 90. A lifelong resident of Poughkeepsie, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in organ and choral conducting from the Juilliard School. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He and his wife Heather Harrison were the proprietors of the Poughkeepsie Music Shop for 39 years. Corey, who built the organs for St. James Methodist Church in Kingston and the First Evangelical Lutheran Church in Poughkeepsie, was a music director and organist for numerous area churches for 75 years. He played in several dance bands, conducted the IBM Chorus, accompanied productions for the Children’s Community Theater in Poughkeepsie, and was the last organist to play the Wurlitzer organ at the Bardavon for silent movies in the 1930s. Raymond Corey is survived by his wife, his daughter Cheryl and son-in-law Christopher Hoffman, their daughter Alicia, son and daughter-in-law Raymond K. and Colleen Corey, and their son, Paul Raymond.

Paul Thomas Hicks, age 70, died April 18 in Bartlett, Tennessee. A Memphis native, he earned a bachelor of music degree from Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College), and a master of music degree from Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis); his teachers included Adolph Steuterman and Harry Gay. Hicks served First United Methodist in Memphis for 34 years; in retirement he served as interim organist at Idlewild Presbyterian Church, where he oversaw the installation of the city’s first carillon, and on which he gave concerts and played the bells on a daily basis until his health declined. A published composer, two of his anthems (Spirit Divine, Attend Our Prayer and Father, in Whom We Live) were sung at his funeral service at Idlewild Presbyterian. He was author of four books on local Methodist churches, and was a member of the West Tennessee Historical Society. An active member of the Memphis AGO chapter since 1964, Hicks was the examination coordinator for 20 years. Paul Hicks is survived by his sisters Mary Overby and Martha Ochsner, and brother George Hicks.

Stan Kann, longtime organist for the Fox Theatre, St. Louis, died September 29 in St. Louis. He was 83. Kann began playing the organ at age 4, and the piano in high school, and majored in classical organ at Washington University. He played the Fabulous Fox Theatre’s mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ from 1953 to 1975, performing between movies and at special events. During those years he also performed at Ruggeri’s Restaurant on the Hill and Stan and Biggie’s restaurant.
As a hobby, he began collecting vacuum cleaners when he was a young man; he owned more than 150 antique sweepers, which he kept in his home in the Holly Hills neighborhood. Television viewers first met Kann in the 1950s, when he served as the musical director for “The Charlotte Peters Show” and “The Noon Show,” both produced by KSD-TV. A lifelong bachelor, Kann moved to the Los Angeles area in 1975; he returned to St. Louis in 1998. In 2005, filmmaker Mike Steinberg released a documentary, “Stan Kann: The Happiest Man in the World.”

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.

Southern Methodist University’s emeritus professor of organ and sacred music Robert Theodore Anderson succumbed to Parkinson’s disease on May 29 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Born in Chicago on October 5, 1934, RTA (as he was affectionately known by hundreds of students and friends) received his early training at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. Undergraduate work was accomplished at Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington), where he studied organ with Lillian Mecherle McCord. At Union Theological Seminary in New York, he was awarded the degrees Master of Sacred Music (magna cum laude) in 1957 and Doctor of Sacred Music in 1961. He was an organ pupil of Robert Baker and studied composition with Harold Friedell and Seth Bingham.
A Fulbright Grant awarded in 1957 permitted Anderson to study in Frankfurt with Helmut Walcha. During the two years he spent in Germany, he served as guest organist at Walcha’s Dreikoenigskirche, and toured as a recitalist under the auspices of the American Embassy.
Anderson began teaching at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts in 1960. He retired from the school (because of ill health) in 1996, but continued to teach for several more years to complete the degree programs of his final organ majors. Dr. Anderson was promoted to full professor in 1971, and was subsequently awarded the first Meadows Distinguished Teaching Professorship and named a University Distinguished Professor (SMU’s highest rank).
Two of RTA’s students, Wolfgang Rübsam and George C. Baker, won first places at the prestigious Chartres Organ Competition, and many others repeatedly placed in American contests. Anderson was known for his widely comprehensive organ repertoire and toured extensively as a solo recitalist, for a time under the auspices of the Lilian Murtagh/Karen Macfarlane Concert Management. A Fellow of the American Guild of Organists, Anderson served that organization as National Councillor for Education. He was Dean of the Dallas AGO chapter (1965–67), and served in many other capacities during his years in Dallas. The chapter named its annual recital series in his honor at the time of his retirement.
Anderson’s funeral was held at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu on June 3, with organist Katherine Crosier at the Beckerath organ and RTA’s Union Seminary classmate Nyle Hallman playing harp. His ashes will rest in Chicago, next to those of his parents. SMU is planning a Dallas memorial service, to be held in September.
—Larry Palmer

Howard Clayton died March 5 in Norman, Oklahoma. He was 79. He had earned degrees in education from Emporia State University, Emporia, Kansas, in music from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, and a Ph.D. in general administration from the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Clayton held music teaching positions in Illinois before switching his emphasis to library science, which he taught at the University of Oklahoma. He had also held positions at other universities, including Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. He was editor of the educational journal Learning Today from 1968–85. At the time of his death, he was serving as organist at St. John Nepomuk Catholic Church in Yukon, Oklahoma. Howard Clayton is survived by his wife of 59 years, Wilma, daughter Caren Halinkowski, son Curtiss, brother Paul, a granddaughter, and nieces and nephews.

Everett S. Kinsman, age 86, died January 14 in Bethesda, Maryland. He had studied at the Catholic University of America and was an organ student of Conrad Bernier and Paul Callaway. He had served at St. Matthew’s Cathedral and St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., and was organist at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart for 22 years, beginning in 1949. His last position was at Our Lady of Mercy Church in Potomac, Maryland.

Mark L. Russakoff died April 12, Easter Sunday, at the age of 58. He had served most recently as director of music ministries at St. Irenaeus Catholic Church in Park Forest, Illinois.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, September 16, 1950, he studied piano with Samuel and Delores Howard at Birmingham-Southern Conservatory, and organ with Joseph Schreiber at Birmingham-Southern Conservatory and with H. Edward Tibbs at Samford University. He earned a bachelor of music degree at Washington University, St. Louis, studying organ with Robert Danes and Howard Kelsey, and harpsichord with Anne Gallet. He also studied organ with Pierre-Daniel Vidal and harpsichord with Agnès Candau at the Strasbourg Conservatory, and earned master’s and doctoral degrees in organ at Northwestern University as a student of Wolfgang Rübsam and Richard Enright.
Russakoff taught at Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University and at Thornton Community College. He served as organist/director of handbell ensembles at Flossmoor Community Church, director of music at St. Emeric Catholic Church, Country Club Hills, and was music editor and engraver for ACP Publications in South Holland. He is survived by his wife Cynthia, daughter Rachael, and sister Dale.

Charles Shaffer, 78, died May 2 in Los Angeles. Born in Akron, Ohio on November 17, 1930, his first piano lessons were in the Akron public schools, and he was a boy chorister at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church there. During World War II, Shaffer and his family moved to South Gate, California, where he continued his piano studies and deepened his interest in playing the organ and in organ building. By age thirteen he was playing services at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in South Gate. During his high school years, the family moved back to Akron, and Shaffer took his first organ lessons and attended his first meetings of the AGO chapter there.
Shaffer’s first year as an undergraduate was spent at Oberlin Conservatory, where he studied with Fenner Douglass. His studies were interrupted when he was drafted to serve in the U.S. Army during the Korean Conflict. Upon discharge from the service he continued his studies at the University of Redlands (California), where he studied with Dr. Leslie P. Spelman and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in organ performance.
Charles Shaffer served for eighteen years as organist of First Presbyterian Church in Hollywood, California, and later at First Baptist Church in Pasadena. An active teacher and performer, he served the AGO in various capacities at the local and regional level and several of his articles have appeared in The American Organist.
In the early 1990s he was invited to consult on an organ renovation project at Westwood United Methodist Church in Los Angeles. His role soon evolved from consultant to principal donor and co-designer of what has come to be called the Shaffer Memorial Organ (in memory of his wife of 29 years, Phyllis). The core of the organ was a large pipe instrument installed by Schantz in 1995. The expansion and revision of this instrument occupied Shaffer for the rest of his life. With co-designer Burton K. Tidwell and others, the organ has grown to include 153 ranks of pipes and 83 digital voices located in the chancel and gallery of the church and controlled by a four-manual and a two-manual console. It is one of the largest organ installations in southern California and was heard at the 2004 AGO convention.
Shaffer’s generosity to the church’s music ministry also included the gifts of five pianos (in memory of his parents and his wife’s parents), a digital carillon system, and seed money for an endowment fund to care for the instruments. About the many years of their close collaboration, Burton Tidwell has written of Charles, “His desire to explore possibilities beyond the ordinary, and then see that they could happen, has challenged and expanded my own concepts of organ building. Mr. Shaffer’s vision and generosity have provided all of us with a lasting legacy.” Charles Shaffer is survived by his sister, Lona Abercrombie, three nephews and three nieces.
—Gregory Norton
Minister of Music
Westwood United Methodist Church
Los Angeles, CA

Frank B. Stearns died February 4 at the age of 67 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Born in Brattleboro, Vermont, he received a bachelor of music degree from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, and a master’s of music from the University of Pittsburgh, as well as a master of education degree from Slippery Rock University. He served as an elementary teacher for 28 years, and was director of music for 31 years at Zion’s Reformed United Church of Christ in Greenville, Pennsylvania. For the last ten years he was director of music at Center Presbyterian Church in Slippery Rock. Stearns was active in community musical groups and was also a member of numerous musical and historic organizations, including the American Guild of Organists, the Organ Historical Society, the American Recorder Society, and the Mercer County Historical Society, which named him Volunteer of the Year in 2007. Frank Stearns is survived by his wife of forty years, Patricia, sons Jim and David, and two grandchildren.

Raymond A. Zaporski, age 81, died on February 28 in Roseville, Michigan. He was a music minister-organist for the Archdiocese of Detroit for over 50 years, serving St. Angela Parish Church in Roseville, St. Blase Catholic Community in Sterling Heights, and St. Anne Catholic Community in Warren, Michigan. Raymond Zaporski is survived by his wife, Dorothy, sons Mark, Michael, and Martin, daughter Mary Beth, and their families.

James Leslie Boeringer, born March 4, 1930, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, died January 12 of pancreatic cancer. He earned a BA in organ performance from the College of Wooster (Ohio) in 1952, an MA in musicology from Columbia University in 1954, a doctorate in sacred music from the former Union Theological Seminary in New York, New York, in 1964, and completed post-doctoral studies at New York University. Boeringer received associate certification from the American Guild of Organists in 1953. He presented recitals in organ and harpsichord in 20 of the United States, and in England and France.

Beginning with his first church position, as organist of Homewood Baptist Church in Pittsburgh in November 1947, he served churches in Ohio, New Jersey, New York City, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and London, England. He moved to the Washington, D.C., area in 1992 and served as organist at Church of the Pilgrims (Presbyterian) Washington, Messiah Lutheran Church in Germantown, and Fifth Church of Christ, Scientist, in Georgetown, playing his last service December 29, 2013, just two weeks before his death.  

Boeringer served as executive director of the Moravian Music Foundation in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, as university organist and on the faculty at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee; at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, he was a professor and chair of the music department. A Phillips Distinguished Visitor at Haverford College, he founded the Krisheim Church Music Conference in Philadelphia, and directed the Creative Arts Festival at Susquehanna University from 1972 to 1975, and the Moravian Music Festival in 1981 and 1984.  

As a composer Boeringer wrote 23 published original works for chorus and organ, organ solo, chamber ensemble, and other combinations, including a cantata and a song cycle; and about 50 unpublished pieces, including an oratorio with full orchestra. He wrote more than 25 hymn tunes and hymn texts, some of which appear in Baptist, Lutheran, Mennonite, Moravian, and ecumenical hymnals. Selected works are available through the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) website (imslp.org).  

He authored the three-volume Organa Britannica: Organs in Great Britain, 1660–1860, as well as other books on hymnody and biographies of organists and composers of church music. His essays were published in periodicals and books. 

A widely published arts critic and scholar, he wrote numerous articles and reviews, which appeared in the Journal of Church Music; Moravian Music Journal; Music, the A.G.O. Magazine; The Organ Yearbook (Netherlands); The Musical Times (London); The New York Times; The American Organist; The Diapason; and The Tracker. He was the editor for the Society for Organ History and Preservation.  

Boeringer published fiction under a pseudonym. A member of Equity, he has a long list of theater credits in a variety of roles including actor, singer, director, music director, composer, narrator, and chorus arranger. He had an abiding interest in historic buildings and moved and restored two log cabins in his lifetime, and was an avid gardener.  

James Leslie Boeringer is survived by his wife of 58 years, Grace, and children Lisa Stocker, Greta, and Daniel, and a brother David.  

Peter Rasmussen Hallock died April 27, 2014, in Fall City, Washington; he was 89. A composer, organist, liturgist, and countertenor, among other activities, he was long associated with St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral of Seattle. Hallock began organ study with Clayton Johnson of Tacoma. He enrolled at the University of Washington, but was drafted into the United States Army, serving from June 1943 until February 1946 as chaplain’s assistant and sharpshooter in the Pacific theater during World War II. Returning to the University of Washington, he studied organ with Walter Eichinger and composition with George McKay, then studied at the College of St. Nicholas at the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) in Canterbury, England, becoming the first American choral scholar at Canterbury Cathedral, under the direction of Gerald Knight. He completed the RSCM program and received a bachelor of arts degree in music from the University of Washington in 1951 and master of arts degree in music from the same institution in 1958.

Peter Hallock became organist/choirmaster of St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, Seattle, on October 28, 1951, a position he held until retirement in 1991. At St. Mark’s, he founded a chant study group in the mid 1950s that became known as the Compline Choir, which remains in the forefront of the resurgence of interest in the Office of Compline. He was instrumental in the cathedral’s acquisition of a four-manual Flentrop mechanical-action organ in 1965. At the cathedral, Hallock also introduced Advent and Good Friday processions as well as liturgical drama. He was named Canon Precentor, the first lay person in the Episcopal Church to hold this title, named an associate of the RSCM, and was honored with an honorary doctor of music degree by the Church Divinity School of the Pacific. In 1992, he became organist at St. Clement of Rome Episcopal Church, Seattle, remaining until March 2013. Hallock was also well known and respected for his countertenor concerts, with performances throughout the United States. As a composer, Peter Hallock created more than 250 works, from occasional church music to extended anthems, dramatic works (sacred and secular) to music specifically written for the Compline Choir. Among his many publications was The Ionian Psalter.

Peter Rasmussen Hallock is survived by his sisters, Matilda Ann Milbank of Los Altos, California, and Barbara Hallock of Kent, Washington, as well as several nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews. Memorial gifts may be made to the Compline Choir of St. Mark’s Cathedral or to the Cathedral Foundation of the Diocese of Olympia, Seattle.

Robert Burgess Lynn, 83 years old, passed away February 11 in Houston, Texas. A native of Colorado Springs, he studied organ and piano with Roy Harris, Frederick Boothroyd, and Joanna Harris while in high school. In 1952, he earned a BA at Colorado College (where he studied with Frederick Boothroyd and Max Lanner, and was chapel organist), and a master’s in organ from the Juilliard School of Music, received Honorable Mention in the AGO Young Artists’ Contest in Organ Playing in San Francisco, and married Elaine Steele, also a musician. In 1956, Lynn received a Fulbright Scholarship to study organ playing and construction with Finn Viderø under the auspices of the University of Copenhagen. His studies were briefly delayed when the family’s ship, the Stockholm, collided with the Andrea Doria, which subsequently sank. During his time in Copenhagen, he saw and played several great organs, including the organ at Sweden’s Malmö Museum, built in 1520, and at the Royal Chapel in Copenhagen, built in 1827. Lynn became a Fellow of the AGO in 1964, receiving the highest marks of any candidate in Section I of the FAGO examinations. 

Robert Lynn taught from 1954 to 1971 at Allegheny College as an assistant professor of music. In 1973, he received his PhD in musicology from Indiana University; his dissertation was entitled “Renaissance Organ Music for the Proper of the Mass in Continental Sources.” From 1971 to 1997, he served as professor of musicology at the University of Houston where he also directed the Collegium Musicum and the graduate studies program. His monograph, Valentin Haussmann (1565/70–Ca. 1614): A Thematic-Documentary Catalogue of His Works, was published by Pendragon Press. In 1997, he was named professor emeritus. 

Lynn also enjoyed visiting professorships at Rice University, Indiana University, and the University of Siegen. While a resident of Houston, Lynn was well known for his organ recitals in addition to his role as harpsichord soloist, playing in many concerts associated with the Houston Harpsichord Society (now Houston Early Music). From 1982 to 2004, he was the founding director of the Houston Bach Choir and Orchestra at Christ the King Lutheran Church. Lynn served as director of music and organist at St. Francis Episcopal Church for 25 years, and also as long-term interim organist at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church. Memorial contributions may be made to the Bach Society Houston, 2353 Rice Blvd, Houston, TX 77005, or to the Christ Church Cathedral Music Program, 1117 Texas Ave., Houston, TX 77002.

Fred S. Mauk died on April 7, two weeks before his 83rd birthday, after a short illness. Mauk did his undergraduate study at Stetson University and Rollins College, where he earned a degree in music, and received his master’s degree in 1958 from the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He held church music positions in Missouri, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Florida, his last position being director of music for 33 years at St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church in Altamonte Springs, Florida, where he retired in 2011; at St. Mark’s he installed a pipe organ (purchased from a church in North Carolina) in the sanctuary.

An active member of the Central Florida AGO chapter, Mauk served in many chapter positions, including dean, and was instrumental in coordinating the 1993 regional AGO convention in Orlando. He was also known for his encouragement of young musicians, his sense of humor, his organizational skills, his many interests, including old cars and antique car shows, and his ability to work well with everyone. 

Mary Lou McCarthy-Artz, age 78, died at her home in Plymouth, Indiana, on May 7. Born November 18, 1935, Mary Lou Smith graduated from high school in 1953, marrying her first husband, Joseph L. Merkel, two years later. She studied piano at the Jordan Conservatory of Music, Butler University, in Indianapolis. After her husband’s death, she married Rodney Evans and moved to Covington, Indiana, where they lived for more than twenty years. It was there, while holding down a full-time job as an executive secretary, that she began working part-time as organist at nearby Catholic parishes: St. Joseph, Covington; St. Bernard, Crawfordsville; and Holy Family, Danville, Illinois. In 1993, she began full-time ministry as organist and choir director for the motherhouse of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ, Ancilla Domini, in Donaldson, Indiana. A long-time member of the American Guild of Organists, she had served as chapter dean and had recently earned her CAGO certificate. Mary Lou McCarthy-Artz is survived by her husband, Donald Artz, two daughters, Nancy Merkel Starkey of Jacksonville, Florida, and Janet Evans Snyder of Georgetown, Illinois, as well as two grandchildren. ν

The French organist and musicologist Jean Bonfils died on November 26, 2007 in Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine) at the age of 86. His funeral was celebrated on November 29 at the Notre-Dame Church in Vitré and a memorial mass was held in his honor at La Trinité Church in Paris on February 16, 2008.
Born in Saint-Etienne (Loire) on April 21, 1921, Jean Bonfils studied at the Paris Conservatory and received first prize in organ in 1949 in Marcel Dupré’s class, a second prize in composition in Jean Rivier’s class in 1948, and a first medal in analysis in Olivier Messiaen’s class in 1950.
Jean Bonfils substituted for Olivier Messiaen at La Trinité Church in Paris for over forty years (from 1950 to 1992), then for Naji Hakim. According to Denis Havard de la Montagne (http://www.musimem.com/BonfilsJean.htm), he also played the Merklin organ at the Grande Synagogue in Paris, rue de la Victoire, for over thirty years (succeeding Henriette Roger in 1953), and in 1964 he was also named titular of the Cavaillé-Coll/Mutin organ at Saint-Ignace (succeeding Paule Piédelièvre, remaining until 1975). After assisting Jean Langlais as organ professor at the Schola Cantorum, he taught organ there from 1973 to 1992.
He was editor of numerous liturgical journals and musical publications, including the collection he co-directed with Gaston Litaize, L’Organiste liturgique, Heinrich Schütz’s works for choir, and an organ method he wrote with Noëllie Pierront (Nouvelle méthode de Clavier, four volumes, 1960–68, and in 1962 a two-volume Nouvelle méthode d’orgue), which has formed an entire generation of organists, notably Olivier Latry. Seuil Editions published his reconstitutions of Goudimel’s psalms and motets. Jean Bonfils edited numerous 16th- and 17th-century French organ compositions, including Jacques Boyvin’s First and Second Organ Books as well as Deo Gloria, collections of liturgical organ music he prepared with Noëllie Pierront from 1962 to 1968.
A musicologist, Jean Bonfils wrote numerous articles, notably in L’Orgue: on the Christmas carols of Pierre and Jean-François Dandrieu (no. 83, pp. 48–54) and on Olivier Messiaen (1992, no. 224, pp. 12–14); in Recherches sur la musique française classique edited by Picard: on the instrumental fantasies of Eustache Du Caurroy (in 1961–62) and on Jehan Titelouze’s organ works (1965), as well as numerous biographical notices on French musicians for Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (Bärenreiter) and for Corliss Arnold’s Organ Literature: A Comprehensive Survey (Scarecrow Press).
Jean Bonfils composed an organ piece, Communion on “Beata Viscera,” published in L’Organiste liturgique (Schola Cantorum). Jean Langlais dedicated to him his Trois Méditations sur la Sainte-Trinité, op. 129 (Philippo, 1962).
At La Trinité Church, I had the joy of working with him from 1989 to 1997. Like Olivier Messiaen, Jean Bonfils was very discreet, modest and cordial, and was an excellent musician. He played an eclectic repertory and carefully chose the pieces he played during the church services, strictly in keeping with their specific liturgical functions; an excellent musicologist as well, he was an immense inspiration to me and countless other musicians and students. In addition, he generously gave numerous manuscripts, musical scores and letters to the music department at the Bibliothèque nationale and to the library at the Conservatory in Boulogne-Billancourt.
—Carolyn Shuster Fournier
Titular of the A. Cavaillé-Coll Choir Organ at La Trinité Church in Paris

Robert N. Cavarra died February 8 in Denver, Colorado after complications from kidney failure. He was for many years professor of music at Colorado State University and a leading participant in the revival of the classical organ tradition in North America.
Under Cavarra’s leadership, three examples of this movement were realized in Fort Collins: the Casavant Frères organ at CSU (1969), the Lawrence Phelps opus 1 organ at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church (1973), and the Danish Marcussen and Son organ at First United Methodist Church (1987). He brought together artists from throughout the world for master classes and recitals on these instruments, including E. Power Biggs, Marie-Claire Alain, Luigi Tagliavini, Gillian Weir, Lionel Rogg, Bernard Lagacé, and Anton Heiller. He taught from 1963 until 2000 on the faculty of CSU’s Department of Music, Theater and Dance. At his death, he was Professor Emeritus of Music. As a student of both philosophy and music, Cavarra also served as organist for the North American College.
Robert Nicholas Cavarra was born on February 23, 1934, in Denver. His musical training began in childhood, and by age 12 he was performing publicly. As a recitalist, Cavarra toured widely, including concerts in Denmark, Sweden, France, England, Canada, Mexico and the United States. He and his wife Barbara founded an international non-profit foundation, “Pro Organo Pleno XXI.” As a recording artist, he released CDs through the Musical Heritage Society, and he was a major figure in the “Christmas at CSU” series of recordings. He was also a published composer and solo and ensemble harpsichordist.
In addition to the classical organ, Cavarra was responsible for the installation of a Wurlitzer theatre organ at CSU, and sponsored numerous workshops on theatre organ music. He was organist at St. Joseph and St. Pius X Roman Catholic Churches and St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Denver, and St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, and the First United Methodist Church in Fort Collins. He also taught music at Loretto Heights College and St. Thomas Theological Seminary in Denver, as well as at the University of Wyoming. Cavarra is survived by his wife Barbara, a daughter, three sons, and five grandchildren.

Jack Hennigan died November 11, 2007 in Pelham Manor, New York, at the age of 64. Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, he earned a bachelor of music degree at Juilliard, having studied organ with Vernon deTar. Further studies were in Cologne, Germany, with Michael Schneider (organ) and Gunther Ludwig (organ). He earned master’s and doctoral degrees from Yale, studying organ with Charles Krigbaum and piano with Donald Currier. He won international organ competitions in Bruges, Belgium, and Worcester, Massachusetts. Hennigan served as organist-choirmaster at St. Matthews Church, Wilton, Connecticut, and the Church of Christ the Redeemer (Episcopal) in Pelham Manor, New York. He wrote a monthly column for The American Organist dealing with fingering, hand coordination, and performance anxiety, and lectured to AGO groups on these topics. He was also known as a gourmet cook, traveling and studying food preparation in France. Jack Hennigan is survived by his partner, Martin Nash, of Pelham Manor.

Winston A. Johnson died February 4. He was 92. Born in China in 1915 to Covenant missionaries, he first studied piano with his mother. His family returned to the U.S. in 1927, eventually settling in Illinois. Johnson began organ study at age 13 and by age 16 held his first church organist position. He earned bachelor and master of music degrees from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, and the master of sacred music from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. His teachers included Clarence Dickinson, Marcel Dupré, Hugh Porter, and Leo Sowerby. He served in the U.S. Army from 1942–46 as a chaplain’s assistant, playing for Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish services.
Winston Johnson served as organist and choir director for over 60 years, including at University Presbyterian Church in Seattle for 32 years. Active in the American Guild of Organists, he was one of twelve organists who studied with Sowerby in Chicago for the Associate certificate; he was the only candidate who passed the two-day examination that year. Johnson held several offices with the Seattle AGO chapter, including as dean. He also played for two AGO regional conventions, and had performed with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and the Seattle Opera. He taught at North Park College and Trinity Bible Institute in Chicago, and at Simpson Bible Institute and Seattle Pacific University in Seattle, and taught privately. He gave his last piano lesson three days before his death. Winston Johnson is survived by Irma, his wife of nearly 50 years, his sister, two sisters-in-law and a brother-in-law, and nieces and nephews.

Robert V. McGuire died November 12, 2007, in Haines City, Florida, at the age of 79. Born and raised in Chicago, his doctoral dissertation from the University of Chicago dealt with the use of the augmented second in Bach’s Passions and other choral works. Dr. McGuire served as organist-choirmaster at churches in Illinois and in Florida; his last position was at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Haines City, retiring in 2002. He served on the boards of the Messiah Association of Polk County and the Bach Festival of Central Florida, for which he authored program notes for many years. A lifelong member of the AGO, he served as dean of the Lakeland Area (Florida) chapter. Robert McGuire is survived by many cousins, nieces, nephews, and his friend Jeanette Stokes.

Edward Lamond Nobles, age 72, died January 2 in Meridian, Mississippi. Born in Meridian, he first studied piano with an aunt; he earned a bachelor of music degree at Jackson State College (now Jackson State University) in 1958, and a master of music education degree from Columbia University in New York City in 1968. Nobles taught music for eight years in Mississippi and for 18 years in Michigan; he also served as organist-choir director in various churches in those two states. He returned to Mississippi in 1984 and served as organist at St. Patrick Catholic Church of Meridian for over 20 years. Nobles was a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Music Fraternity and the AGO, and was active in the Jackson, Mississippi chapter. He is survived by several cousins and many friends.

Glenn Edward Pride, 57, died suddenly February 26 at his residence on St. Simons Island, Georgia. Born in Nashville, Tennessee, he graduated from Peabody Demonstration School in Nashville and from Hope College in Holland, Michigan, majoring in organ performance. His graduate degree in sacred music was completed at Southern Methodist University, Perkins School of Theology, in Dallas, Texas. Mr. Pride had served St. Simons Presbyterian Church as director of music and organist since 2000. During his 34-year music career, he also served First Presbyterian Church of Dalton, Georgia; First Presbyterian Church of Bartlesville, Oklahoma; First Presbyterian Church of Jonesboro, Georgia; and the First Presbyterian Church of Douglasville, Georgia. He was a member of Rotary International and the American Guild of Organists. He was also artistic director of the Island Concert Association of St. Simons Island.