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.
