Nunc Dimittis

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.”

Clyde Holloway died December 18, 2013, in Houston, Texas. He was 77 years old. The Herbert S. Autrey Professor Emeritus of Organ at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston, Holloway earned B.Mus. (1957) and M.Mus. (1959) degrees from the University of Oklahoma, studying with Mildred Andrews, and the S.M.D. degree in 1974 from Union Theological Seminary, studying with Robert Baker.

Holloway’s concert career began in 1964 when he won the National Young Artists Competition of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) in Philadelphia. He performed under the auspices of Karen McFarlane Artists, and was a featured artist at numerous AGO conventions, also appearing in recital in Mexico City, the West Indies, and Europe.

His doctoral dissertation, The Organ Works of Olivier Messiaen and Their Importance in His Total Oeuvre, remains an important monograph concerning this music. Holloway worked with the composer on several occasions, examined his works at the organ of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Paris, and performed under his supervision. As a Fulbright Scholar at the Amsterdam Conservatory, he worked with Gustav Leonhardt in the study of organ, harpsichord, and chamber music.

Clyde Holloway began his teaching career in 1965 as the youngest member of the Indiana University School of Music faculty. In 1977, he joined the faculty of Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he established the organ program and served as Chairman of the Keyboard Department and Director of Graduate Studies. The school’s widely acclaimed Fisk-Rosales organ embodies his unique understanding of how numerous organ-building traditions and tonal designs are manifested in organ literature and will be considered his most profound contribution to Rice University, Houston, and the larger musical world. He also served as organist and choirmaster of Christ Church Cathedral in Houston for many years; in 1993, he was named Honorary Lay Canon and Organist and Choirmaster Emeritus.

Renowned as a gifted pedagogue, Dr. Holloway served on the AGO’s Committee for Professional Education, addressed two conferences of the National Conference on Organ Pedagogy, led workshops and masterclasses, and served as a member of the jury for numerous competitions, including the Concours de Europe, the Fort Wayne Competition, the Music Teachers National Association Competition, the National Young Artists Competition of the American Guild of Organists, and the Grand Prix de Chartres. In 1994 he was invited to perform for the Bicentennial Festival of the celebrated Clicquot organ in the Cathedral of Poitiers, France, and served as a member of the jury for the international competition held at the end of the ten-day festival. 

Sylvie Poirier, 65 years old, passed away December 21, 2013 in Montréal of cancer. Born in Montréal on February 15, 1948 into a family of artists, her father was a goldsmith jeweller, and her mother, a painter and sculptor, was a pupil of the renowned painter Paul-Emile Borduas. Influenced by her parents, she began drawing and painting, and studied piano from an early age and later studied organ at l’Ecole de Musique Vincent d’Indy, Montréal. In 1970 she gained her baccalaureat in the class of Françoise Aubut and went on to study at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal with Bernard Lagacé, with whom she obtained her Premier Prix in 1975. In 1976 Poirier studied at l’Université de Montréal with the blind French organist Antoine Reboulot. From 1977–1983 she was professeur affilié at l’Ecole de Musique Vincent d’Indy, presenting private music and drawing courses around Montréal.

In 1983 she became the Founding President of “Unimusica Inc.” whose objective was to bring together the art forms of music, painting, enamels, as well as poetry and photography. At the invitation of the oncologist founder of “Vie nouvelle” at Hôtel-Dieu Hospital, Montréal, Poirier taught a course specifically designed for cancer patients entitled “Psychology of Life through Drawing” in the 1980s. 

She gave recitals in North America and Europe and broadcast many times for Radio Canada. Her organ duet career with her husband Philip Crozier spanned eighteen years, with eight commissioned and premièred works, numerous concerts in many countries, several broadcasts at home and abroad, and three CDs of original organ duets.

Sylvie Poirier also recorded Jean Langlais’ Première Symphonie, and Petr Eben’s Job and The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart; she gave the latter work’s North American première of the published version in Montréal in 2005. Poirier was also an accomplished painter and portraitist; examples of her work can be found at sylviepoirier.com.

She was predeceased by her only son Frédéric (30) in 2007. Sylvie Poirier is survived by her husband, Philip Crozier.

Phares L. Steiner died in Louisville, Kentucky, on September 14, 2013 at age 85. Born in Lima, Ohio, Steiner earned a bachelor’s degree in organ at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and a master’s degree in organ performance at the University of Michigan in 1952, where he studied with Robert Noehren and where he began his career as an organ builder, at first working with Noehren. In 1953 with Noehren as consultant, Steiner designed the prototype of an electric-action slider chest. After service in the Army he worked with Fouser Associates in Birmingham, Michigan from 1955 to 1957. He established Steiner Organs Inc. in 1959 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and in 1962 relocated to Louisville, where he was joined in 1966 by Gottfried Reck from Kleuker in Germany. They incorporated in 1968 as Steiner Reck Inc.; Steiner was responsible for tonal matters of more than 90 organs, many of which were mechanical action. 

After retiring from Steiner Reck in 1988, he continued pipe organ work on a freelance basis, including working at Webber & Borne Organ Builders, and R.A. Daffer in the Washington, D.C. area while living in Columbia, Maryland. Phares Steiner returned to Louisville in 2003 with his family, where they became members of the Cathedral of the Assumption, home to one of his largest instruments.  

A charter member of the American Institute of Organbuilders, Steiner was also an active member of APOBA at Steiner Reck and a member of Phi Mu Alpha music fraternity. He also served as organist at several churches, including St. Louis Catholic Church in Clarkesville, Maryland, and Trinity Catholic Church, Louisville. 

Phares L. Steiner is survived by his wife Ellen Heineman Steiner, daughter Adrienne, son Paul, and brother, Donald F. Steiner M.D.

Marianne Webb, 77, of Carbondale, Illinois, died December 7, 2013, at Parkway Manor in Marion, Illinois, from metastatic breast cancer, which she had for the past 20 years. She enjoyed a lengthy and distinguished career as a recitalist and professor of music at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC).

Miss Webb was born on October 4, 1936, in Topeka, Kansas where she exhibited an early passion for organ music. While in Topeka, she began her studies with Richard M. Gayhart and continued with Jerald Hamilton at Washburn University, where she earned her Bachelor of Music degree, summa cum laude, in 1958. She obtained the Master of Music degree, with highest distinction, from the University of Michigan (1959), as a scholarship student of Marilyn Mason. Further study was with Max Miller of Boston University and Robert Noehren at the University of Michigan.

After teaching organ and piano at Iowa State University for two years, she continued her studies in Paris as a Fulbright scholar with André Marchal. Further graduate study was with Arthur Poister at Syracuse University and Russell Saunders at the Eastman School of Music.

Marianne Webb taught organ and music theory and served as university organist at Southern Illinois University Carbondale from 1965 until her retirement in 2001 as professor emerita of music. She continued to serve as visiting professor and distinguished university organist for an additional 11 years. During her tenure, she built a thriving organ department and established, organized, and directed the nationally acclaimed SIUC Organ Festivals (1966–1980), the first of their kind in the country. The school’s 58-rank Reuter pipe organ she sought funding for and designed was named in her honor.

Miss Webb married David N. Bateman on October 3, 1970, in Carbondale. Together they gave the endowment that established in perpetuity the Marianne Webb and David N. Bateman Distinguished Organ Recital Series that presents each year outstanding, well-established concert organists in recital for the residents of southern Illinois.

As a concert artist, Marianne Webb toured extensively throughout the United States, performing for American Guild of Organists (AGO) chapters, churches, colleges and universities. In addition, she maintained an active schedule of workshops, master classes, and seminars for church music conferences. A member of the AGO, she served the guild as a member of the national committees on Educational Resources, Chapter Development, and Membership Development and Chapter Support. Locally, she re-established the Southern Illinois Chapter of the AGO in 1983 and served as its dean for six years. She performed recitals and presented workshops at numerous AGO national and regional conventions. For many years she concertized under the auspices of the Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists. She recorded on the ProOrgano and Pleiades labels and was featured on the nationally syndicated American Public Media program “Pipedreams.” 

Miss Webb maintained a balanced career as both performer and teacher. Her students have distinguished themselves by winning local, area, and national competitions. A sought-after adjudicator, Miss Webb was a member of the jury for many of the country’s most prestigious competitions. She also served as an organ consultant to numerous churches in the Midwest.

A special collection, which bears her name, is housed in the University Archives of Morris Library on the SIUC campus. Upon completion, this collection will include all of her professional books, music, recordings, and papers. Her “Collection of Sacred Music” has been appraised as “one of the largest private gatherings of sacred music in the world with a particular emphasis on the pipe organ.”

Among numerous honors during her long and distinguished career, Miss Webb has received the Distinguished Service Award from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, life membership in the Fulbright Association, the AGO’s Edward A. Hansen Leadership Award recognizing her outstanding leadership in the Guild, and the St. Louis AGO Chapter’s Avis Blewett Award, given for outstanding contributions to the field of organ and/or sacred music. From the Theta Chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota at Washburn University she received the Sword of Honor and the Honor Certificate.

Miss Webb is survived by her twin sister, Peggy Westlund; a niece, Allison Langford; a nephew, Todd Westlund; a godson, R. Kurt Barnhardt, PhD; and her former husband, Dr. David N. Bateman.

Throughout her lifetime Miss Webb was confronted with great adversities, which she overcame to become a nationally recognized organ teacher and recitalist. She leaves an impressive legacy of students holding positions of prominence in colleges and churches throughout the United States. She will be remembered not only for her musical artistry and excellence in teaching, but as a woman of quiet strength, courage, and abiding faith. In gratitude to God for her lifelong career, she established the St. Cecilia Recital Endowment in 2007 to present world-renowned concert organists in recital during the biennial national conventions of the American Guild of Organists.

At a later date, a memorial organ recital played by Paul Jacobs will take place in Shryock Auditorium, Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Memorials may be sent to SIU Foundation to benefit the Distinguished Organ Recital Series Endowment. 

—Dennis C. Wendell

William Robert “Bob” Brittenham died March 17 in New York City. He was 82. Born in Rock Island, Illinois, he graduated from Augustana College in Rock Island, and earned a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1952. He worked as a computer programmer in Milwaukee and later for IBM in Poughkeepsie, where he received numerous awards, including a corporate award for creating and designing the system programming language PL/S.
Mr. Brittenham began playing the organ at age 14, and held positions at Capitol Drive Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, Our Savior Lutheran Church in Fishkill, New York, and First Presbyterian Church in Poughkeepsie, New York, for which he compiled a ten-CD musical history, along with other organ and choral recordings. He served in the 33rd Seabee Battalion in the South Pacific during World War II, playing the organ for church services while on the island of Peleliu. He is survived by his wife Marjorie Lorraine, five children, nine grandchildren, brother Rex Rollins Brittenham, and nieces and nephews.

Mary Sherman Caskey died on March 20 at the age of 83, in Cornwall, New York. Born in Fremont, Ohio, she received a music degree from Oberlin College, and also attended Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, where she studied organ with her friend and mentor Claire Coci.
Mrs. Caskey served as organist at Bantam Episcopal Church in Bantam, Connecticut, Moulton Memorial Baptist Church in Newburgh, New York, St. John’s Episcopal Church in Cornwall, and at Grace Episcopal Church in Middletown, New York for 30 years, where she created the Festival Brass Group, with whom she presented a concert at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. She was active in local organizations, including with Meals on Wheels and the local AGO chapter. Mary Caskey is survived by her son Jeremy Carroll, his wife Anne, and son Tyler.

Bess Hieronymus, 85 years old, died March 22 in San Antonio, Texas. Professor emerita in the University of Texas at San Antonio Department of Music, she had developed and spearheaded the organ studies program there.
Born in Temple, Texas, she began playing piano at age three and had her first organist position at age twelve. She earned a bachelor of music degree in piano from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, which awarded her an honorary doctorate in humanities in 1995, and a master’s degree in music from Smith College, where she wrote her thesis under the direction of Alfred Einstein. She earned a DMA in organ performance and musicology from the University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. Hieronymus served on the faculty of Trinity University, San Antonio College, and for over 30 years at the University of Texas at San Antonio, the first woman to be appointed full professor there. She built a nationally known organ department and supervised the installation of the 1982 Casavant organ, named the Bess Hieronymus Pipe Organ in 2004, in the school’s Recital Hall. The Bess Hieronymus Scholarship Endowment in Organ and an eponymous faculty endowment were established in her honor. Dr. Hieronymus also organized the William Hall Pipe Organ Competition in San Antonio.
She concertized in many countries and served as organist-choir director at Madison Square Presbyterian Church in San Antonio, Alamo Heights Methodist Church, Temple Beth-El, and at the First Presbyterian Church, where she served for over 27 years and was named organist emerita. Her numerous awards include the Yellow Rose of Texas Education Award, and a resolution from the Texas House of Representatives for her musical contributions to the State of Texas. Bess Hieronymus was preceded in death by her parents and older brother.

David Ramsey died January 17 in Memphis, Tennessee. He was 68 years old. He made his debut as an organist at age nine, at Woodbine Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Nashville. He received a bachelor of music degree in 1961 from Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College), and a master of sacred music degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, studying with Vernon deTar and Alec Wyton. He joined the faculty of Rhodes College as accompanist and associate conductor of the college choir, and was named Distinguished Service Professor of Music in 2001. He served as director of music-organist at Holy Communion (Episcopal), St. John’s United Methodist, and First Presbyterian churches in Memphis.
A 50-year member of the AGO, he served as dean of the Memphis chapter five times. A skilled improviser, Mr. Ramsey also played for the local professional baseball team, often quoting hymns during his playing if he knew a church group was in attendance. David Ramsey is survived by his sister Gayla Sutton, brother-in-law Barry Sutton, nephew Eric, and aunt, Charlene Turner.

Rev. Dr. Jaroslav J. Vajda, composer, hymn writer, and musician, died on May 10. A Lutheran pastor, Rev. Vajda was named editor of Concordia Publishing House’s This Day magazine in 1963, and served Concordia as book developer and editor from 1971 until his retirement in 1986. Vajda was the author of over 200 hymn texts, including “Now the Silence,” “God of the Sparrow,” “Christ Goes Before,” “Go, My Children, with My Blessing,” and “Now the Silence.” He also made effective translations from Slavic languages. His hymns and translations can be found in nearly 50 hymnals of various Christian denominations worldwide. Pastor Vajda was named a Fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. The complete collection of his hymns, Sing Peace, Sing Gift of Peace, was published in 2003. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Louise, two daughters and two sons, and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ronald Edward Ballard, of Little Rock, Arkansas, died on January 23, from kidney, liver, and heart disease. Born on January 9, 1947, in North Little Rock, he was a graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University. He wrote theater and concert reviews for the Spectrum and Arkansas Times and was business administrator for Stanton Road School and First Christian Church in Little Rock. At the time of his death, Ballard was organist and choirmaster of Westover Hills Presbyterian Church in Little Rock. He previously served a number of churches in Little Rock, North Little Rock; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Brenham, Texas; and taught music, history, and mathematics in North Little Rock Public Schools and Stanton Road School. He served as dean of the Central Arkansas AGO chapter in 1976–77.

George A. Brandon died on March 30 in Davis, California, following a short illness. He was 76. Born in Stockton, California on February 4, 1924, he earned a BA in history at College of the Pacific in 1945 and a Master of Sacred Music degree in 1952 at Union Theological Seminary. He served as organist-director at several churches in the New York City area, and before returning to Union in 1955 to earn a master's in religious education he served two years as organist-director of the First Presbyterian Church in Burlington, North Carolina. While at Union, he met Dona Lee Banzett, whom he married in 1954. They taught for five years at two small midwestern colleges and then relocated to Davis, California, in 1962. During the 1960s, Mr. Brandon held positions at several Davis churches, including Incarnation Lutheran, Davis Community Church, and St. Martin's Episcopal Church. In 1994 he was commissioned by St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Sacramento, California, to write the "St. Paul's Suite," an organ work based on the last chorus of Saint-Saëns' Christmas Oratorio, for a concert that celebrated the restoration and 80th anniversary of the church's 1877 Johnson organ (opus 503). Mr. Brandon was a free-lance composer, with over 300 published compositions, including anthems, hymn tunes and texts, choir responses, secular choruses, organ and piano pieces. He researched and wrote about many aspects of church music and related fields, especially early American hymnody. He was a member of the AGO, the Hymn Society of the US and Canada, the Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Sonneck Society. A celebration of Mr. Brandon's life and work took place at St. Martin's Episcopal Church, Davis, on May 17. He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Dona Lee Brandon, a daughter, and a sister.

Otto Juergen Hofmann, organbuilder of Austin, Texas, died on May 12, at the age of 82. He was born of German immigrant parents in Kyle, Texas on December 9, 1918, the youngest of ten children. He attended the University of Texas, studied physics, music, philosophy, and sociology, and had a PhD in physics from UT-Austin. Hofmann built his first slider-chest and mechanical-action organ in 1938. One of his first contracts was to rebuild the organ at St. Mary's Cathedral, Austin. He then built the organ for St. Stephen's Episcopal School. This was soon followed by an organ for the chapel of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Hofmann built, rebuilt, and restored numerous organs throughout Texas and beyond. He was involved in the early efforts of the tracker organ revival, and collaborated with Flentrop in building an organ for Matthews Memorial Presbyterian Church in Albany, Texas, in 1955. He served as president of the International Society of Organbuilders, and in 1975 was awarded the Industrial Arts Medal by the Austin chapter of the American Institute of Architects. He retired from active organ building in 1994.

James Dale Holloway died on May 17, the random victim of a shooting on the campus of Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington. Holloway, age 40, was appointed assistant professor of music and university organist at PLU in the fall of 2000. Born in Columbus, Georgia, on July 4, 1960, Holloway received a BMus from Shorter College in Rome, Georgia; a master's degree from the University of North Texas; and after beginning doctoral studies at the University of Alabama, completed his doctorate at the University of Washington. As a church musician, he served parishes in Georgia, Texas, Alabama, and Oregon, before moving to Tacoma in 1989 to become minister of music at Trinity Lutheran Church. For ten years he taught part-time at PLU before his full-time appointment in 2000. He was a performer and lecturer at national and regional conventions of the AGO, the OHS, and the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians. He was current president of the western regional ACLM, and was a winner in 16 organ competitions at the state, regional, and national levels. A memorial fund, the "James Holloway Music Scholarship Fund," has been established at PLU in his memory. A memorial service took place on May 21 at the university. He is survived by his wife, Judy (Willis) Carr, and five stepchildren.

Antonio Ruffatti died on May 6, in Padova, Italy, at the age of 89. He co-founded Fratelli Ruffatti, organbuilders, in Padova in 1940--following a centuries-old tradition in that geographic area of Italy--a firm which continues today under the direction of his sons Francesco and Piero. In the 1950s, he succeeded in making Fratelli Ruffatti known internationally by building a five-manual organ for the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal. In the following decade, he built many organs in the United States. Following the classical tradition in his own country, he was among the first in Italy to call for the return to mechanical action. Fratelli Ruffatti built several tracker instruments in the early 1960s, a practice which was highly uncommon, if not controversial, at the time in Italy, but which has grown to become an important part of the current activity of the firm. He also delved into restoration techniques, and today Fratelli Ruffatti is one of the few firms licensed by the Italian government to do historical restoration on Italy's ancient instruments.

John C. Campbell died March 4 in Abilene, Texas. He was 73. A long-time teacher and organist, he began piano study with his mother at age eight; his father acquired a two-manual and pedal Estey reed organ for their church, and Campbell began playing the organ in church at age 13. At Hardin-Simmons University, he studied piano with Thurman Morrison and organ with T. W. (Jack) Dean and Edward Wetherill; after graduation, he entered the U.S. Navy and for five years served as a pilot on an aircraft carrier. He later earned a master of music degree at the University of Oklahoma, studying organ with Mildred Andrews, and a doctorate at the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Russell Saunders. He also studied organ with Michael Schneider and harpsichord with Hugo Ruf at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Cologne.
Campbell taught for three years at Berea College in Kentucky, and was professor of organ and church music and university organist at Hardin-Simmons University from 1971–2000. He had also served as organist of the First Baptist Church in Oklahoma City (where he met Lillie Spurgin, whom he married in 1966), and First Baptist Church of Abilene, Texas. He was a member of the Big Country AGO chapter. John C. Campbell is survived by his wife, Lillie, sons Russell and Matthew, a sister, two brothers, and uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins.

Lawrence G. “Larry” Kelliher died on June 2 in Madison, Wisconsin. He was a lifelong resident of Madison. For the greater part of his career, he was director of music/organist at Bethel Lutheran Church in Madison, where he led a 70-voice choir and coordinated a regional church music workshop in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin. Kelliher received his bachelor of arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his master’s degree in organ performance there in 1954. While attending UW-Madison, he was a teaching assistant for organ majors and an accompanist for choral groups and voice studios.
He was organist and director of music at Trinity Lutheran Church 1957–60 and at Bethel Lutheran Church 1960–92. From 1994–96, he was the organist and choir/handbell director at St. Luke’s Church in Middleton. He served as the organist for the First Unitarian Society, Luther Memorial, Holy Cross, Grace Episcopal, First Congregational, St. John’s, and Central Lutheran churches in Madison. Before retiring, he was the choir director/organist at Monona Lutheran Church. He also served as an organist for the Madison Symphony. He was dean of the Madison AGO chapter 1959–60. A memorial service was held on June 9 at Bethel Lutheran Church in Madison, with music led by current director of music/organist, Gary Lewis.

Hazel-Thomas Baker King died at age 71 on April 8, in Charlottesville, Virginia. An alumna of Agnes Scott College, she received a fellowship to study in Belgium with Flor Peeters. For 31 years she was organist-choirmaster at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and a member of the AGO; the Charleston chapter produced a recording of her performance on the restored 1845 Erben organ at the French (Huguenot) Church. Mrs. King was also featured in recitals at Piccolo Spoleto. A talented choral director, she had studied at the Royal School of Church Music in England, and served as director of choral activities at Ashley Hall School, was accompanist for the Charleston Symphony Singers’ Guild, and was a member of the Charleston Baroque Singers. Hazel-Thomas King is survived by her husband, two children, one sister, and three grandchildren.

Paul E. Koch died on May 12 at age 79 in Springfield, Illinois. Born May 24, 1929 in Vanlue, Ohio, he was a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University (BMus), the Naval School of Music, and Union Theological Seminary (MSM). He served in the Army 1951–54 as a bandsman and chaplain’s assistant. He held church music positions as organist and choir director in churches in Oak Park, Springfield, and Decatur, Illinois. He was active in the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers, the American Guild of Organists, the Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts, and the Presbyterian Association of Musicians.
Koch played recitals and was a published composer; among his works are a volume of handbell music, a work for flute and organ, five anthems, two organ works, and two hymns. He taught numerous piano and organ students, and he was also a communications consultant with Illinois Bell Telephone 1970–1982. Paul E. Koch is survived by his wife Susan, three sons, a daughter, two stepdaughters, a sister, two grandchildren, and five stepgrandchildren.

George M. Williams, director of music and organist at the Northfield Community Church (UCC) of Northfield, Illinois since 1967, died June 11, after a nine-month battle with recurrent lymphoma. Williams was a member of the American Guild of Organists, past dean of the North Shore chapter, and a trustee at the Music Institute of Chicago. In 2007, on the occasion of his fortieth anniversary at Northfield Community Church, the church established an endowed organ scholarship in perpetuity in his name at the Music Institute of Chicago.
Born December 3, 1935, Williams was a graduate of Chicago Musical College (now the Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University), where he received bachelor’s and master’s degrees and won the Oliver Ditson Award in organ. He later became an instructor of organ at his alma mater, and he taught music and conducted the chorus for ten years at Englewood High School in the Chicago Public School System. In 1968, he joined the faculty of Loop Junior College (now Harold Washington College), one of the City Colleges of Chicago, where he taught music theory, piano, and vocal music for thirty-four years.
Williams retired from the college in 2002 as an associate professor. In addition to being an organ recitalist, church musician and conductor, Williams was classical music critic for The Chicago Crusader, the oldest African-American-owned Chicago area weekly newspaper. George M. Williams is survived by his wife, the former Barbara Wright-Pryor, two children and two grandchildren.