John P. Brock, Jr.
John P. Brock, Jr., 83, of Knoxville, Tennessee, died November 25, 2024. He was born April 9, 1941, in Montgomery, Alabama, where he attended Forest Park Baptist Church. He began organ lessons at this church, and his parents bought a pump organ for their home. Brock accompanied the choir at the church on the organ as a teenager. He met Dinah Lee in high school, and they were married in 1963 after his college graduation.
In 1959 Brock began music studies at the University of Alabama, where he studied organ with Warren Hutton, and went on to earn the Master of Music degree in organ performance and church music. Brock then taught for a short time at Mitchell College in Statesville, North Carolina, but soon accepted a professorship at the University of Tennessee (UT), Knoxville, in 1967.
There Brock taught organ, harpsichord, and music theory for 49 years until 2016. As a performer he played recitals on organs modern and historic across the United States and in Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. He consulted on the construction, design, and rehabilitation of several organs in the United States and one in Germany. He assisted in overseeing the installation of the UT Cox Auditorium Alumni Building organ, as well as collaborated on his own home organ built by B. Rule & Co., owned by a former student and friend. In 2009 he began to teach adjunct at Carson-Newman University and continued this work after his retirement from UT. He composed music and continued to perform and played at local churches as substitute until October 2024 when he was honored for filling in at Knoxville’s Westminster Presbyterian Church for the summer of 2024.
Upon the move to Knoxville in 1967, Brock became organist and choir director at Lake Hills Presbyterian Church and then organist and choir director at Messiah Lutheran Church in 1978. At Messiah, Brock acted as organ consultant in 1980 and 1981. In 1982 the first parts of the organ were installed and dedicated with its first manual and six stops. Work continued over the years, and in 1990 the fully completed Andover organ was rededicated. He retired from Messiah in 1991. Brock then served from 2002 until 2013 at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension, Knoxville, as music associate, playing organ and directing the choir with Jim Garvey.
Brock was active in the American Guild of Organists at local and national levels. He served as AGO dean, 1970–1971 and 2010–2011, and he often was a featured performer or clinician at conventions. He was active in the Organ Historical Society and the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society, for which he served as president in 1990. He was instrumental in the AGO’s Church Music Workshop development and teaching. In 2007 he was honored by the AGO with the creation of the Brock Organ Education Fund (BOEF) to award scholarships to promising high school and college organ students.
Brock was the author of Introduction to Organ Playing in 17th and 18th Century Style and co-editor of 101 Chorale Preludes: German Organ Works of the 17th and 18th Centuries, both published by Wayne Leupold Editions. He was actively co-editing another book with Leupold at the time of his death. Brock recorded a wide range of organ repertoire on over 150 compact discs, including two volumes of A Tennessee Organ Tour (Raven OAR-270) and Hugo Distler: Complete Organ Works (Calcante 022). With his interest and talent in woodworking, he built parts for organs, three harpsichords, one clavichord, one virginal, and two mandolins.
John P. Brock, Jr., is survived by his wife of 61 years, Dinah; daughter Joanna Loden of Knoxville (Alan); daughter Laura of Southern Pines, North Carolina, (Geoff), and two grandchildren. A memorial celebration was held at Messiah Lutheran Church, Knoxville, on December 21, 2024. Memorial gifts may be made to The Brock Organ Educational Fund of the American Guild of Organists, in the memo line “BOEF,” c/o Jim Garvey, Episcopal Church of the Ascension, 800 Northshore Drive, Knoxville, Tennessee 37919; or Messiah Lutheran Church Memorial Fund, in the memo line: “Memorial Fund-John Brock,” c/o Messiah Lutheran Church, 6900 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, Tennessee 37919; or The Leupold Foundation (leupoldfoundation.org).
John Allen Ferguson
John Allen Ferguson (“Ferg”), 83, died January 5 in Northfield, Minnesota. An organist, choral conductor, composer, and teacher, he was born January 27, 1941, and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He began piano lessons around age six and organ lessons at ten. By age twelve, he was playing regularly at his family’s church. As a teenager he worked for the Allen Organ Company, where his duties included playing Christmas music in a holiday display outside the company’s store in the Cleveland Arcade.
Ferguson graduated from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Oberlin, Ohio, in 1963 and completed a Master of Music degree at Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, in 1965. He was then hired by Kent State as a faculty member and also became organist at Kent’s United Church of Christ. He went on to complete a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York, between 1967 and 1976 while teaching full time. While at Eastman he met his future wife, Ruth Hofstad, also an organist. The two married in August 1971, and in 1976 they welcomed a son, Christopher.
In 1978 the family moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Ferguson took up the position of minister of music at Central Lutheran Church. In 1983 he joined the faculty of St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota, as a professor of organ and church music. He also served as cantor to the St. Olaf student congregation and conductor of the St. Olaf Cantorei. During his years at St. Olaf, Ferguson revitalized and expanded the college’s organ studio and church music program, toured nationally and internationally with ensembles, and oversaw improvements to the college’s organs and worship spaces.
Ferguson remained on the St. Olaf faculty for 29 years, retiring in 2012. His tenure at the college was the catalyst for a career in composing and arranging, with more than 100 titles in print. Along with Anton Armstrong, he re-envisioned the St. Olaf Choral Series for Augsburg Fortress and worked to make it relevant to a wide variety of 21st-century choirs. He wrote and edited several books and hymnals, and he continued to compose until falling ill in the summer of 2023.
Ferguson traveled across the country and the world presenting hymn festivals and seminars. He served in leadership roles in national organizations and also consulted for churches of all sizes that wanted to improve the quality of their organs and worship practices. From 2002–2022, Ferguson served as the music advisor of St. Olaf College’s radio program Sing For Joy, broadcast weekly across the United States and the wider world. His work was recognized with multiple awards, including the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians’ Raabe Prize, the F. Melius Christiansen Award for the Minnesota Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association, and the Distinguished Artist Award from the American Guild of Organists. Upon his retirement from St. Olaf College, he was named Professor Emeritus of Music.
After retiring, Ferguson served in two interim positions as organist and director of music, first at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Northfield, and later at Normandale Lutheran Church, Edina, Minnesota, only retiring from playing weekly services in 2022.
John Allen Ferguson is survived by his son, Christopher and his wife Sarah Blakesley Ferguson, of Auburn, Alabama, and two grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife Ruth. A memorial service will take place March 29, 11:00 a.m., in Boe Memorial Chapel, St. Olaf College. Memorial gifts may be made to the John and Ruth Ferguson Endowment at St. Olaf College, c/o St. Olaf College, 1520 St. Olaf Avenue, Northfield, Minnesota, 55057, Attn: Advancement Office; or the John and Ruth Ferguson Endowment at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Northfield, Minnesota.
Donald C. Ingram
Donald C. Ingram, 92, died December 29, 2024, in Albany, New York. He was born November 24, 1932, in Hinsdale, New York. He took his first piano lessons at age 4½ and began playing for Sunday school at age nine and church (piano) at age ten. His first paying organist position was at age 12 in the Presbyterian Church, Cuba, New York.
In 1949 he helped bring about the installation of a pipe organ at his home church, Hinsdale United Methodist Church, on the 100th anniversary of the church building. He gave a recital at that time and fifty years later performed on the newly refurbished instrument at the building’s 150th anniversary. While in high school, Ingram commuted to Buffalo, New York, for organ lessons and to Alfred University for carillon instruction. After graduating valedictorian from Hinsdale Central School, he went to Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, as a scholarship student and from there received a bachelor’s degree (1954) and Master of Music degree (1960) in organ, studying with Arthur Poister. During student days, Ingram also worked as organist/choirmaster at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Cazenovia, New York, and while there designed the specification for a new Schlicker pipe organ that was installed in 1954.
Upon graduation Ingram served as organist/choirmaster at the Church of the Transfiguration, Cranston, Rhode Island, and in 1956 he was hired as sales manager and staff organist of the Schlicker Organ Co., Buffalo, New York, where he was employed through 1963. During these years he designed specifications for many pipe organs. Over the years he continued to serve as consultant for new and rebuilt instruments. As organist/choirmaster at Kenmore Methodist Church, Kenmore, New York, from 1957 until 1962, he prepared specifications for a new pipe organ installation in 1961 and returned for the fiftieth anniversary recital in 2011.
Ingram moved to St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, Buffalo, in 1962. During his tenure there he founded the noonday organ recital series and the Buffalo Choral Society. His choir of men and boys sang at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and Trinity Church Wall Street, New York City, the National Cathedral in Washington, with Robert Shaw, and with the Buffalo Philharmonic under Josef Krips and Lukas Foss. Among other accomplishments there, he commissioned the Harold Darke Communion Service in A Minor.
Ingram was invited in the summer of 1968 to St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands, but by the end of the year, he was called to Albany, New York. During his brief time in St. Croix, he became a child welfare caseworker. This experience was to later help qualify him as a social worker in Massachusetts.
While organist/choirmaster at St. Peter’s Church, Albany, from 1969 until 1978, Ingram supervised the installation of two new organs by Schlicker in the choir and gallery. From 1978 to 1982 he was organist/choirmaster at St. Paul’s, Episcopal Church, Troy, New York, where he oversaw restorative repairs to the church’s 1921 Austin organ. The 1980s saw appointments at Christ Church, Baltimore, Maryland; Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Warwick, Rhode Island; and St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church, Sudbury, Massachusetts. In 1989 he was appointed organist/choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church, Newport, Rhode Island, and then in 1994 he assumed that post at Trinity Episcopal Church, Vero Beach, Florida, remaining until 1999. It was in Vero Beach that he designed the new Harrison & Harrison organ that was installed in 1997, later moved to the present church in 2005.
Ingram retired at the end of 1999 to his home on the Mohawk River in New York. Retirement positions have included service as interim at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Trinity United Methodist Church, and First Presbyterian Church, all of Albany, and Trinity Episcopal Church, Newport, First United Presbyterian Church, and once again at St. Paul’s, Troy.
Active in the American Guild of Organists, Ingram was founding dean of the Treasure Coast Chapter and served as dean of the Buffalo and Eastern New York chapters. He was Region II chairman for three terms and member of the executive committee of the national AGO. He was largely responsible for bringing the national AGO convention to Buffalo in 1970, and he was chair and co-chair of two Regional AGO conventions (1979 and 2003) in Albany. Ingram presented recitals in thirty states, Canada, the United States Virgin Islands, England, Scotland, and Sweden, and was honored by Trinity Church, Vero Beach, and St. Paul’s Church, Troy, with the title Organist Emeritus.
Donald C. Ingram is survived by his domestic partner of 54 years, Eugene Tobey, as well as a niece and nephew. A funeral service is being planned for the spring, with internment in the columbarium at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Buffalo. Memorial gifts may be made to the Donald Ingram Endowed Scholarship Fund, Syracuse University, 640 Skytop Road, 2nd Floor, Syracuse, New York 13244.
The Reverend Dr. John Nixon McMillan
The Reverend Dr. John Nixon McMillan, 76, Episcopal priest, organist, conductor, composer, and professor, died August 26, 2024. Born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, his final years were spent in the Lansing, Michigan, area. McMillan’s love of music was evident early in life, becoming a church organist at the age of 15. He met his wife, Ann, as she sang in the choir at Waterloo First United Methodist Church, Ontario, where he played the organ.
McMillan graduated with a PhD degree in music from the University of Iowa, after earning degrees in early church music and organ performance in England, the United States, and Canada. He began his collegiate studies at Ohio University and later studied at Yale Divinity School.
McMillan performed organ recitals in the United States, UK, and in countries as far away as Russia, Czechoslovakia, and Australia. He taught many organ students over the course of his life. McMillan was director of the early music ensemble Sine Nomine in East Lansing, Michigan, for many years. Additionally, he was director of the annual summer choir camp at Adullam Camps, Ontario, Canada, for nearly fifty years.
McMillan’s ministry began in Pontiac, Michigan, and he served churches in Grand Rapids, Michigan; Albany, New York; and Grand Ledge, Michigan. While in Grand Rapids, he was honored to preside over the funeral of former President Gerald R. Ford.
McMillan was an active member of the American Guild of Organists. He served in various roles with the Lansing-Jackson Michigan Chapter, including as dean and, most recently, sub-dean. He previously served as chaplain of the Eastern New York AGO chapter.
John Nixon McMillan was preceded in death by his wife Ann, nineteen days before his death. He is survived by his brothers, Bob, Jim, and Dave, in addition to nieces and nephews. Memorial services for Nixon and Ann McMillan were held in the Lansing, Michigan, area and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, with their joint burial in Sault Ste. Marie.
Robert J. Powell
Robert J. Powell, born July 22, 1932, in Benoit, Mississippi, died January 17 in Greenville, South Carolina. He exhibited musical ability as a young child, serving as the organist at his local church by the age of ten. During that period, he began composing music—first on keyboard but by the age of twelve, a choral composition, “How Far Is It to Bethlehem,” which is his earliest known named work. He composed sacred music until the end of his life with more than 1,200 pieces published, including numerous hymns.
Powell graduated from Louisiana State University, served in the United States Army, and earned a Master of Sacred Music degree at Union Theological Seminary, New York City. He was an organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York City, organist and choir director at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Meridian, Mississippi, and music master at St. Paul’s School, Concord, New Hampshire. Powell was a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists.
In 1968 he was named organist and choirmaster at Christ Episcopal Church in Greenville where he served for 35 years. After retirement, he took organist and choir directing roles at smaller churches. At the time of his death, he was serving the Church of the Redeemer, Episcopal, Greenville.
Robert J. Powell is survived by his wife of 67 years, Nancy Craine Powell, also an organist and former organ recitalist, as well as three children, five grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. A memorial service was held January 27 at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Greenville.
Ralph Clarence Schultz
Ralph Clarence Schultz, 92, composer, choral director, educator, and university president, died September 24, 2024, in Albany, New York. He was born June 23, 1932, in Dolton, Illinois, and began his music study at age five. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the Cosmopolitan School of Music, Chicago, Illinois, and a Bachelor of Science degree in education from Concordia Teachers College, River Forest, Illinois, in 1954. Upon graduation, he and his wife, Dorothy Ruth Nickel, married June 20, 1954, began their teaching careers in Cleveland, Ohio. Ralph Schultz served as teacher and organist at Trinity Lutheran Church, Cleveland, from 1954 until 1961. In 1955 he enrolled at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, to study organ with Robert Noehren and composition with Ross Lee Finney. He transferred to the Cleveland Institute of Music, earning a Master of Music degree in theory and composition in 1960. During Schultz’s tenure at Trinity Church, he and his teacher Noehren guided the congregation to replace its M. P. Möller organ with a new instrument by Rudolf von Beckerath of Hamburg, Germany. The instrument was the first built for the United States by the builder, and the first four-manual mechanical-action instrument to be installed in this country in the modern era.
In 1961 Ralph Schultz accepted the call to chair the music department at Concordia College, Bronxville, New York, teaching music and directing the choir, serving that institution for 37 years, and he began service as minister of music at Village Lutheran Church. Shortly after his move, he began pursuing a doctorate in music education at Teachers College of Columbia University, New York City. Given his desire to compose for the church, Schultz transferred to Union Theological Seminary, New York City, earning his doctorate in 1967. He later returned to Union as a lecturer in conducting. His direction of the Concordia Choir received critical acclaim for performances at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. Schultz was installed as president of Concordia, Bronxville, in 1977.
As a composer, Schultz wrote sonatas for piano and oboe, pieces for strings, and numerous works for organ and choirs. Collaborating with his wife, he wrote special music for the weddings of all six of their children and the baptisms of their 14 grandchildren.
Schultz was a contributor to Concordia Publishing House’s Music Education Series and helped inaugurate the Concordia University System. He served on the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod convention planning committee (1967), the LCMS Worship Commission (1969–1971), the LCMS Atlantic District education committee (1968–1972), and the U.S. President’s Task Force on Higher Education (1983–1986).
Ralph Schultz retired from the presidency of Concordia College in June of 1998; he and his wife moved to Slingerlands, New York. In retirement he continued to compose and conduct, founding the Jubilate Singers and Orchestra, which performed 20 annual concerts in the Capital Region.
Ralph C. Schultz is survived by his wife of 70 years, Dorothy. The Schultzes had six children, 14 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Their son, Steven, died in 1985. A funeral for Schultz was held on October 4 at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Delmar, New York, with burial at Bethlehem Cemetery. Memorials may be made to Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 85 Elm Avenue, Delmar, New York 12054 (blcdelmar.com) or Capital City Rescue Mission, 259 South Pearl Street, Albany, New York 12202 (capitalcityrescuemission.org).
Jan van Daalen
Jan van Daalen, organbuilder, born August 18, 1938, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, died August 5, 2024, in Sun City West, Arizona. He was born into a musical family in the Netherlands and attended organ concerts with his parents at such venues as St. Bavo, Haarlem, and the Oude Kerk and Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. At his father’s urging, he decided to pursue a career in organbuilding. He first worked with Andries Fonteyn of the Fonteyn Gaal Organ Company in Amsterdam. He went on to study for his Meisterprüfung at the Hochschule in Ludwigsburg, Germany, where he worked at Walcker Orgelbau.
In 1964 van Daalen emigrated to Canada and worked for Allen Jackson, Toronto representative of Casavant Frères, Limitée, and then at J. C. Hallman Organ Company, Kitchener, Ontario. In 1970 he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and founded the Van Daalen Organ Company with Rochus van Rumpt. The two restarted the Pels & Van Leeuwen Company, Waardenburg, Netherlands, after its bankruptcy in 1971, maintaining the Van Daalen name in the United States. Van Daalen built more than 50 mechanical-action instruments in the United States and Canada, including instruments for the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York; First Congregational Church, La Grange, Illinois; and University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota. When Jan van Daalen retired in 1995, the company became a subsidiary of Pels & Van Leeuwen. Van Daalen and his wife moved to Sun City West in 2022.
Jan van Daalen is survived by his wife of 62 years, Adriana van Daalen.
