Nunc dimittis: Leonard Berghaus and Walter Hilse

Charles Huddleston Heaton

Charles Huddleston Heaton, Sr., 92, died June 11, in Huntsville, Alabama. He was born November 1, 1928, in Centralia, Illinois. Heaton earned his Bachelor of Music degree from DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana, in 1950, studying with Van Denman Thompson. He then went to New York City for his Master of Sacred Music degree at the School of Sacred Music of Union Theological Seminary, completed in 1952. After service in the United States Army, he returned to Union Seminary in September 1954 for his Doctor of Sacred Music degree. Among his teachers at Union were Hugh Porter and Harold Friedell.

In 1954, while a student, Heaton was appointed chapel organist for Kirkpatrick Chapel, Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, playing a three-manual Skinner organ. The following year, while still a student, he became organist and choir director for the Presbyterian Church of Bound Brook, New Jersey. He was awarded his doctoral degree in 1957.

In 1956 Heaton was named organist and director of music for Second Presbyterian Church, St. Louis, Missouri. He would become organist for Temple Israel of the same city in 1959. From 1962 to 1964, he taught organ at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.

Heaton then served as organist and director of music for East Liberty Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1972 until 1993. During his tenure at the church, he recorded the disc, Music Till Midnight, named for a series of concerts he formulated at East Liberty beginning in 1976. He was a lecturer in music at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary between 1973 and 1976.

Following retirement Heaton was organist-in-residence at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (1993–1996 and 1997–2002) and served as interim organist for a year each at Calvary Episcopal (1996–1997) and Oakmont Presbyterian Churches, all in Pittsburgh. Heaton was a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists (1957), penned two books—How to Build a Church Choir (1958) and A Guidebook to Worship Services of Sacred Music (1961)—published several anthems, and was editor of the Hymnbook for Christian Worship, published by Judson Press in 1970. He was a staff reviewer of new recordings for The Diapason magazine and was pleased to have a complete run of the journal, which he had bound and donated to DePauw University. He also contributed to journals such as Clavier and The American Organist. A 90th birthday celebration concert in Heaton’s honor was held at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in the Highland Park neighborhood of Pittsburgh on November 3, 2018, with several local organists performing.

On April 17, 1954, Heaton married Jane Pugh, who predeceased him in September 1999. They had three children, who survive: Rebecca Lynn Turner (Patrick) of Herndon, Virginia; Charles Huddleston Heaton, Jr. (Miki), of Brierfield, Alabama; and Matthew Aaron Heaton (Shannon) of Medford, Massachusetts, along with four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

A memorial service for Charles Huddleston Heaton, Sr., will take place in September at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Pittsburgh. Burial will be in Crystal Lake, Michigan, where the Heatons spent their summers. Memorial contributions may be made to a scholarship in Heaton’s memory to the American Guild of Organists, 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 1260, New York, New York 10115, attention: F. Anthony Thurman.

Fritz Noack

Fritz Noack, 86, died June 2. Born in Germany in 1935, he apprenticed in organ building with Rudolf von Beckerath in Hamburg between 1954 and 1958. He would work with Klaus Becker and Ahrend & Brunzema, also in Germany, before coming to the United States, working briefly for the Estey Organ Company in Brattleboro, Vermont, and later with Charles Fisk, then with the Andover Organ Company in Methuen, Massachusetts.

In 1960, he founded the Noack Organ Company, then located in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The workshop would move to Andover, Massachusetts, in 1965 for larger space. In 1970, the company moved to its present location, a former schoolhouse in Georgetown, Massachusetts, where an erecting room was added to the building. More than a dozen organ builders, including the principal personnel of various other firms, have received their training there.

Noack was active in various professional organizations, including service as the president of the International Society of Organbuilders from 2000 to 2006; he also served two terms as president of the Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America. He taught organ construction and building at New England Conservatory, Boston.

In early 2015, Noack retired from his company, turning its leadership over to Didier Grassin. At that point, the firm had built nearly 160 instruments, installed throughout the United States and abroad in locations such as Iceland and Japan.

William E. Randolph, Jr.

William E. Randolph, Jr., died May 15. In 1979, he earned his Bachelor of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music, New York City, studying with Frederick Swann. He would further study with Jean Langlais in Paris and Christopher Dearnley in London.

Randolph worked at the Episcopal Church of the Intercession in New York City from 1983 until 1993. He then served at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church and at St. George’s Episcopal Church, New York City. He returned to Church of the Intercession in 2002 where he remained until his death. He also was adjunct organist at Columbia University, organist at the Marymount School for Girls, and assistant organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, all of New York City. A memorial service for Randolph was held at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine on June 10.

Carl Schalk 

Carl Flentge Schalk, 91, died January 24 in Melrose Park, Illinois. He was born September 26, 1929, and attended high school and college at Concordia Teachers College, River Forest, Illinois (now Concordia University Chicago), graduating in 1952 with a Bachelor of Science degree in education. He proceeded to earn a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and a Master of Arts in Religion degree from Concordia Seminary in Saint Louis, Missouri. His first call was to Zion Lutheran Church and School, Wausau, Wisconsin, as fifth and sixth grade teacher and church musician. From 1958 to 1965, Schalk was music director for radio broadcasts of The Lutheran Hour.

From 1965 until his retirement in 1993, Schalk was professor of church music at Concordia University, River Forest. During this time, he guided the development of the university’s Master of Church Music degree, which has since graduated more than 200 students, edited the journal Church Music, and coordinated the annual Lectures in Church Music, which brings church musicians, performers, conductors, and educators together for a three-day conference. Schalk was a member of the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship, which produced the Lutheran Book of Worship in 1978, and the board of directors of Lutheran Music Program, the parent organization of the Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival. He was honored with the Faithful Servant award from the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, was named a fellow of the Hymn Society of the United States and Canada, and received numerous other awards and several honorary doctorates. In 2002, Schalk was named the American Guild of Organist’s Composer of the Year.

At Grace Lutheran Church, River Forest, Illinois, adjacent to the Concordia campus, Schalk assisted Paul Bouman in church music; together they founded the Bach Cantata Vesper Series that continues to this day. Schalk is well known for his numerous choral compositions as well as his hymn tunes and carols, which number over one hundred. He had ongoing collaborations with poets Jaroslav Vajda and Herbert Brokering, producing tunes for several of their hymn texts. Schalk’s hymn tunes may be found in modern Christian hymnals of various denominations. In 2013, Nancy Raabe’s critical biography, Carl F. Schalk: A Life in Song, was published, and in 2015, Singing the Church’s Song, a collection of articles and essays about church music by Carl Schalk was released. As recently as 2020, his book, Singing the Faith: A Short Introduction to Christian Hymnody, was also printed (see the March 2021 issue of The Diapason, p. 21). He was preceded in death by his wife Noël Roeder, and is survived by three children and four grandchildren.

Susan Palo Cherwien

Susan Louise Palo Cherwien died December 28, 2021. Born May 4, 1953, in Ashtabula, Ohio, she was active in music in school and at Zion Lutheran Church (Finnish-American), Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod. Her undergraduate degree in church music and voice was earned from Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio, in 1975. Her junior year was spent at the Berlin Church Music School, Spandau, Germany. After graduating from Wittenberg, she returned to Berlin to complete a graduate degree at the Berlin Conservatory of Music. She was active in the American Lutheran Church in Berlin, a mission church of the Lutheran Church in America (now part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America).

It was through this church in Berlin that Susan Palo met David Cherwien, who came in 1979 to study at the Berlin Church Music School. They returned to the United States in 1981 and were married on August 8 at Central Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Two weeks later they moved to Seattle where David served at First Lutheran Church of Richmond Beach. Two sons were born, Jeremiah in 1983 and Benjamin in 1986. In 1987 the family moved to the Chicago area for David to serve at St. Luke’s Evangelical Lutheran Church of Park Ridge, Illinois. During these years, Susan earned a master’s degree from Mundelein University and began her career as a writer. Since 1990 the family has lived in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, and has been a part of the community at Mount Olive Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, where Susan served in many capacities as volunteer, sacristan, and soloist.

As a poet, Susan Cherwien wrote extensively, especially in two areas: hymn texts and reflections for hymn festivals, published by Augsburg Fortress and MorningStar Music Publishers. Her hymns are included in hymnals of many denominations, including Evangelical Lutheran Book of Worship and its newest supplement hymnal, All Creation Sings.

Susan Louise Palo Cherwien is survived by her husband, David; sons and daughters-in-law, Jeremiah and Karen and their children Hannah and James Cherwien in Batesville, Arkansas; Benjamin and Angel and their daughter Gabriella Hull Cherwien in Blaine, Minnesota; brother John Palo (Freddie) of Lenexa, Kansas; and sister Nancy Bukowski of Sacramento, California. A funeral service was held on December 31, 2021, at Mount Olive Lutheran Church. Memorials may be directed to Mount Olive Lutheran Church debt reduction fund (mountolivechurch.org) or National Lutheran Choir (nlca.com).

Merrill Nathaniel (“Jeff”) Davis III

Merrill Nathaniel (“Jeff”) Davis III, 80, died October 16, 2021, in Rochester, Minnesota. Born February 13, 1941, in Chicago, Illinois, he lived most of his childhood and teen years in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He was an active organist while still in grade school, and at age 15 was dean of the La Crosse area chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Davis earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, and studied organ privately with Arthur B. Jennings, Jr. He completed his Master of Music degree at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, as a student of Robert T. Anderson. Additional studies and coaching were with Willard Irving Nevins, Gerald A. Bales, Arthur Poister, and Heinrich Fleischer.

Davis served as musician for various congregations, including First Congregational Church, La Crosse, Wisconsin; St. Clement’s Episcopal Church, St. Paul Church, Zumbro Lutheran Church, First Unitarian Universalist Church, and the Congregational (United Church of Christ) Church, all in Rochester, Minnesota. He was a frequent guest organist at Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago, Illinois. Davis concertized widely and was known for his skills as an improviser. In 1974, he was one of four finalists at the International Organ Improvisation Competition at St. Bavo Church, Haarlem, the Netherlands, and the first American to be invited to compete there. He was an active member of the Southeast Minnesota AGO Chapter.

Davis was also involved in the pipe organ industry as a sales representative and freelance consultant. The firms for which Davis worked included the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company, Rodgers Instruments, and Rieger-Kloss of Krnov, Czech Republic. He also consulted on behalf of other companies, in particular Hendrickson Organ Company, St. Peter, Minnesota. He also was involved as a personal financial advisor, working for IDS.

Merrill Nathaniel Davis III is survived by two sons and two sisters-in-law. He was preceded in death by his parents, a brother, a sister, and by his first wife, Jane Schleiter Davis, and his second wife, June Fiksdal Davis. A memorial concert is planned for February 12 at the Congregational Church, Rochester, Minnesota.

Richard Stanley Houghten

Richard Stanley Houghten, 78, died December 29, 2021, from complications following heart surgery. Born October 7, 1943, in Detroit, Michigan, he was introduced to the organ partly from exposure to the Barton organ at Ann Arbor’s Michigan Theatre, and partly at an organbuilding class taught by Robert Noehren at the University of Michigan, where he was studying psychology. He eventually apprenticed to Noehren as an organbuilder, as did classmate Jerroll Adams; Adams and Houghten would soon be sharing a barn-workshop in Milan, Michigan, and regularly collaborating.

A conscientious and well-rounded organbuilder, Richard became best known as a specialist in consoles and electrical systems. Early in his career he worked for Solid State Logic, eventually becoming president and board chairman. In this role he was central to the industry’s adoption of solid-state technology, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s when such equipment was still novel. He was further central in evolving multilevel combination actions and other advanced console aids. By 1995, he was fully independent of SSL, undertaking projects and occasional organbuilding. From 1989 he also acted as North American representative for the German supplyhouse/organbuilder Aug. Laukhuff.

For Houghten, demystifying solid-state technology was religion. He not only sold early systems but installed them, where, on site, he was intent on showing local technicians how to diagnose and service the new equipment. The reliable results of these early projects earned him a high reputation. Projects readily came his way, often without competition, and his client list over 57 years reads as impressively as any could. In the last 15 years alone, St. Paul’s School, Concord, New Hampshire; Duke University, Durham, North Carolina; Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Calvary Church, Memphis, Tennessee; the Community of Jesus, Orleans, Massachusetts; and Trinity Church, Boston, Massachusetts, sought his work. In turn, Richard regularly collaborated with
J. Zamberlan & Co. for woodworking and his trusted affiliate Vladimir Vaculik, whose wiring had all the Houghten trademark elegance.

Houghten was equally active as a subcontractor, working largely in the background to builders wanting clear systems design coupled to immaculate installation and wiring. The relationships he forged with those shops, together with his technical mastery and reassuring demeanor, meant that it was often he, not the electronics manufacturer, who would be called in a crisis. “Is there smoke? Good. Next question . . . .”

Throughout his career, Houghten retained connections to the University of Michigan. During Jerroll Adams’s long tenure as organ curator there, the Houghten team renovated consoles for many campus organs, including the large four-manual at Hill Auditorium. The University link was further strengthened through a steady stream of organ students who also served as housemates in the Houghten condominium, tending to the cats and technology Richard gathered there.

The funeral for Richard Stanley Houghten was held January 12 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, Detroit. A broader celebration of his life is being scheduled immediately preceding the 2022 Atlantic City Convention of the American Institute of Organbuilders, with which Houghten was centrally active and at whose regular October gatherings he celebrated a half-century of his own birthdays. That same community remembers him as an uncommonly generous colleague, ready to share knowledge, solve a problem, or make something as good as it could be for the benefit of all organbuilding.

—Jonathan Ambrosino, Arlington, Massachusetts

Marilyn Kay Stulken Rench

Marilyn Kay Stulken Rench, 80, organist, teacher, recitalist, author, and genealogist, died December 28, 2021, in Franklin, Wisconsin. She was born August 13, 1941, in Hastings, Nebraska, and studied organ and church music at Hastings College in Hastings, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1963. During this time, she had several piano and organ students and from 1962–1965 served as organist and program director at All Faiths Chapel, Ingleside, Nebraska. At Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York, she studied organ performance and church music, earning a Master of Music degree in 1967 and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 1975. One of her positions while in Rochester was as a sewing therapist at Strong Memorial Hospital.

Stulken Rench held a number of church positions, including organist and choir director at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Pittsford, New York, 1966–1973; organist at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1975–1979; director of music at Trinity Lutheran Church, Kenosha, Wisconsin, 1979–1985; and organist at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Racine, Wisconsin, from 1986 to the time of her death. In addition, she taught at Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; the University of Iowa, Iowa City; Carthage College, Kenosha; University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Kenosha; and Concordia University Wisconsin, Mequon.

On December 27, 1984, in Omaha, Nebraska, Marilyn Stulken married Thomas R. Rench, a pipe organ builder. Marilyn often played programs on instruments that Tom had built or restored. As a lecturer and organ recitalist, she appeared throughout the United States and Canada, including ten recitals for national conventions of the Organ Historical Society. After Tom installed a pipe organ in the family room of their home, the instrument was used for practicing and teaching. When her multiple sclerosis precluded her from playing the pedals, Tom engineered the keyboard at St. Luke’s so that a note played by her left hand could sound that same note on the pedalboard.

Stulken Rench is the author of the Hymnal Companion to the Lutheran Book of Worship (1981) and An Introduction to Repertoire and Registration for the Small Organ (1995), and coauthor with Catherine Salika of Hymnal Companion to Worship, Third Edition (1998). She was one of three contributors who assisted in the preparation of historical notes on the hymns in The New Century Hymnal (1995). With Martin A. Seltz and others, she compiled Indexes for Worship Planning (1996), and with James R. Sydnor and Bert Polman, she edited Amazing Grace: Hymn Texts for Devotional Use (1994). She contributed an article, “Hymnody from German, Scandinavian and Finnish Sources,” to The New Century Hymnal Companion (1998), and “Hospital Hymnody as Transition Hymnody” to We’ll Shout and Sing Hosanna: Essays on Church Music in Honor of William J. Reynolds (1998). She is the author of With One Voice Reference Companion (2000) and authored numerous articles and reviews for musical journals. Stulken Rench was active in the American Guild of Organists, the Organ Historical Society, the Hymn Society of America, and, for a time, was the worship representative on the Southport District Cabinet of the Wisconsin-Upper Michigan Synod of the LCA (Lutheran Church in America).

Marilyn Kay Stulken Rench was predeceased by her husband, Thomas R. Rench, and a stepson, Evan Rench. (For an obituary for Thomas R. Rench, see the January 2016 issue, p. 8). She is survived by her stepchildren Alan (Mary) Rench, Eric (Bobbie) Rench, and Kari (Jeff) Eschmann; seven grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren; as well as two sisters and a brother. A memorial service will be held in the spring. Memorial gifts may be made to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 614 Main Street, Racine, Wisconsin 53403.

Thomas H. Anderson

Thomas H. Anderson, 86, of North Easton, Massachusetts, died December 30, 2023. Born May 25, 1937, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, he met his late wife Susan in Belfast, where they grew up on the same street.

Anderson started working at age 14 as an apprentice pipe maker at an organ pipe manufacturer in Belfast. At age 19, he emigrated to the United States, where he worked at the Aeolian-Skinner Organ Company, Boston, Massachusetts, as a pipe maker. Later he started his own company, Thomas H. Anderson Organ Pipe Company. He traveled around the country working on various projects including the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. In his later years, he traveled to teach others to make organ pipes.

Anderson’s wife Susan died December 31, 1996, almost 27 years before the date of his death; they were married 38 years. They raised four children who survive him: Gail McGill and her husband Mark of Raynham, Massachusetts; Thomas Anderson of Lake Wylie, South Carolina; Cheryl Dekeon of Haverhill, Massachusetts; and Elizabeth Lehr and her husband Donald of Berryville, Virginia. He is also survived by six grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

The funeral for Thomas H. Anderson, Jr., was held January 6 at Southeast Funeral and Cremation Services, Easton, Massachusetts, with burial following at South Easton Cemetery. Memorial gifts may be made to Old Colony Hospice and Palliative Care (oldcolonyhospice.org).

Harold Gilchrest Andrews, Jr.

Harold Gilchrest Andrews, Jr., of High Point, North Carolina, died December 3, 2023. He was born March 31, 1932, in Framingham, Massachusetts, and grew up in Centerville on Cape Cod. At the age of eight, under the tutelage of Virginia Fuller, his first piano teacher, Andrews played services at the local Unitarian church. After his 1949 high school graduation, he attended Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Oberlin, Ohio, where he earned a Bachelor of Music degree in organ performance. After college, he served in the United States Army for two years as an organist at West Point. He then moved to Greensboro, North Carolina, playing first at First Friends Meeting House and then at Guilford Park Presbyterian Church. During this same period, he began his long tenure as a professor of organ at Greensboro College, where he remained until 1988. The C. B. Fisk, Inc., organ, Opus 102 (1993), at Finch Memorial Chapel of Greensboro College was donated and installed through his efforts. He also co-founded the Greensboro Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.

Leaving Guilford Park Church, Andrews took the position as organist and master of choristers at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, High Point, where he would spend the next 55 years. While working at St. Mary’s, Andrews completed a Master of Music degree in organ and church music at Oberlin Conservatory and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Boston University.

Andrews founded and owned Organ Craft, a local organbuilding company. He built and installed pipe organs all over the east coast, including part of the organ at Christ United Methodist Church in Charlotte and the organ at Guilford Park Presbyterian Church in Greensboro. The organ at St. Mary’s in High Point was also significantly altered over the years by Andrews.

As an organist, he offered recitals in Europe, including at Canterbury Cathedral; St. Paul’s Cathedral, London; Saint-Sulpice, Paris; and Chartres Cathedral. In his retirement, he finished his manuscript for a study of music in the works of William Shakespeare.

Harold Gilchrest Andrews, Jr., is survived by one brother, Robert Francis Andrews. His funeral featuring Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem was held at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, High Point, on January 27. Interment in the church columbarium followed. Memorials may be directed to the music endowment at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 108 West Farriss Avenue, High Point, North Carolina 27262.

Charles Edmund Callahan, Jr.

Charles Edmund Callahan, Jr., 72, died December 25, 2023, in Burlington, Vermont. He was born September 27, 1951, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Callahan was a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and earned graduate degrees from The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. He held the Associate and Choirmaster certificates of the American Guild of Organists. In 2014 he was honored with the Distinguished Artist Award of the guild.

Callahan taught at Catholic University; Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont; Baylor University, Waco, Texas; Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida; and the Bermuda School of Music, Hamilton, Bermuda. He served as organist and music director for churches in Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., New York, Vermont, and his native Massachusetts. Callahan moved to Orwell, Vermont, in 1988.

He was consulted often on the design of new organs and restorations and improvements of existing instruments. His two books on American organbuilding history, The American Classic Organ and Aeolian-Skinner Remembered, became standard reference works on 20th-century American organ history.

Callahan was a prolific composer; his compositions include commissions for Papal visitations to the United States and from Harvard University. His four-movement orchestral work, Mosaics, was premiered at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, Missouri, and other works have been performed at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton universities.

Charles Callahan was laid to rest with his parents in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Memorial contributions in his memory may be made to the music programs at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 326 College Street, Middlebury, Vermont 05753, or Cornwall Congregational Church, 2598 Route 30, Cornwall, Vermont 05753.

James P. Callahan

James P. Callahan of St. Paul, Minnesota, died December 28, 2023. Born in North Dakota and raised in Albany, Minnesota, he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1964 from St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota, and his Master of Fine Arts degree in piano and a Ph.D. in music theory and composition from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. In addition, he studied at the Mozarteum University, Salzburg, Austria, and Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, Vienna, Austria. His teachers included Anton Heiller, organ; Willem Ibes and Duncan McNab, piano; and Paul Fetler, composition.

Callahan was Professor Emeritus at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota, where he taught piano, organ, composition, music theory, and piano literature over a 38-year period, retiring in 2006. As an organist, Callahan performed recitals in the upper Midwest, New York, and Austria. His performances appeared on the nationally broadcast radio program Pipedreams. He was instrumental in overseeing the commissioning of the organ for the chapel at the University of St. Thomas, Gabriel Kney Opus 105, completed in 1987. On this instrument he recorded a disc for Centaur, James Callahan: Oberdoerffer, Reger, Rheinberger, Schmidt. He also performed solo piano recitals and made concerto appearances. In addition to his solo performances, he was a member of the Callahan and Faricy Duo piano team, performing throughout the upper Midwest.

James Callahan composed over 150 works for piano, organ, orchestra, band, opera, and chamber ensembles. Cantata for two choirs, brass, percussion, and organ premiered at St. John’s Abbey Church and was performed at the Cathedral of St. Paul in 1975. His Requiem was premiered by Leonard Raver in 1990 at the University of St. Thomas. Callahan’s music was published by McLaughlin-Reilly, GIA, Paraclete Press, Abingdon Press, and Beautiful Star Publishing. Awards included a study grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and a Bush Artist Fellowship.

Quentin Faulkner

Quentin Faulkner, 80, died December 30, 2023, in Houston, Texas. He was Larson Professor of organ and music theory/history (emeritus) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, a writer of scholarly books in the areas of church music and J. S. Bach performance practice, the translator of German treatises of the 17th and 18th centuries, and an organ recitalist.

Faulkner earned his undergraduate degree in organ and church music from Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey, where he studied organ with George Markey and Alexander McCurdy. He received graduate degrees in sacred music and theology from Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, where he studied conducting with Lloyd Pfautsch, organ with George Klump, and liturgics with James White. Faulkner completed his doctoral studies at the School of Sacred Music, Union Theological Seminary, New York City, where he studied organ with Alec Wyton. Each of these schools subsequently awarded him its distinguished alumni award for his contributions to the field of church music. While a student in New York City, he served for three years as assistant organist at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, during which time he led the musical celebration honoring Wyton at his retirement and was the organist for Duke Ellington’s funeral.

For 32 years Faulkner served on the faculty at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he developed a comprehensive cycle of courses in church music and received numerous teaching awards. He and his colleague George Ritchie were co-coordinators of a distinguished series of organ conferences at the university, each conference with a distinct topic of scholarly investigation and culminating in the first conference held in Naumburg, Germany, at the newly restored 1746 Hildebrandt organ in St. Wenzel’s Church. In 1998 Faulkner was awarded a Fulbright grant to teach as guest professor at the Evangelische Hochschule für Kirchenmusik in Halle, Germany, a position to which he returned for the academic year 2006–2007 following his retirement from the University of Nebraska.

Faulkner’s professional career included both academic and practical pursuits. He was equally respected for his scholarly investigation in the field of church music (Wiser than Despair: The Evolution of Ideas in the Relationship of Music and the Christian Church, Greenwood Press, 1996) and in historical performance practice of the organ works of Bach (J. S. Bach’s Keyboard Technique: A Historical Introduction, Concordia, 1984; The Registration of J. S. Bach’s Organ Works, Wayne Leupold Editions, 2008; Johann Sebastian Bach, The Complete Organ Works, Series II, Volume I, The Performance of the Organ works: Source Readings, Leupold Editions, 2020). He translated historic German treatises into English, and then edited and annotated the translations to make them accessible to contemporary students and scholars (Jacob Adlung, Musica mechanica organoedi, Parts 1, 2, and 3, Zea E-Books, 2011; Michael Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum II: De Organographia, Parts III–V, Zea E-Books, 2014).

Faulkner reveled in working at the intersections of various disciplines, particularly enjoying the interplay of the scholarly and the performing musician and extensively studying the relationships between and among religion, culture, and the arts. He served as a member of the advisory board for the Encyclopedia of Keyboard Instruments for Garland Publishing Co., as consultant for the J. S. Bach Tercentenary publishing project of Concordia Publishing House, as editor for performance issues for the Leupold Edition of J. S. Bach’s organ works, and as a member of the advisory board of the Institute of Sacred Music at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. He also led multiple tours of Bach’s Organ World in eastern Germany, sharing his passion and knowledge with participants as they studied, played, and listened to instruments with direct connections to J. S. Bach.

Throughout his career and in retirement, Faulkner remained a performing musician, presenting organ recitals, workshops, and lectures. He and his wife served as church musicians in Dothan, Alabama; New York City; Lincoln, Nebraska; and Greenfield, Massachusetts. He was particularly concerned with music in small churches and wrote numerous practical articles for professional journals, composed anthems for small choirs, and served as a clinician for more than fifty church music workshops in Nebraska. He served the American Guild of Organists on various local and national committees and as its national councilor for education. He was an honorary lifetime member of the Lincoln Chapter of the AGO.

Quentin Faulkner is survived by his wife of 56 years, Mary Murrell (Bennett) Faulkner, three brothers, a daughter and son-in-law, a son and daughter-in-law, and four grandchildren. A memorial service will be held April 20 at Christ Church Cathedral, Houston, Texas. Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association (Attention: Donor Services, 225 North Michigan Avenue, Floor 17, Chicago, Illinois 60601; alz.org/donate), Church Music Institute (5923 Royal Lane, Dallas, Texas 75230; churchmusicinstitute.org/donate), or the charity of one’s choice.

Brian E. Jones

Brian E. Jones, 80, organist and choir director, died November 17, 2023. A native of Duxbury, Massachusetts, he began piano studies at age eight and discovered the pipe organ soon thereafter. During his first visit to Trinity Church, Copley Square, Boston, Massachusetts, as an eager ten-year-old, he was said to have exclaimed, “I want to be the organist here someday!” Some three decades later, his dream became a reality.

After earning an undergraduate degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Jones landed a teaching position at Noble and Greenough School, Dedham, a post he would hold for the next twenty years. Concurrently he completed the Master of Music program at Boston University. While at Noble and Greenough he conducted numerous choral groups and expanded the music program to include the production of a wide variety of musicals.

Soon after commencing his teaching career, Jones was appointed music director of the Dedham Choral Society, a position he held for 27 years. During his tenure, the group grew in size from 25 to 150 members, expanding their audiences by performing in Symphony Hall and Jordan Hall in Boston. In 1984 Jones fulfilled his childhood dream when he was appointed director of music at Trinity Church, Boston. Over the next two decades he and his choirs produced five recordings, including the Christmas CD, Candlelight Carols. In addition to his work as a choral conductor, Jones enjoyed a solo organ career, performing concerts and dedicatory recitals in churches and cathedrals throughout the United States and England. Upon assuming the mantle Emeritus Director of Music and Organist at Trinity Church in 2004, Jones accepted interim positions from as far afield as Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 2007 a number of former Trinity choir members coalesced to form The Copley Singers under Jones’s direction. This semi-professional group of musicians began performing together several times each year, most notably during the holiday season.

Brian E. Jones is survived by his husband, Michael Rocha, with whom he shared the past 35 years, as well as two children, Eliza Beaulac and her husband, Joe, and Nat Jones and his wife, Kiera; four grandchildren and one great-grandson. A celebration of life is planned for spring. Memorial gifts in memory of Brian Jones may be made to the Parkinson’s Foundation (parkinson.org).

Uwe Pape

Uwe Pape, 87, died August 13, 2023, in Berlin, Germany. He was born May 5, 1936, in Bremen, Germany. In his early life, he studied mathematics, physics, pedagogy, and philosophy at Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen, graduating in 1959, earning a doctorate in computing technology at Technische Universität Braunschweig in 1971.

From 1971 to 2001 Pape was professor of business informatics at the Technische Universität Berlin. He was visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1974 and in 1984–1985; at the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1975; at the University of Texas at Austin in 1976; and at the University of Szczecin, Poland, from 1988 until 1998.

Pape was recognized worldwide for his expertise in pipe organs, especially historic mechanical-action instruments. Pape had his first contact with organbuilding in 1953 at the Liebfrauenkirche, Bremen, where he studied with Harald Wolff and had contact with the organ builder Paul Ott. Pape began to document the organs of the Braunschweig Lutheran Church in 1959. In 1962 he founded a publishing house for works on organbuilding history, which exists today as Pape Verlag Berlin. He became a freelance organ expert for regional churches and foundations in Berlin, Bremen, Lower Saxony, and Saxony. From 1985 to 2016 he led a research project on organ documentation that resulted in an organ database at the Technische Universität Berlin. With Paul Peeters of Gothenburg and Karl Schütz of Vienna, Pape was one of the founders of the International Association for Organ Documentation (IAOD) in 1990. He made significant contributions to the documentation of historic north German organs. Among his many book-length publications is The Tracker Organ Revival in America/Die Orgelbewegung in Amerika, first published in 1978. One of his most recent publications is Organographia Historica Hildesiensis: Orgeln und Orgelbauer in Hildesheim, printed in 2014. For The Diapason, he wrote “Documentation of Restorations,” which appeared in the December 2006 issue, pages 20–22.

Alice Stuart Parker

Alice Stuart Parker, 98, born December 16, 1925, in Boston, Massachusetts, died December 24, 2023, in Hawley, Massachusetts. Having grown up in Winchester, Massachusetts, she graduated from Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1947, having studied organ and composition. After earning a Master of Music degree in choral conducting from The Juilliard School in New York City two years later, she began teaching in a high school. Parker would then study and begin a long collaboration with Robert Shaw and the Robert Shaw Chorale. She would meet and marry one of the chorale’s singers, Thomas F. Pyle, in 1954.

As a composer she would pen more than 500 choral works and arrangements, from choral anthems to cantatas and operas. In 1985 Parker founded Melodious Accord, which presents choral concerts, singing workshops, and other events. The Musicians of Melodious Accord, a 16-member chorus, made several recordings with her. Parker authored books including The Anatomy of Melody in 2006 and The Melodious Accord Hymnal in 2010, both available from GIA Publications. She conducted masterclasses and seminars widely.

Alice Stuart Parker was predeceased by her husband in 1976. Survivors include her sons David Pyle and Timothy Pyle; daughters Katharine Bryda, Mary Stejskal, and Elizabeth Pyle; 11 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

Michael Radulescu

Michael Radulescu, 80, born June 19, 1943, in Bucharest, Romania, died December 23, 2023. He studied organ and conducting with Anton Heiller and Hans Swarowsky in Vienna, Austria, at the Academy (now University) of Music and Performing Arts, where he taught as professor of organ from 1968 to 2008. His career encompassed work as a composer, organist, and conductor. With his debut in 1959 he presented concerts throughout Europe, North America, Australia, South Korea, and Japan. He regularly presented guest lectures and masterclasses in Europe and overseas, focusing mainly on the interpretation of Bach’s organ and major choral works.

As a composer, Radulescu wrote sacred music, works for organ, voice and organ, choral and chamber music, and orchestral works. He was frequently engaged as a jury member in international organ and composition competitions and as an editor of early organ music. Radulescu conducted international vocal and instrumental ensembles in performances of major choral works. As an organist, he recorded among other items Bach’s complete works for organ, without any technical manipulation.

For his musical and pedagogical contributions, Radulescu was awarded the Goldene Verdienstzeichen des Landes Wien in 2005. In 2007 he received the Würdigungspreis für Musik from the Austrian Ministry of Education and Art. In December 2013 Michael Radulescu’s book on J. S. Bach’s spiritual musical language, Bey einer andächtig Musiq: Schritte zur Interpretation von Johann Sebastian Bachs geistlicher Klangrede anhand seiner Passionen und der h-Moll-Messe, focusing on the two passions and the B-Minor Mass, was published. For The Diapason, his article, “J. S. Bach’s Organ Music and Lutheran Theology: The Clavier-Übung Third Part,” was printed in the July 2019 issue, pages 16–21.

Delbert Disselhorst

Delbert Disselhorst, 81, of Iowa City, Iowa, died September 1. He was born November 3, 1940, in Keokuk, Iowa, and attended public schools in Hamilton, Illinois. He enrolled at the University of Illinois where he graduated as a Bronze Tablet Scholar in 1962. Disselhorst was awarded a Fulbright scholarship for study with Helmut Walcha in Frankfurt, Germany. He returned to the United States in 1964 and earned a Master of Music degree in organ from the University of Illinois the following year.

Disselhorst taught at Hastings College, Hastings, Nebraska, from 1965 until 1968. He then went to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and graduated with a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in organ in 1970, receiving the Palmer Christian citation as a distinguished graduate of the organ department.

Disselhorst was professor of organ at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, from 1970 until his retirement in 2008. He was affiliated for many years with Phyllis Stringham concert management, Waukesha, Wisconsin, and played recitals and gave masterclasses throughout the United States and in Germany, France, Denmark, and Korea. He was guest artist at international festivals and concert series including the International Organ Days at Trier Cathedral in Germany; Freiburg Munster; and the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. He played at regional and national conventions of the American Guild of Organists and served as visiting professor of organ at the University of Notre Dame for the 2011–2012 academic year. Disselhorst recorded on the Arkay and Pro Organo labels. His two volumes of the chorale preludes of Helmut Walcha recorded at First Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Illinois, were released by the Naxos label in 2013. Recordings of an all-Bach recital that Disselhorst played in 1999 at Clapp Recital Hall on the University of Iowa campus are available at http://www.kaltura.com/tiny/03760.

Disselhorst served on the board of directors for Iowa City Early Keyboard Society. He was a long-time member of Trinity Episcopal Church, Iowa City, before joining First Presbyterian Church, Iowa City, where he was a member at the time of his death. Memorial contributions in Disselhorst’s memory may be made to the Frederick T. Rahn, Jr., Memorial Fund at the University of Iowa School of Music, payable to the University of Iowa Center for Advancement, P. O. Box 4550, Iowa City, Iowa 52244; or Bethel Presbyterian Church, Hamilton, Illinois.

A memorial service for Delbert Disselhorst was held September 24 at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Iowa City. Burial will take place at Oakwood Cemetery, Hamilton, Illinois.

Glen A. Douglas, M.D.

Glen A. Douglas, M.D., died March 1, 2021, in Houston, Texas. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, he attended Little Rock Central High School; Hendrix College, Conway, Arkansas; University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock; and Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana. He served as a flight surgeon for the United States Air Force, stationed in Taiwan and throughout the American Southwest during the Vietnam conflict. Professionally, he served as medical director for occupational medicine for Texaco and later ExxonMobil.

Douglas’s all-consuming passions were adopting rescue dogs and building the pipe organ that stands in his home, Aeolian Manor, in Houston. He presented performers in concert on the ever-evolving instrument, and he created the Aeolian Manor Foundation to assist young organists with training and developing careers around the pipe organ. Douglas was always on the lookout for young talent he could present in recital at Aeolian Manor, and he gave generously toward student attendance at conventions and at the East Texas Pipe Organ Festival. He was a member of the American Guild of Organists, the Organ Historical Society, and the American Theatre Organ Society.

A memorial service for Glen Douglas at Aeolian Manor will be planned for a later date. The Aeolian Manor Foundation will continue its work according to Douglas’s wishes, and the organ and home will remain intact and in use. The foundation has begun expanding its offerings by providing music lessons of all types to underprivileged Houstonians and becoming involved in local arts festivals and musical celebrations of all cultures.

In lieu of customary remembrances, readers are encouraged to adopt a pet, attend an organ recital, fund a young person’s piano or organ lessons, fund a young person’s attendance at an organ convention, and give to the Aeolian Manor Foundation. For information: aeolianmanorfoundation.org.

Walter Lee Hillsman

Walter Lee Hillsman, 79, died August 19. He was born February 25, 1943, in Dallas, Texas, and began organ lessons at an early age. As a teenager, Hillsman was awarded a scholarship to attend a choral workshop at Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey. During that trip, he met Alexander McCurdy, head of the organ department at Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hillsman was subsequently awarded a three-year scholarship to Curtis. He left Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas to complete his high school education at Lincoln College Preparatory School, Philadelphia, while he studied at Curtis. In 1964 he graduated from Curtis with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music. During his time in Philadelphia, he served as organist and choirmaster of Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church and Old Christ Church.

After his graduation from Curtis, Hillsman was encouraged to apply to Oxford or Cambridge universities by one of his mentors, Robert Evans, professor of theology and organist at University of Pennsylvania. Hillsman was granted a scholarship to attend New College, Oxford University. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oxford in 1967, his Master of Arts degree in 1971, and his Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1985. During his time at New College, Hillsman served as an organ scholar to David Lumsden, New College organist. At Oxford, Hillsman won a Fulbright scholarship to study with Karl Richter at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Munich, Germany.

Hillsman was active with organ performances, articles, presentations, broadcast recitals, and positions as organist, choirmaster, instructor, lecturer, and performer during the years he lived in Oxford. He played recitals at Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Chartres Cathedral, Washington National Cathedral, St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, and at Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Columbia, and Yale universities. Hillsman gave broadcast recitals for the BBC and Radio France. He recorded on the Vista label in England and the Teldec label in Germany. He taught at Trinity College of Music in London, Reading University, and as a member of the faculty of music at Oxford University. In 1966, Hillsman was chosen as accompanist for a performance by the joint choirs of New College, Oxford, and Magdalen College, Oxford, as they sang in a recital that was part of a concert series commemorating the 900th anniversary of the founding of Westminster Abbey.

In 1993, Hillsman moved back to Dallas where he held various positions, including as a German instructor at Eastfield College and as a customer service representative for Neiman Marcus. He obtained his brokerage license and worked for Fidelity Investments for fourteen years.

In 2015 Hillsman and his brother Roger moved together to Houston into an apartment at Clarewood House senior living facility. Roger Hillsman died in April 2022.

A memorial service for Walter Hillsman was held October 1 at Memorial Oaks Funeral Home Chapel, Houston, followed by graveside committal. Memorial contributions in the name of Hillsman may be directed to Help Musicians, Musicians Benevolent Fund in the UK (helpmusicians.org.uk) or to the New Organist Fund of the American Guild of Organists in the United States (agohq.org).

Reverend Richard F. Jones

Reverend Richard F. Jones died August 28. He was born July 17, 1956. Prior to retiring in 2020, he served for 25 years as pastor of First Parish Church of Bolton, Massachusetts. He was a leader in the cultural life of the Worcester, Massachusetts, area and an advocate for music and history throughout the region. As Hook organ curator and development officer of historic Mechanics Hall, Worcester, he instituted the popular free noontime Brown Bag concert series and worked with many well-known personalities from cellist Yo-Yo Ma to civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks. Jones served numerous organizations including two terms as dean of the Worcester Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and as board member of the Organ Historical Society. In his work as chapter dean, Jones instituted a public school program that educated thousands of students about the pipe organ. In 1985, he organized the Fuller International Organ Festival with organists including Simon Preston, Peter Hurford, and David Higgs. He further served as education director of the Worcester Historical Museum, was a contributing writer for Worcester Magazine, hosted a radio program on the local NPR station, The Art of the Organ, served as musical consultant for the Merchant-Ivory film, The Bostonians, and was an active member of the Worcester Shakespeare Club. He served on the organ restoration committees of both the 1864 E. & G. G. Hook Opus 224 in Mechanics Hall and the 1933 W. W. Kimball K.P.O. 7119 in Worcester Auditorium.

A memorial service for Reverend Richard F. Jones was held October 11 at Mechanics Hall, Worcester. A tribute concert is being planned at the hall for 2023. Memorial donations may be sent to the 1864 Hook Organ Fund at Mechanics Hall, 321 Main Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01608, or donate at: MechanicsHall.app.neoncrm.com/forms/the-worcester-organ.

Robert Graham Lent

Robert Graham Lent, 72, of Lyndhurst, Virginia, died August 27. Born October 18, 1949, in Richmond, Virginia, he married Jean Ellen Taomina on March 3, 1981. Lent was a veteran having served his country honorably as a Corporal with the United States Marine Corps from 1971 until 1973. Following his service to his country, he worked as a police officer in Berkeley Township, New Jersey, from 1973 until 1978.

In 1986 Lent moved to Waynesboro, Virginia, where he worked for Klann Organ Supply. He worked as a pipe organ mechanic for over 60 years and later owned and operated Shenandoah Organ Studio, Inc. As an organist, he served as house organist at Tower Theater in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1969–1975; Byrd Theater in Richmond, Virginia, 1989–1990; and other places around the country. He was a member of the Marine Corps League and the Mid-East Division of the Military Order of the Devil Dogs in which he served as the 48th Past Chief.

Survivors of Robert Graham Lent include his wife, Jean Ellen Lent of Lyndhurst; sons, Robert Harding Lent and wife Lynne of Dayton, Virginia, and Raymond Taliaferro Lent of Lyndhurst; grandson Robert Edward Lent of Dayton, Virginia; two sisters, Nancy Moore of Robbinsville, New Jersey, and Charlotte Lent of Newfoundland, Pennsylvania; and brother, Russell Lent. He was buried with military honors September 23 at Quantico National Cemetery, Triangle, Virginia. Memorial contributions may be made to the Augusta Health Foundation, c/o Shenandoah Hospice House, P. O. Box 1000, Fishersville, Virginia 22939, or the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, attn: Development Department, 875 North Randolph Street, Suite 225, Arlington, Virginia 22203, or online at support.nmcrs.org/a/homepage.