Nunc dimittis: Mary Louise Simmons

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.

David Martin Barnett

David Martin Barnett, 75, of Richmond, Virginia, died November 8, 2022. Born on December 6, 1946, he led a varied career in advertising, broadcasting, computers, welfare agencies, and administration of churches and non-profit organizations, including positions as building administrator of Second Presbyterian Church, Richmond, 2009–2014; and as facilities manager of St. James’s Episcopal Church, Richmond, 2010–2013.

Barnett served as treasurer of the Organ Historical Society from 1983 until 2010 and managed the OHS catalog between 2007 and 2010. He was vice president and operations manager of Duboy Advertising, 1974–1999, a Richmond firm specializing in advertising via broadcast media for automobile dealers nationwide. There, he wrote and produced more than 10,000 radio and television commercials for hundreds of clients. Barnett also operated DMB & Co., 1988–2011, designing and building computers and networks for small businesses and homes.

From 1965 until 1986, Barnett was weekend news anchor at radio station WLEE in Richmond and from 1965 until 1970 was announcer, studio engineer, traffic manager, and sales manager at radio station WFMV, Richmond’s classical music FM station. In 1964 and 1965, he worked at the Richmond Times-Dispatch as a newsroom copy boy. 

As an audio components salesman, Barnett was employed between 1969 and 1975 by Audio Fidelity Corporation, a central Virginia audio salon. Between 1970 and 1974, he worked for the City of Richmond as a welfare eligibility technician, supervisor, and child welfare eligibility supervisor, and in a similar role in 1972 for the state. He attended the University of Richmond following graduation from George Wythe High School in 1964.

Barnett served as an officer or member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Theatre Historical Society of America, American Theatre Organ Society (several chapters), Organ Historical Society, Cinema Organ Society (UK), Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, and Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. He volunteered extensively for the Mosque Theater (now the Landmark Theatre) and the Byrd Theatre, where he served as announcer beginning in 1982. 

With friends, Barnett installed a nine-rank Wurlitzer organ in his Richmond home. Following closure of Monumental Episcopal Church, Richmond, he helped renovate the 1926 Skinner Organ Company Opus 574 before it was relocated in 1975 to St. Bridget’s Catholic Church, Richmond, and subsequently was incorporated into the organ completed in 2014 by Kegg Pipe Organ Builders at the Cathedral of the General Church of the New Jerusalem, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania.

James H. Litton

James H. Litton, 87, died November 1, 2022, in Florham Park, New Jersey. He was born December 31, 1934, in Charleston, West Virginia. Recognizing his talent and passion for music, his parents purchased a piano and provided piano lessons at the Mason College of Music and Fine Arts in Charleston. His piano teacher encouraged him to progress to the organ, securing him a position as his assistant organist at a local church to get access to a practice instrument. That teacher later convinced him to pursue his college education at Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey, studying with Alexander McCurdy. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music and continued postgraduate studies at Canterbury Cathedral in England with Allan Wicks.

Litton’s choral music career spanned more than 60 years, serving as organist, choirmaster, and music director at the American Boychoir School, Princeton, New Jersey; Washington National Cathedral, Washington, DC; St. Bartholomew’s Church, New York City; Trinity Episcopal Church, Princeton; Christ Church Cathedral, Indianapolis, Indiana; and Trinity Episcopal Church, Southport, Connecticut. He also served as organist at several churches during his graduate and undergraduate studies at Westminster Choir College (now Rider University) and while in high school.

Litton toured with his various choirs and led choral festivals worldwide. He prepared his choirs for performances of major works with many of the world’s orchestras and for several dozen recordings, including a track with the American Boychoir on a platinum album by Michael W. Smith, Go West Young Man. As organist, Litton played organ recitals throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, South Africa, and Asia.

Litton was assistant professor of organ and head of the church music department at Westminster Choir College and the C. F. Seabrook Director of Music at Princeton Theological Seminary. He also served as visiting lecturer at Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria, and at Sewanee: The University of the South.

A Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music, Litton was awarded honorary Doctor of Music degrees from the University of Charleston and from Westminster Choir College of Rider University. The Litton-Lodal music directorship of the American Boychoir School was endowed by a gift from Jan and Elizabeth Lodal in honor of his career.

As a member and vice chairman of the Episcopal Church’s Standing Commission on Church Music, he participated in the preparation and publication of The Hymnal 1982. He was also the editor of The Plainsong Psalter for the Episcopal Church. Litton was a co-founder in 1966 and former president of the Association of Anglican Musicians. He also founded choral ensembles in West Virginia, Connecticut, Indiana, New Jersey, and New York.

James Litton met his late wife, Lou Ann, in seventh grade in Charleston, West Virginia, brought together by their mutual love of music. They married after graduating from college in 1957. 

James H. Litton was predeceased by his wife Lou Ann. He is survived by his son Bruce Litton and daughter-in-law Patricia of Bedminster, New Jersey; daughter Deborah Purdon of Maplewood, New Jersey; son David Litton and daughter-in-law Carol Dingeldey of West Hartford, Connecticut; and son Richard Litton and daughter-in-law Alysia of Wall Township, New Jersey; sister Betty Ray of Charlottesville, Virginia; and three grandchildren. A funeral was held on November 12 at Trinity Church, Princeton. Burial will take place at a later date at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in the village of Litton in Somerset County and the Diocese of Bath and Wells in England. Memorial gifts may be made to the Association of Anglican Musicians James Litton Grant for Choral Training (anglicanmusicians.org/litton-gift) and the Alzheimer’s Association (alz.org).

Wayne Kerr Riddell

Wayne Kerr Riddell, 86, died November 6, 2022. Born September 10, 1936, in Lachute, Québec, Canada, he began playing organ in the local United Church when he was 14. Graduating in 1960 from McGill University, Montréal, he taught music and singing in the public school system. In 1968 he joined McGill’s faculty, where he taught keyboard harmony, ear training, and choral conducting, and was head of choral studies. At the same time, he worked in church music for congregations including Westmount Park Church, Erskine United Church, and American United Church. For 14 years he was director of music at the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul. In 1976, he founded The Tudor Singers, a professional choir that toured the United States, Canada, and Europe. McGill University awarded him a Doctor of Music degree in 2014. He would serve as competition adjudicator, choral workshop clinician, guest conductor, mentor, and philanthropist. 

Wayne Kerr Riddell was predeceased by his life partner, Norman Beckow. A memorial service was held at the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul on November 22. Memorial gifts may be given to the Wayne Riddell Choral Scholarship Fund, McGill University (mcgill.ca), or to the music program, the Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul, Montréal (standrewstpaul.com).

Ned Rorem

Ned Rorem, 99, died November 18, 2022, in New York, New York. He was born in Richmond, Indiana, on October 23, 1923. The family would move to Chicago where Rorem was educated at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools and the American Conservatory of Music. He studied at Northwestern University before attending the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, and The Juilliard School, New York City. Rorem was raised a Quaker, and this influenced the composition of his organ work, A Quaker Reader, based on Quaker texts.

In 1966 he published The Paris Diary of Ned Rorem. This was followed by Later Diaries 1951–1972 in 1974 and The Nantucket Diary of Ned Rorem, 1973–1985 in 1987. Rorem wrote essays collected in the anthologies Music from Inside Out (1967), Music and People (1968), Pure Contraption (1974), Setting the Tone (1983), Settling the Score (1988), and Other Entertainment (1996). He was the subject of a 2005 film, Ned Rorem: Word & Music. He composed in a wide variety of genres, including operas, orchestral, and chamber music. He also wrote extensively for organ and organ with choral and orchestral forces.

Ned Rorem was predeceased by his life partner, organist James Roland Holmes, in 1999.

Frederick Lewis Swann

Frederick Lewis Swann, 91, died November 13, 2022. Born July 30, 1931, in Lewisburg, West Virginia, he was the son of a Methodist pastor (and later bishop). He began taking piano lessons at age five from the organist at Market Street Methodist Church, Winchester, Virginia, and soon thereafter began taking organ lessons. He began playing his first church services at age ten at Braddock Street Methodist Church, Winchester, where his father was pastor.

Swann’s family moved to Staunton, Virginia, in 1943, and Frederick continued organ study with Carl Broman. After graduating from high school, Swann entered the School of Music at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, studying with Thomas Matthews and John Christensen. Upon graduation, he attended the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, studying with Hugh Porter and Charles M. Courboin. After serving as interim organist at Brick Presbyterian Church during the illness of Clarence Dickinson and serving as Harold Friedell’s assistant at St. Bartholomew’s Church, Swann entered the United States Army for two years.

From 1952 until 1982, Swann worked for The Riverside Church, New York City, first as a substitute organist for Virgil Fox and then appointed organist in 1957. With the retirement of Richard Weagly as choir director in 1966, Swann became director of music and organist through 1982.

At that time, Swann was appointed director of music and organist at the Crystal Cathedral (now Christ Cathedral), Garden Grove, California, where he conducted the choir and presided over the five-manual, 265-rank Hazel Wright organ, appearing weekly on the internationally televised Hour of Power worship services. In 1988, Swann became organist of First Congregational Church, Los Angeles, which houses the largest church organ in the world, serving there until 2001.

Frederick Swann performed recitals throughout North America, Europe, South America, and Asia, including such venues as Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris; St. Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, London; and the cathedrals of Cologne and Passau in Germany. His accomplishments include more than 3,000 recitals in all 50 of the United States and 12 other countries, including events dedicating new, rebuilt, and restored instruments. He performed with orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony. Swann announced his retirement as a concert organist with a series of programs beginning in August 2016 at age 85. He would continue to serve as artist-in-residence at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, Palm Desert, California. For decades he was represented in North America by Karen McFarlane Artists, Inc.

Swann served on the adjunct faculties of the Guilmant Organ School, Union Theological Seminary School of Sacred Music, and Teacher’s College of Columbia University, all in New York City. He also served on the faculty of Manhattan School of Music and was the school’s organ department chair. From 2007 until 2018, he was university organist and artist teacher of organ at University of Redlands in California.

Swann was active in the American Guild of Organists, serving in various capacities including the organization’s president from 2002 until 2008. Also in 2002, he was named International Performer of the Year by the New York City AGO Chapter. At the 2010 AGO national convention in Washington, DC, he was presented the Edward A. Hansen Leadership Award. In 2015, the Royal Canadian College of Organists named Swann a Fellow, honoris causa, and in 2018 the AGO honored him as the organization’s first honoris causa recipient of its Fellow certificate (FAGO). Swann received the honorary Doctor of Music degree from University of Redlands upon his retirement in 2018.

Frederick Swann published more than three dozen anthems for choir, as well as organ works based on hymntunes. Perhaps his best-known composition is his Trumpet Tune in D Major. Swann’s discography of organ and choral recordings includes albums featuring the organs of The Riverside Church, Crystal Cathedral, First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

For more information, see Steven Egler’s interview, “A conversation with Frederick Swann, Crown Prince of the King of Instruments,” in the November 2014 issue, pages 20–24.

A memorial service for Frederick Lewis Swann will take place January 25, 10:30 a.m., at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, Palm Desert, California. Memorial gifts may be made to The American Guild of Organists Frederick Swann Scholarship, The American Guild of Organists Herrmann/Swann Fund (agohq.org), or to the Fred Swann Music Endowment, St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, Palm Desert, California (stmargarets.org).

Roger Allen Banks died June 5 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He was born October 12, 1940, in Lawrence, Kansas, and grew up in the funeral business in Wichita, Kansas, though developing an interest in music early in life. His first experience maintaining organs was with the theater pipe organ in his uncle’s basement. He attended the University of Kansas, majoring in electrical engineering, but moved with his parents to Oklahoma City in 1960 and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music degree in 1965 from Oklahoma City University. Because of his uncle’s affiliation with the Reuter Organ Company in Lawrence, he had the opportunity to work on pipe organ projects while in school. He then went to work full-time for Reuter upon graduation where he was responsible for new installations around the country, in addition to tuning and maintenance. He met his wife Betsy while installing a large instrument at Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts, and told her if he married an organist, he would build her a pipe organ. He built her a home practice organ that, each time they moved, dictated where they could live. His last project was to convert the practice organ to a digital instrument for their new, smaller home.

The Bankses moved to Oklahoma City in 1970 where he eventually became manager with Oklahoma Wilbert Vaults and was active in the Oklahoma Funeral Directors Association. He established his own organ maintenance business in the early 1980s, also serving as sales representative for the Reuter Organ Company. He was a long-time member and former vestry member at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Edmond.

Roger Allen Banks is survived by his wife of 49 years, Betsy; his daughter, Jennifer McGrew of Edmond and her husband, Shane; son, Chris of Edmond; two grandchildren, one sister, and one brother. A memorial service was held June 18 at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Oklahoma City. A scholarship has been established in his name at the University of Oklahoma to benefit organbuilding and technology students. Memorials should be addressed to: OU Foundation, Banks Fund #33905, c/o The American Organ Institute, 2101 W. Tecumseh Rd., Suite C, Norman, OK 73069.

Jane Manton Marshall, 94, composer of sacred music, author, choral conductor, clinician, and educator, died May 29 in Dallas, Texas. Jane Manton was born December 5, 1924, in Dallas. Her earliest musical studies were with piano teacher Hazel Cobb.

Marshall had a long association with Southern Methodist University, Dallas, earning both Bachelor of Music (1945) and Master of Music (1968) degrees there. She studied organ with Dora Poteet Barclay and was a member of Sigma Kappa, Alpha Lambda Delta, and Mortar Board. A year after completing her undergraduate degree, she married high school classmate Elbert Hall Marshall, a mechanical engineer and also an SMU graduate.

At various times she taught in the SMU English department, in the Music department at Meadows School of the Arts, and at Perkins School of Theology. From 1975 to 2010 she led the Church Music Summer School at Perkins. In 1965 she received the Woman of Achievement Award from SMU, and she was named a Distinguished Alumna in 1992. In addition, she received the Roger Deschner Award from the Fellowship of United Methodist Musicians (1997) and was honored twice by the Southern Baptist Musicians Conference for her contributions to church music.

As a composer, she is perhaps best remembered for her anthem “My Eternal King,” her first published work, cited by publisher Carl Fischer as one of its 15 or so best-selling anthems of all time, and considered a favorite of many church musicians. Other notable compositions include “He Comes to Us,” a setting of the closing words of Albert Schweitzer’s “The Quest for the Historical Jesus;” “Awake, My Heart,” winner of the Best New Anthem prize of the American Guild of Organists in 1957; “Fanfare for Easter,” “Sing Alleluia Forth,” and many others. Her catalog extended to over 200 published anthems for adult and children’s choirs and three collections of children’s choir music.

Later in her career she focused her attention on the writing of hymn tunes and texts, as in “What Gift Can We Bring,” for which she wrote both words and music. Her work is represented in the hymnals of every major Protestant denomination, and she was a frequent contributor to church music journals. Other writings include Grace, Noted, a book of sermons and essays on music making.

Jane Manton Marshall is survived her husband Elbert Marshall; children Shoshana Lash of Ansonia, Connecticut, David Marshall of Lewisville, Texas, and Peter Marshall of Atlanta, Georgia. A memorial service is planned for a later date. Memorial gifts may be made to Perkins School of Theology at SMU and to Northaven United Methodist Church, Dallas.

Nancianne B. Parrella, 83, died June 2 in Cincinnati, Ohio. She was born November 14, 1935, in Trenton, New Jersey, and earned degrees in music from Trenton State College, now known as the College of New Jersey. She began teaching music in the Princeton, New Jersey, public schools in 1957. Her church music career began at First Presbyterian Church and Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Trenton. She continued advanced organ studies with Vernon deTar in New York City in the 1960s.

As an organist, Parrella presented solo recitals and concerto performances with orchestras; she was best known as a collaborative artist, particularly as a choral accompanist. In Princeton, she was co-director with William Trego of the Princeton High School Choir, and she joined the faculty of Westminster Choir College of Rider University, where she was accompanist and assistant director of the Westminster Choir and Symphonic Choir directed by the late Joseph Flummerfelt, with which she toured and recorded in Europe, America, Taiwan, and Korea.

Parrella taught in summer programs at Westminster, performing with major choral conductors; and she assisted at the Spoleto Festivals in Italy and in Charleston, South Carolina, where she was the founding director of the chamber music series “Intermezzo.” She worked with Maurice Duruflé on the first performances of his Requiem in the United States.

Parrella was long associated with Robert Shaw, with whom she worked in summer choral workshops and later in France with his Festival Singers, and toured and recorded in America, France, and Brazil. She also collaborated with other conductors of the era—Kurt Masur, Charles Dutoit, and Lorin Maazel with the New York Philharmonic; Wolfgang Sawallisch of the Philadelphia Orchestra; Zdenek Macal and Neeme Järvi of the New Jersey Symphony; and James Bagwell and Louis Langrée in New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival.

As a church musician, she worked with Kent Tritle and later Scott Warren at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, New York City, and its concert series Sacred Music in a Sacred Space, where she served for over 20 years. Also in New York, from 1978–1992 she worked with Frederick Grimes in the Bach Vespers program at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church and was a frequent accompanist for other conductors, including Dennis Keene and Voices of Ascension. For 14 years she worked with Greg Funfgeld and the Bethlehem Bach Choir in its historic festivals in Pennsylvania, and she also served at Trinity Episcopal Church, Princeton, with John Bertalot.

After moving with her husband Joachim E. Parrella to Cincinnati, she commuted to New York City to continue to play at St. Ignatius Loyola and to work with Andrew Henderson at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church. She was also active in music programs in Cincinnati: Christ Church Cathedral with Stephan Casurella, Knox Presbyterian, Covenant First Presbyterian, Collegium Cincinnati, Summer Sing, Indian Hill Episcopal Presbyterian Church, and for community events at Deupree House.

Nancianne B. Parrella was preceeded in death by her husband Joachim E. Parrella in 2013. She is survived by her two daughters: Amy Noznesky, her husband David, and their daughter Megan Strauss, of Hobe Sound, Florida; and Lisa O’Connell, her husband Terry, and their daughters Catherine Rose and Madeline Kellett, of Loveland, Ohio. A funeral service was held June 11 at Christ Church Cathedral, Cincinnati, and a memorial service will be held September 21, at St. Ignatius Loyola, New York City.

Nunc Dimittis

Roy Henry Carey, Jr., 89, died April 28. He was born in Carlsbad, New Mexico, on October 18, 1929, and lived there most of his life. He attended Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, before transferring to Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas, where he received degrees in music and humanities, with a major in organ performance, studying with Donald Willing. He reported to Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island, in July 1953 and was in active service with the United States Navy until his honorable discharge as a Lt. JG in 1956. During his active duty he was stationed in Morocco and Nantucket as an information officer.

Carey entered Stanford University Graduate School of Business in 1958. His pursuit of a Master of Business Administration degree was cut short by the untimely death of his father, owner of the Carlsbad Oil Company. Carey returned to Carlsbad that year to become manager of the family business. During his time as a student at Stanford, he met his wife, Barbara, whom he married in 1962. Before he was married, he used his Navy money to purchase a small Rieger mechanical-action organ, which he sold in 2010.

A devoted member of Grace Episcopal Church, Carlsbad, he served as its senior warden and as its organist for 54 years. One of his proudest achievements was shepherding the acquisition of a mechanical-action Kney organ for the church. Over the years he arranged many concerts on this instrument. He was a member of the Diocese of the Rio Grande Music Commission during the years when the Episcopal hymnal and prayer book were being revised. In this capacity, he and his wife traveled to national meetings to participate in the hymnal revision process. Later he served as president of the Rio Grande Standing Committee.

Roy Henry Carey, Jr., is survived by his wife, Barbara; his son Hank Carey and wife Michele and their children Hayden and Ashley; daughter Martha Carey and wife Elisabeth Fidler; and daughter Julia and husband William and their daughters Annemarie and Téa. A memorial service was held May 4 Grace Episcopal Church.

Kathryn Ulvilden Moen, 99, died May 16. She was born May 14, 1920. A fixture of the Twin Cities, Minnesota, church music and organ scene, she graduated from Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, in 1941, earned a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to go to Norway where she studied at the Konservatoriet. She later studied with André Marchal in Paris, France, and with Heinrich Fleischer at the University of Minnesota.

Moen taught for 30 years at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, retiring at age 86. She held various church music positions including that at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in south Minneapolis, where she was instrumental in the selection of a Casavant organ in the 1960s, and later at St. Anthony Park Lutheran Church. Moen attended summer organ seminars in the Netherlands, France, Norway, and the Czech Republic. She later recorded an LP album of Czech organ repertoire that was reissued in CD format.

Patrick Wedd, 71, church musician, organist, composer, choral conductor, and founding director of the choral ensemble Musica Orbium, died May 19. He retired as director of music at Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal, Canada in 2018, after 22 years of service.

Wedd was born in 1948 in Ontario and earned degrees in organ performance from the universities of Toronto and British Columbia. He was director of music for 11 years at Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver, British Columbia.

In 1986 he moved to Montreal to assume artistic directorship of the Tudor Singers. He performed organ recitals in North America and England, and he recorded the Poulenc and Jongen organ concertos with the Calgary Symphony Orchestra, NAXOS discs of music for organ and trombone with Alain Trudel, as well as organ works of Healy Willan. He composed for the church, including anthems, Masses, canticles, and hymns. He was also artistic director of the Montreal Boys’ Choir Course (now the Massachusetts Course) for over 20 years.

Wedd received an honorary Doctorate of Divinity degree from McGill’s Diocesan College and an honorary Fellowship of the Royal Canadian College of Organists. At his retirement he also received the President’s Award of the RCCO Montreal Centre. (Additional information can be found in the September 2018 issue, pp. 10–11.)

Patrick Wedd is survived by his husband Robert Wells, his sisters Penny and Pam, and Pam’s partner Jane, along with Wedd and Wells family in-laws. His funeral was held May 31 at Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal.

William “Bill” Freestate Wharton, 75, of Easton, Maryland, died May 19. Born January 4, 1944, he earned degrees (Bachelor of Arts, Master of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts) in music from Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut; Northwestern University School of Music, Evanston, Illinois; and Catholic University of America School of Music, Washington, D.C. His teachers included Margaret Wolcott, organist and choir director of his hometown church, Clarence Watters, Richard Enright, and Conrad Bernier.

Wharton taught music for 35 years in the public schools of Talbot County and Chesapeake College, Maryland, where he was named professor of music and was honored at his retirement as professor emeritus. He served as organist of St. Mark’s United Methodist Church, Easton, for over 50 years. In 2007 with 40 years of service at St. Mark’s, the church honored him with the rebuilding and updating of the pipe organ’s console. In 2017 with 50 years of service he was honored with a commissioned piece, “Variations on Engelberg” by Mark Miller. He earned the Associate and Choir Master certifications of the American Guild of Organists, and he presented and organized recitals and concerts throughout the Mid-Shore region.

William Freestate Wharton is survived by his brother, Franklin M. Wharton of Centreville, Maryland, and sister-in-law Kay G. Wharton of Butler, Pennsylvania.

Philip Klepfer Gehring, 94, died October 6, 2020, in Oak Park, Illinois. Born November 27, 1925, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, he graduated from Carlisle High School in 1943. He studied for one year at Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, before interrupting his education for three years in the United States Navy as an ensign. Upon completion of service, he continued studies at Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music, Oberlin, Ohio, graduating with Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music degrees in 1950. During this time, he was awarded prizes in theory and organ and was a student conductor of the college choir.

From 1950 until 1952, he served as organist and choirmaster for Kimball Memorial Lutheran Church, Kannapolis, North Carolina. On August 26, 1951, in Clear Lake, Iowa, he married Betty Burns. The following year, he began graduate studies at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, where he earned a Master of Music degree in 1955. His principal organ teachers were Bernard Wert, Fenner Douglas, and Arthur Poister. Composition teachers included Herbert Elwell and Ernst Bacon. He was a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists.

Philip Gehring was assistant professor of music and college organist at Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina, from 1952 to 1958. He studied organ with André Marchal in France in 1957 under a grant from Southern Fellowships. He would later study with Harold Vogel and William Porter.

In 1958, Gehring joined the faculty of Valparaiso University, Valparaiso, Indiana. The university’s Memorial Chapel, since renamed the Chapel of the Resurrection, was opened that September and dedicated the following year, along with its large Schlicker organ that would become an iconic instrument in the American Orgelbewegung movement. There he taught organ, improvisation, and other subjects and served as university organist. During leaves from the university in 1960–1961 and 1962–1963 he pursued doctoral studies at Syracuse University with a grant from Danforth Teacher Study Grants, earning the Doctor of Philosophy degree in humanities in 1963 with a dissertation, “Improvisation in Contemporary Organ Playing.” In 1985, Gehring was named the first Frederick A. and Maize N. Reddel Professor of Music at Valparaiso University. That same year, he was elected an honorary alumnus of the institution. In 2010, the Institute of Liturgical Studies at the university awarded Gehring its second Christus Rex Award for significant contributions to Lutheran liturgical scholarship and renewal.

In 1970, Gehring won the national improvisation competition of the AGO, and the following year he participated by invitation in the International Organ Improvisation Competition in Haarlem, the Netherlands. He was a visiting scholar at Stanford University.

Gehring served on the national council of the AGO, was president of the Lutheran Society for Music, Worship, and the Arts, a predecessor to the Institute of Liturgical Studies, and vice president of the international Lutheran church music organization, Ecclesia Cantans. His research was published in various journals, particularly on the subjects of performance practice in the organ works of Bach and on contemporary organ literature. As a composer, his organ and choral works were published by Concordia Publishing House, Augsburg-Fortress, MorningStar, Hinshaw, Brodt, and E. C. Schirmer.

Philip Gehring performed organ recitals and presented lectures and hymn festivals across the United States, including performances at three conventions of the AGO, as well as in Canada and Europe. He was represented by Phyllis Stringham Concert Management for many years. In 1982, he was a recitalist and judge for the Manchester (England) International Organ Competition. He frequently appeared in performance with his wife, Betty, a violinist who also served on the faculty of Valparaiso University. Philip Gehring recorded two LPs: one on the Reddel Memorial Schlicker organ in the Valparaiso University chapel with works by Schumann, Pachelbel, Barber, and Read; and An organ recital by Philip Gehring honoring Dr. Eugene Megerle, recorded on the Link organ in the Stadtkirche of Schorndorf, Germany, and featuring works by Lübeck, Bach, Pepping, and Mendelssohn.

After retirement from Valparaiso University in 1989, he remained active as a composer and performer. From 1993 until 1996, he served as founding editor of CrossAccent, the journal of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians. Annual Christmas letters from the Gehrings included a freshly composed canon on a Christmas text. He and his wife Betty would move to Oak Park, Illinois, to be near children and grandchildren.

Philip Klepfer Gehring is survived by his wife, Betty; three children, Kristin Gehring and husband Walter Miller, Thomas Gehring, and Martin Gehring and wife Ruth Gehring; seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. A memorial service will be held at a later date at First United Church, Oak Park, Illinois.

Allen Jay Sever, 91, died in Minneapolis on September 29. Born in Kansas City, Kansas, he graduated from the conservatory at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, in 1951 with a double major in piano and organ. After serving in the Air Force, completing a Master of Sacred Music degree at Union Theological Seminary, New York City, and studying on a Fulbright Scholarship at the Royal School of Church Music in England, Sever played the organ and directed the choir at West End Collegiate Church, New York, New York, for more than fifty years. He also played at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue for more than forty years and taught at the Manhattan School of Music and at Hebrew Union College. He was preceded in death by his wife Kathryn Cozine Sever. 

Allen Jay Sever is survived by his two children, Alicia (Eric Johnson) Cozine and Kirk (Elizabeth Short) Cozine of Minneapolis, and two grandchildren, Owen and McLean. A celebration of his life will be held in Minneapolis in September 2021.