Harry Huff dead at 64

Nunc Dimittis

Harry Lyn Huff, minister of music for Old South Church, Copley Square, Boston, Massachusetts, died November 3, of complications from a brain aneurism. Born October 25, 1952, in Sevierville, Tennessee, he studied at the North Carolina School of the Arts, Winston-Salem, and later at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. He won competitions sponsored by the American Guild of Organists, the Royal Canadian College of Organists, the National Society of Arts and Letters, and the Music Teachers’ National Association. He was guest artist at the Aspen, Spoleto, Mostly Mozart, Copenhagen, and Avignon summer festivals, and appeared with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the American Composer’s Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony, the New York Pops, and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

From 1978 until 2004, he enjoyed a career in New York City that included collaborations with artists as varied as Jessye Norman, Judy Collins, Al Hirt, and Lar Lubovitch. His recording projects included organ music of late composers Calvin Hampton and Chris DeBlasio. More recent solo organ recital appearances included the E. Power Biggs Celebrity Series Recitals at Busch Hall, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Peter Schickele’s “PDQ Bach” concerts in Carnegie Hall, New York City.

From 1984 until 2004, Huff was director of music for Calvary Episcopal Church and from 1986 until 2004 organist and artist-in-residence at Union Theological Seminary, both in New York City. He also served as adjunct organist at St. Paul’s Chapel, Columbia University, organist of Temple Shaaray Tefita, and director of choral activities for the Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College, City University of New York, and artistic director for St. George’s Choral Society.

Harry Huff became minister of music for Old South Church, Boston, in September 2007, supervising the church’s music program including its multiple choirs, jazz ministry, the Old South Ringers, and concert series. He was also lecturer on ministry at Harvard Divinity School, chapter organist in the Memorial Church, Harvard, as well as associate in the music department and an affiliate of Lowell House of Harvard, as well as artist associate of the St. Botolph Club of Boston.

Harry Lyn Huff is survived by his brother and sister-in-law, Don and Beth Stanton, nephews Bruce, Billy, and Wesley, and their families. A memorial service was held at Old South Church, Boston, on November 19. Donations may be made to the Harry L. Huff Memorial Fund, Old South Church, 645 Boylston Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116.

Gary Jenkins died September 29, 2016, at the age of 74. He was born in Rockford, Illinois; his parents moved shortly thereafter to Terre Haute, Indiana, then later to Chicago, Illinois, where he spent most of his life. Jenkins served in churches of various denominations, including Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, United Brethren, and United Church of Christ congregations, as well as a synagogue. The churches he served included the First United Methodist Church of Park Ridge, Illinois, and St. Genevieve Catholic Church of Chicago. He also taught at the Park Ridge School for Girls, Park Ridge, Illinois. Jenkins returned to Terre Haute in 2000 to care for his mother. There he served as minister of music for Central Presbyterian Church.

Gary Jenkins is survived by his stepbrother, Patrick O’Malley, of Terre Haute. A memorial service was held October 8 at the Carmelite Monastery of Terre Haute.

Sue Ellen Page Johnson, 67, died November 27, 2016, of brain cancer. She was born June 29, 1949, in Osceola, Iowa, to parents who were church musicians. Johnson earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in music education and sacred music at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, Princeton, New Jersey, and taught there as an adjunct instructor. She received a specialist diploma from the Orff Institute of the Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria. She conducted choral festivals for children and youth and taught teacher training seminars around the United States and abroad. She was well known for her arrangements and compositions for children and youth singers.

From 1982 until 2016 she was director of choirs for children and youth at Nassau Presbyterian Church, Princeton, and was founder in 1989 of the Trenton Children’s Chorus, serving as its artistic director until 2004. Among her awards were a New Jersey Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts and the distinguished alumni award from Westminster Choir College.

In 1972, she married Eric Johnson, who survives her. Also surviving are her four children: Amanda, Luke, Ben, and Mandy; four brothers: Bill, Richard, Bob, and Dave; and seven grandchildren.

A memorial service for Sue Ellen Page Johnson was held December 20 at Nassau Presbyterian Church. Memorial gifts may be made to the Trenton Children’s Chorus (www.trentonchildrenschorus.org) or CASA for Children (www.casaforchildren.org).

James Leslie Boeringer, born March 4, 1930, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, died January 12 of pancreatic cancer. He earned a BA in organ performance from the College of Wooster (Ohio) in 1952, an MA in musicology from Columbia University in 1954, a doctorate in sacred music from the former Union Theological Seminary in New York, New York, in 1964, and completed post-doctoral studies at New York University. Boeringer received associate certification from the American Guild of Organists in 1953. He presented recitals in organ and harpsichord in 20 of the United States, and in England and France.

Beginning with his first church position, as organist of Homewood Baptist Church in Pittsburgh in November 1947, he served churches in Ohio, New Jersey, New York City, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and London, England. He moved to the Washington, D.C., area in 1992 and served as organist at Church of the Pilgrims (Presbyterian) Washington, Messiah Lutheran Church in Germantown, and Fifth Church of Christ, Scientist, in Georgetown, playing his last service December 29, 2013, just two weeks before his death.  

Boeringer served as executive director of the Moravian Music Foundation in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, as university organist and on the faculty at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee; at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, he was a professor and chair of the music department. A Phillips Distinguished Visitor at Haverford College, he founded the Krisheim Church Music Conference in Philadelphia, and directed the Creative Arts Festival at Susquehanna University from 1972 to 1975, and the Moravian Music Festival in 1981 and 1984.  

As a composer Boeringer wrote 23 published original works for chorus and organ, organ solo, chamber ensemble, and other combinations, including a cantata and a song cycle; and about 50 unpublished pieces, including an oratorio with full orchestra. He wrote more than 25 hymn tunes and hymn texts, some of which appear in Baptist, Lutheran, Mennonite, Moravian, and ecumenical hymnals. Selected works are available through the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) website (imslp.org).  

He authored the three-volume Organa Britannica: Organs in Great Britain, 1660–1860, as well as other books on hymnody and biographies of organists and composers of church music. His essays were published in periodicals and books. 

A widely published arts critic and scholar, he wrote numerous articles and reviews, which appeared in the Journal of Church Music; Moravian Music Journal; Music, the A.G.O. Magazine; The Organ Yearbook (Netherlands); The Musical Times (London); The New York Times; The American Organist; The Diapason; and The Tracker. He was the editor for the Society for Organ History and Preservation.  

Boeringer published fiction under a pseudonym. A member of Equity, he has a long list of theater credits in a variety of roles including actor, singer, director, music director, composer, narrator, and chorus arranger. He had an abiding interest in historic buildings and moved and restored two log cabins in his lifetime, and was an avid gardener.  

James Leslie Boeringer is survived by his wife of 58 years, Grace, and children Lisa Stocker, Greta, and Daniel, and a brother David.  

Peter Rasmussen Hallock died April 27, 2014, in Fall City, Washington; he was 89. A composer, organist, liturgist, and countertenor, among other activities, he was long associated with St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral of Seattle. Hallock began organ study with Clayton Johnson of Tacoma. He enrolled at the University of Washington, but was drafted into the United States Army, serving from June 1943 until February 1946 as chaplain’s assistant and sharpshooter in the Pacific theater during World War II. Returning to the University of Washington, he studied organ with Walter Eichinger and composition with George McKay, then studied at the College of St. Nicholas at the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM) in Canterbury, England, becoming the first American choral scholar at Canterbury Cathedral, under the direction of Gerald Knight. He completed the RSCM program and received a bachelor of arts degree in music from the University of Washington in 1951 and master of arts degree in music from the same institution in 1958.

Peter Hallock became organist/choirmaster of St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, Seattle, on October 28, 1951, a position he held until retirement in 1991. At St. Mark’s, he founded a chant study group in the mid 1950s that became known as the Compline Choir, which remains in the forefront of the resurgence of interest in the Office of Compline. He was instrumental in the cathedral’s acquisition of a four-manual Flentrop mechanical-action organ in 1965. At the cathedral, Hallock also introduced Advent and Good Friday processions as well as liturgical drama. He was named Canon Precentor, the first lay person in the Episcopal Church to hold this title, named an associate of the RSCM, and was honored with an honorary doctor of music degree by the Church Divinity School of the Pacific. In 1992, he became organist at St. Clement of Rome Episcopal Church, Seattle, remaining until March 2013. Hallock was also well known and respected for his countertenor concerts, with performances throughout the United States. As a composer, Peter Hallock created more than 250 works, from occasional church music to extended anthems, dramatic works (sacred and secular) to music specifically written for the Compline Choir. Among his many publications was The Ionian Psalter.

Peter Rasmussen Hallock is survived by his sisters, Matilda Ann Milbank of Los Altos, California, and Barbara Hallock of Kent, Washington, as well as several nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews. Memorial gifts may be made to the Compline Choir of St. Mark’s Cathedral or to the Cathedral Foundation of the Diocese of Olympia, Seattle.

Robert Burgess Lynn, 83 years old, passed away February 11 in Houston, Texas. A native of Colorado Springs, he studied organ and piano with Roy Harris, Frederick Boothroyd, and Joanna Harris while in high school. In 1952, he earned a BA at Colorado College (where he studied with Frederick Boothroyd and Max Lanner, and was chapel organist), and a master’s in organ from the Juilliard School of Music, received Honorable Mention in the AGO Young Artists’ Contest in Organ Playing in San Francisco, and married Elaine Steele, also a musician. In 1956, Lynn received a Fulbright Scholarship to study organ playing and construction with Finn Viderø under the auspices of the University of Copenhagen. His studies were briefly delayed when the family’s ship, the Stockholm, collided with the Andrea Doria, which subsequently sank. During his time in Copenhagen, he saw and played several great organs, including the organ at Sweden’s Malmö Museum, built in 1520, and at the Royal Chapel in Copenhagen, built in 1827. Lynn became a Fellow of the AGO in 1964, receiving the highest marks of any candidate in Section I of the FAGO examinations. 

Robert Lynn taught from 1954 to 1971 at Allegheny College as an assistant professor of music. In 1973, he received his PhD in musicology from Indiana University; his dissertation was entitled “Renaissance Organ Music for the Proper of the Mass in Continental Sources.” From 1971 to 1997, he served as professor of musicology at the University of Houston where he also directed the Collegium Musicum and the graduate studies program. His monograph, Valentin Haussmann (1565/70–Ca. 1614): A Thematic-Documentary Catalogue of His Works, was published by Pendragon Press. In 1997, he was named professor emeritus. 

Lynn also enjoyed visiting professorships at Rice University, Indiana University, and the University of Siegen. While a resident of Houston, Lynn was well known for his organ recitals in addition to his role as harpsichord soloist, playing in many concerts associated with the Houston Harpsichord Society (now Houston Early Music). From 1982 to 2004, he was the founding director of the Houston Bach Choir and Orchestra at Christ the King Lutheran Church. Lynn served as director of music and organist at St. Francis Episcopal Church for 25 years, and also as long-term interim organist at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church. Memorial contributions may be made to the Bach Society Houston, 2353 Rice Blvd, Houston, TX 77005, or to the Christ Church Cathedral Music Program, 1117 Texas Ave., Houston, TX 77002.

Fred S. Mauk died on April 7, two weeks before his 83rd birthday, after a short illness. Mauk did his undergraduate study at Stetson University and Rollins College, where he earned a degree in music, and received his master’s degree in 1958 from the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He held church music positions in Missouri, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Florida, his last position being director of music for 33 years at St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church in Altamonte Springs, Florida, where he retired in 2011; at St. Mark’s he installed a pipe organ (purchased from a church in North Carolina) in the sanctuary.

An active member of the Central Florida AGO chapter, Mauk served in many chapter positions, including dean, and was instrumental in coordinating the 1993 regional AGO convention in Orlando. He was also known for his encouragement of young musicians, his sense of humor, his organizational skills, his many interests, including old cars and antique car shows, and his ability to work well with everyone. 

Mary Lou McCarthy-Artz, age 78, died at her home in Plymouth, Indiana, on May 7. Born November 18, 1935, Mary Lou Smith graduated from high school in 1953, marrying her first husband, Joseph L. Merkel, two years later. She studied piano at the Jordan Conservatory of Music, Butler University, in Indianapolis. After her husband’s death, she married Rodney Evans and moved to Covington, Indiana, where they lived for more than twenty years. It was there, while holding down a full-time job as an executive secretary, that she began working part-time as organist at nearby Catholic parishes: St. Joseph, Covington; St. Bernard, Crawfordsville; and Holy Family, Danville, Illinois. In 1993, she began full-time ministry as organist and choir director for the motherhouse of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ, Ancilla Domini, in Donaldson, Indiana. A long-time member of the American Guild of Organists, she had served as chapter dean and had recently earned her CAGO certificate. Mary Lou McCarthy-Artz is survived by her husband, Donald Artz, two daughters, Nancy Merkel Starkey of Jacksonville, Florida, and Janet Evans Snyder of Georgetown, Illinois, as well as two grandchildren. ν

Nunc Dimittis

Wilbur R. Dodge, 83, died November 20, 2017, in Binghamton, New York, an engineer, physicist, professional photographer, English country dancer, organist, organbuilder, and organ technician. He graduated from Clarkson University and Harpur College (now Binghamton University) with degrees in electrical engineering and physics and followed in his father’s footsteps working at Ansco Film Company.  With Norman Smith, he started their company, R D & D before he moved on to Link Aviation where he worked on simulators for the Gemini and Apollo missions.

Dodge was a member of the choir and guest organist for various churches in the community including Trinity Memorial and Christ Churches. He also maintained and tuned pipe organs in churches throughout the region. He was dean of the Binghamton Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, 1999–2001. 

Wilbur R. Dodge is survived by his partner, Anneliese Heurich; children: Glenn Burch (Bellefonte, Pennsylvania), Michael and Tammy Burch (Deland, Florida), Barbara Burch (Paisley, Florida), and Laura Appleton (Binghamton); several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A memorial service was held at Christ Episcopal Church in Binghamton on January 20.

Mark Coan Jones died December 24, 2017. Born February 25, 1957, in Asheville, North Carolina, he studied organ with Marilyn Keiser and with Donna Robertson at nearby Mars Hill College. For the past 22 years, Jones was director of music and organist for The Pink Church (First Presbyterian Church), Pompano Beach, Florida. He previously served St. Nicholas Episcopal Church, Pompano Beach; First Presbyterian Church, Newton, North Carolina; and Trinity Episcopal Church, Asheville.

Jones appeared with the Florida Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Lynn University Conservatory Orchestra, Young Artists Chamber Orchestra, Palm Beach Atlantic Symphony, and Miami Bach Society, and in collaborations with chamber groups and area choruses, including the Nova Singers, Florida Philharmonic Chorus, Master Chorale of South Florida, Masterworks Chorus of the Palm Beaches, Fort Lauderdale Christian Chorale, and Gay Men’s Chorus of South Florida. He arranged music for organ and brass and performed with the Dallas Brass, Avatar Brass, Empire Brass, Lynn Conservatory Brass, and Eastman Brass. He performed extensively across Europe, Scandinavia, and Russia, in collaborations and solo recitals. 

Jones’s organ compositions have been performed in venues across the United States and in Europe, and have been broadcast nationally. His Three Lenten Hymn Meditations, Trumpet Tune in D, and Lenten Hymntunes have been recorded and performed by various organists.

From 2006 through 2014, Mark was principal accompanist for the von Trapp Children, the great-grandchildren of the singing family made famous by the Rodgers & Hammerstein movie The Sound of Music. His solo appearances and concerts with the von Trapps included performances around the world.

Mark Coan Jones is survived by his parents Hubert Mack and Shirley Williams Jones of Asheville, his sister Suzanne Jones Hamel and husband Richard Anson Hamel of Covington, Kentucky, and his partner Hilarion (Kiko) Suarez Moreno of Deerfield Beach, Florida.

Yuko Hayashi died January 7 in Salem, New Hampshire, at the age of 88. She was born in Hiratsuka, Japan, on November 2, 1929. For more than 40 years she was professor of organ at the New England Conservatory and department chair for 30 years. As a performer, she concertized extensively on three continents—Asia, North America, and Europe—giving recitals and masterclasses in Japan, South Korea, the United States, Holland, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. She was the recipient of the coveted Arion Award from the Cambridge Society for Early Music as an “outstanding performer and master teacher of the historical organ.” She was also awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from the New England Conservatory.

Hayashi graduated with a degree in organ performance from Tokyo University of the Arts in 1948 and for five years was organist for the symphony orchestra of NHK, the Japanese national broadcasting company. She came to the United States in 1953 on scholarship, sponsored by Philanthropic Educational Organization and studied for one year at Cottey College in Nevada, Missouri. She then transferred to the New England Conservatory in Boston where she was awarded three degrees in organ performance: Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, and Artist Diploma. In 1960 she began teaching at the conservatory and was appointed chair of the department in 1969 by then president Gunther Schuller. Her primary teachers were George Faxon, Donald Willing, Anton Heiller, and Gustav Leonhardt (harpsichord).

Her frequent travels to Europe began in 1966 when she went to the Haarlem Organ Academy in the Netherlands and began life-long associations with Anton Heiller, Luigi Tagliavini, and Marie-Claire Alain. In 1971, she studied with Michel Chapuis in France and was introduced to many historic organs in North Germany and Holland by Harald Vogel and Klaas Bolt. This was the beginning of many exchanges of concerts and masterclasses across the Atlantic Ocean between Boston and Europe. It was during this time that Hayashi became organist of Old West Church in Boston, performing on a new mechanical-action organ built by Charles B. Fisk. She served as organist there for nearly 40 years and was the founder and executive director of the Old West Organ Society until her retirement in 2010.

Beginning in 1970, Hayashi crossed the Pacific Ocean yearly to give recitals and masterclasses in Japan. With Italian organist Umberto Pineschi and the assistance of Japanese organ builder Hiroshi Tsuji and his wife Toshiko Tsuji, she founded the Italian Organ Academy in Shirakawa. She was influential in persuading organ committees from universities, churches, and concert halls to commission mechanical-action organs from organbuilders from around the world. Most noteworthy are the instruments for International Christian University (Rieger), Toyota City Concert Hall (Brombaugh), Minato Mirai Concert Hall, Yokohama (C. B. Fisk, Inc.), and Ferris University, Yokohama (Taylor & Boody, Noack Organ Company, and J. F. Nordlie Pipe Organ Company organs).

In 1989, Yuko Hayashi took a leave of absence from the New England Conservatory to accept a position as professor of organ at Ferris University, Yokohama. She taught there for six years before returning to Boston. She also became titular organist at St. Luke’s International Hospital Chapel, which houses an organ built by Marc Garnier of France. She was responsible for relocating a historic 1889 organ built by Hook & Hastings to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral in Yokohama where her father served as priest for many years.

Yuko Hayashi is survived by two brothers, Makoto Hayashi and Satoru Hayashi, and several nieces and nephews, all residing in Japan. A memorial service for Yuko Hayashi will be held at Christ Church, Andover, Massachusetts, April 28, at 11:00 a.m. Memorial contributions may be directed to: Old West Organ Society, c/o Jeffrey Mead, Treasurer, 72 Trenton Street, Melrose, Massachusetts 02176;  St. Andrew’s Cathedral, 14-57 Mitsuzawa-shimo-cho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama City, Kanagawa, 221-0852, Japan; or St. Luke’s International Hospital Chapel, c/o Organ Committee, 9-1 Akashi-cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 140-8560, Japan.

Pierre Pincemaille, 61, died, January 12, an international concert organist, church organist, music professor, and composer. Born in Paris, France, December 8, 1956, Pincemaille was awarded five first prizes at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (harmony, counterpoint, fugue, organ interpretation, and organ improvisation) and won five international improvisation competitions: Lyon (1978), Beauvais (1987), Strasbourg (1989), Montbrison (1989), and Chartres (1990).

In 1987, Pierre Pincemaille was appointed titular organist of the prestigious 1841 Cavaillé-Coll at the Gothic Saint-Denis Cathedral-Basilica. He loved accompanying beautiful liturgy there, amidst the tombs of the Kings of France. Highly inspired by Pierre Cochereau, Pincemaille founded a concert series there, from 1989 to 1994. For his 30th anniversary there, he performed his last concert on November 5, 2017, programming choral works he cherished, conducted by Pierre Calmelet: Louis Vierne’s Messe Solennelle and three of his own recently composed vocal motets (to be published), as well as J. S.
Bach’s Pièce d’Orgue, BWV 572, symbolizing for him the three periods of life.

Pierre Pincemaille also performed with orchestras under the direction of conductors such as Mstislav Rostropovitch, Myung-Whun Chung, Riccardo Muti, Charles Dutoit, and John Nelson. His recordings include the complete organ works of Maurice Duruflé and César Franck, Charles-Marie Widor’s ten symphonies, selected pieces by Jehan Alain, Pierre Cochereau, Olivier Messiaen, and Louis Vierne, his own improvisations and transcriptions of Stravinsky’s The Firebird and Petrushka, as well as works with orchestra by Camille Saint-Saëns, Hector Berlioz, Joseph Jongen, and Aaron Copland. Several of Pierre Pincemaille’s compositions were published: Prologue et Noël varié [Prologue and Variations on a Noel] (Sampzon, Delatour France, 2007), a 4-voice a cappella Ave Maria (Lyon, À Coeur Joie, 2013), and En Louisiane for trombone and piano (Delatour France, 2017).

Recently, Pierre Pincemaille taught counterpoint at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, harmony at the Conservatory in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and organ improvisation at the Conservatory in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés for the past 17 years. For the past 14 years, he formed a generation of French and foreign organ improvisers, many who have won prizes in international competitions: among them, six Parisian organists: David Cassan (at the Oratoire du Louvre), Thomas Lacôte (La Trinité), Samuel Liégeon (St.-Pierre-du-Chaillot), Hampus Lindwall (St.-Esprit), Baptiste-Florian Marle-Ouvrard (St.-Eustache), and Olivier Périn (St.-Paul-St.-Louis).

Among his honors and distinctions, Pierre Pincemaille was a Knight in the following three orders: the Academic Palms, Arts and Letters, and St. Gregory the Great. 

Pierre Pincemaille is survived by his wife, Anne-France, and their three children, Claire, Marc, and Éric.

—Carolyn Shuster Fournier, Paris, France

Virginia French Mackie died in her sleep at home in Santa Fe, New Mexico on June 20. Born August 15, 1900, in Lancaster, Missouri, she moved in early childhood with her family to Hutchinson, Kansas.

Music was a vital part of her life from the age of three, when she began piano lessons with her mother. She began playing the organ for church before her feet could reach the pedals. By the time she graduated from high school, she had composed the Hutchinson school song, still performed to this day.

At 17 she entered Wellesley College, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa during her junior year, and, as a senior, won the Billings Prize for excellence in music. Conducting the orchestra was one of her many musical contributions to the school. Socially conscious, she remembered marching five miles in high heels, as a supporter of the Constitutional amendment giving women the right to vote! Following her graduation from Wellesley in 1921, Virginia entered Columbia University, where she was awarded the MM degree as one of only two women in her class.

She began her career as a junior college teacher in Kansas City, where she met David C. Mackie, a banker whom she married in 1928. The couple moved to New Haven, Connecticut, where David enrolled in the Yale School of Architecture, while Virginia commuted to Northampton to teach music at Smith College.

Summers were spent in England and France. Virginia studied with Tobias Matthay in London, and with Nadia Boulanger at Fontainebleau, where Mrs. Mackie was awarded one of only two diplomas given to women at the École de Musique.

In 1934 the Mackies returned to Kansas City. David began his architectural practice and Virginia joined the faculty of the University of Missouri at Kansas City, where she taught as a distinguished professor for 25 years. During that time she maintained an affiliation with the Yale School of Music, teaching there in 18 summer sessions.

In 1963 the Mackies moved to Tucson, Arizona, and Virginia was invited to join the faculty of the University of Arizona, where she taught for 12 years. Arizona awarded her an honorary degree in recognition of her contributions to the musical life of the community.

After David's death in 1975, Mrs. Mackie moved to New Mexico, where she was named a Living Treasure of Santa Fe in 1994. She was invited back to Kansas City to present a series of lectures and performances of works by Franz Joseph Haydn, one of her favorite composers, and to receive an honorary doctor of music degree from the University of Missouri, Kansas City in 1989, joining Count Basie as only the second musician to be so recognized by the school. Virginia Mackie continued to teach harpsichord and piano in Santa Fe well past her 100th birthday in 2000.

--Larry Palmer (Based on an obituary [22 June 2005] in The Santa Fe New Mexican)

Theatre organist Billy Nalle of Fort Myers, Florida, died on June 7. Born in Fort Myers April 24, 1921, he was a piano prodigy at age three, when he started picking out melodies, and began playing in public at age four. He graduated from Fort Myers High School in 1939, receiving the American Legion Honor Award. From 1933–39 he was pianist of the Al Linquist Jazz Orchestra of Fort Myers and perfomed solo organ work on station WINK. During these years Billy studied under Eddie Ford, organist at the Tampa Theatre, and became Eddie's assistant. Later, he performed a stint at the Florida Theatre, Jacksonville.

He studied piano and organ at the Juilliard School of Music; principal teachers were the organ and piano virtuoso Gaston Dethier and Teddy Wilson, pianist of the Benny Goodman Orchestra. During this same time, Billy had organ engagements at the Manhattan Beacon Theatre, Brooklyn Paramount, and the Waldorf-Astoria ballroom.

Nalle served in the U.S. Navy 1943–46 and during his last year of service was assigned to the U.S.N. Entertainment Unit, where he, Lawrence Welk, vocalist Bobby Beers, and noted choreographer Bob Fosse toured the Pacific Ocean military bases. During 1947 and 1948, he did postgraduate studies at The Juilliard School, and then began a 26-year career in New York City providing music for more than 200 television shows on CBS, NBC and ABC. Billy appeared on over 5,000 telecasts, an unparalleled record for an organ soloist. As well as solo appearances on major television programs such as "Kraft Theatre" and the "Downbeat Show," Billy had the distinction of appearing as an organ soloist on the "Ed Sullivan Show" the same evening that Elvis Presley appeared for the first time. Throughout his theatre organ performing career, he was featured in concerts at countless public venues throughout the country and for several national conventions of the American Theatre Organ Society.

In 1957, Billy's recording career began when RCA tapped him to record "Swingin' Pipe Organ," an LP commemorating the work of trombonist Tommy Dorsey. Nalle recorded this at the Times Square Paramount Wurlitzer with George Shearing's drummer, Ray Mosca, and it is still considered a landmark recording in theatre organ circles. Numerous commercial recordings followed on Wurlitzer organs installed at the Century II Center (Wichita), Brooklyn Paramount Theatre (aka: Long Island University), Senate Theatre (Detroit) and Auditorium Theatre (Rochester, New York). Currently, Wichita Theatre Organ is in the process of producing a series of recordings drawn from his many live concerts performed on the Wichita Wurlitzer, scheduled for release later this year.

Billy's concert career did not actually start until age 45, when he performed for a national convention of the American Guild of Organists at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia in 1966. It was the first formal theatre organ concert in the group's history, and received a rave review in Audio magazine, the Atlanta Constitution and the New York Times. The latter newspaper featured his career in three major articles, and sometime later Billy's life was the object of a feature in the Wichitan magazine. A writer himself, Billy supplied reviews and articles to national publications, including a four-year news column in the AGO-RCCO publication, Music.

As a composer member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), Billy had numerous compositions to his credit. However, he may be best remembered by church musicians and theatre organists alike with his published arrangement of Jerome Kern's "All The Things You Are" in the form of a Bach trio sonata, entitled Alles was du bist. Billy once remarked that he did better financially on the rights gleaned from this arrangement than any other single thing he ever did.

In 1975, Billy accepted the position of Artist-in-Residence at the Century II Center in Wichita, Kansas, where the 4-manual, 36-rank Wurlitzer from the Times Square Paramount Theatre had been relocated. For eleven years, he played concerts in the Wichita Pops series, made numerous recordings and continued to concertize nationally. In 1993, the American Theatre Organ Society voted him into their Hall of Fame. In 1995, Nalle ended a full-time career and returned to Fort Myers, Florida, where he lived until his death.

He always prided himself on his ever-growing list of "firsts," including the first theatre organ concert to be performed at The Church of St. John The Divine, New York City. In a relatively brief period of twenty years, Billy performed twenty-five national and international music firsts on a theatre organ.

Billy was a man of strong convictions and deep religious faith. In the years just prior to leaving Wichita, he was active in the formation of St. Joseph of Glastonbury Anglican Catholic Church, the city's first Anglican place of worship. In his tiny efficiency apartment, he managed to find space for an altar and several religious icons. In fact, his living space was much like his playing: filled to the hilt with interesting "stuff" without feeling the least bit cluttered.

He was always full of stories about the great concerts he attended while living in New York and the personalities he encountered. One of his favorites was about his friendship with organist Virgil Fox, who lived only a short distance away from his apartment. Fox had been contracted by Wichita Theatre Organ to perform a concert at Centuy II (eventually released by RCA on LP as "The Entertainer") and sought Billy's advice on how to handle the Wurlitzer, just prior to Billy's move there. Fox wanted to stick to the classics, but Billy suggested that, as an encore piece, he should choose a simple, well-known melody and improvise on it. Fox out-and-out refused. "Why not?" said the ever-inquisitive Billy. Fox leaned over the dinner table, looked Billy straight in the eye and whispered, "I'll tell you why: too hard . . . that's why!"

To the end, Billy was a complete original, always encouraging young musicians to be themselves, and not to get caught up in what was stylistically popular at the moment. He was inexhaustible as a resource. Right to the end of his career, he was a developing musician, never casting anything completely in stone. Kind, thoughtful, sensitive, highly intelligent and a fine conversationalist--all will remember Billy as the consummate southern gentleman.

Paraphrasing his first Wichita LP seems to say it all: There (was) only one Billy Nalle.

--Scott Smith

Lansing, Michigan

The Rev. William F. Parker, of Atlantic City and Philadelphia, died on April 16. Born in Philadelphia and raised in Margate, he graduated from Temple University and the Temple University Theological Seminary, and earned his Master of Divinity degree from Princeton University. An ordained Presbyterian minister, he was pastor at Lower Bank Methodist Circuit, New Jersey, Mizpah Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, and Leeds Point Presbyterian Church. For 24 years he served as pastor at Olivet Presbyterian Church in Atlantic City. He was also an experienced organist, serving for a number of churches and synagogues in the Philadelphia area, and was organist for St. James Episcopal Church in Atlantic City and Old St. George's Methodist Church in Philadelphia.

William Parker is survived by his sister, Helen Holmes Parker. A memorial organ recital will take place on October 15 at First Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, with Joseph Jackson as organist.

Kent S. Dennis died January 1 at the age of 78 in Midland, Michigan. Trained as a chemist, Dr. Dennis had a long career at Dow Chemical Co. in Midland; he retired in 1986 after 32 years as a senior research associate. He served as organist at Memorial Presbyterian Church in Midland for 47 years, and was named organist emeritus in 2003. There he performed annual organ recitals for 46 years; he also taught organ students for many years. A charter member of the Saginaw Valley AGO chapter, serving as dean for three terms, he also served on the board of managers of the Midland Center for the Arts and as president of the Midland Symphony Orchestra, which, with the Music Society, honored him as Musician of the Year in 1987.
In 2002 Steven Egler commissioned an organ piece, Fantasia on Dennis, by David Gillingham in honor of Dr. Dennis. With his technical background, he built a pipe organ in his home, and when his health declined, he donated the instrument to St. Joseph the Worker Church in Beal City, Michigan. He was predeceased by his parents, a sister, and a brother. Memorials may be made to the Kent S. Dennis AGO Scholarship Fund, Saginaw Valley AGO Chapter, Gregory Largent, Dean, 121 South Harrison St., Saginaw, MI 48602.

August Humer died January 17 in Linz, Austria, at the age of 59. He had studied organ and harpsichord with Anton Heiller and Isolde Ahlgrimm in Vienna; after finishing his diploma, he traveled to the U.S., where he began an active career as a recitalist under the management of Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists. In 1972–74 he won prizes at the international competitions in Innsbruck and Nuremberg, and subsequently performed in Europe and in North America.
In 1972 he was appointed head of the organ and historical keyboard instruments department at the Bruckner Konservatorium in Linz, Austria. He became organist at Linz Old Cathedral in 1975, and made numerous recordings on its organ, a three-manual instrument by Franz Xavier Chrismann (1768) and Josef Breinbauer (1867). Professor Humer was a frequent visiting lecturer in Europe and the U.S., and served as an adviser to the historical instrument collection of the Upper Austria Regional Museum.

Herbert James Keeler died September 6, 2006, in Greensboro, North Carolina, at the age of 67. He began piano studies at age six, and in his teens began playing the organ in his father’s church. In 1961 he graduated from Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Massachusetts, where he earned two music degrees, one in organ. In 1966 he moved to New York City and began a 29-year career with Western Electric, retiring as a computer systems analyst. Mr. Keeler served as organist for numerous churches and was an active member of the AGO. He was preceded in death by his parents and is survived by his wife of 40 years, Carole. A memorial service was held September 17, 2006, at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Greensboro.

Paul S. Robinson died February 15 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, at the age of 99. Born March 8, 1907, in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, he graduated from Westminster College in 1929 and began study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia that same year. His first venture into North Carolina was in 1932 as the summer organist at Duke University where he continued for 10 years. After obtaining a master’s degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City, he became a year-round North Carolina resident in 1938 as organist for Centenary United Methodist Church in downtown Winston-Salem. There he started his long association as organist and accompanist for the Mozart Club’s annual presentation of Handel’s Messiah.
The 1941 presentation was December 7, during which the Messiah radio broadcast was interrupted by the news of the Pearl Harbor attack. Two months later, Paul was inducted into the Army’s Third Armored Division as a chaplain’s assistant. He traveled with them in England, France and Germany, where he played a folding reed organ for services.
Discharged in 1945, he returned to Centenary United Methodist staying until he started doctoral studies, also at Union Theological Seminary, where he received a Doctor of Sacred Music degree in 1951. In 1952, he came to Wake Forest College for a temporary position at about the same time as another temporary instructor, Mary Frances McFeeters. Within a few years, they became indispensable both to Wake Forest and to each other. Paul and Mary Frances were married in 1955, and they moved with the college to the new Winston-Salem campus in 1956. He served as professor of music and university organist until his retirement in 1977, and was the organist for Wake Forest Baptist Church from 1956 to 1993. He continued accompanying Messiah until 1997.
He is survived by his wife, Mary Frances Robinson; two daughters, and two grandchildren. Donations in his memory may be made to Wake Forest Baptist Church, P.O. Box 7326, Winston-Salem, NC 27109. —Scott Carpenter

William E. Seifert died December 26, 2006 in Campobello, South Carolina, at the age of 71. A graduate of Wofford College, he later earned a master of divinity degree from Duke University and a master of education degree from Western Carolina University; he was a United Methodist minister for many years and also taught in South Carolina public schools. After retirement he worked for the Dower Organ Building Co., builders of the organ at Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross in Tryon, North Carolina, where he was a member. Mr. Seifert was dean of the Spartanburg AGO chapter from 1988 to 1989, and at the time of his death was the chapter’s chaplain. He is survived by his wife, two sons, two daughters, three sisters, and seven grandchildren.
John Edward Williams died on March 16 at his home in Spartanburg, South Carolina, after a bout with esophageal cancer. He was 87. For 43 years he had served First Presbyterian Church as organist/choirmaster and was elected an elder of the congregation. On his retirement in 1991, Converse College conferred on him the honorary degree Doctor of Music in recognition of his significant contribution to the cultural life of the community. The church further honored him in 1995 by dedicating a new Schoenstein organ, named for him, in their chapel. He had supervised the installation of the church’s large Aeolian-Skinner sanctuary organ in 1968. Recognized as a leader in church music circles, he was widely known and highly esteemed throughout his denomination and the whole region. He was especially helpful to fellow musicians of all denominations.
Dr. Williams graduated in music from Illinois Wesleyan College in 1941, joined the U.S. Navy, and served throughout World War II in London, where he played for American servicemen and, on occasion, for Queen Elizabeth and her father, King George VI. He also performed at the Glasgow Cathedral. After the war he entered the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary in New York, graduating in 1948 with an MSM degree. There he studied organ with Robert Baker and Hugh Porter, composition with Harold Friedell, and the history of music with Clarence and Helen Dickinson.
From Union he came directly to Spartanburg and set about mustering support for the founding of a local chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Success came in 1954 when he became a charter member of the new chapter and, at the same time, inaugurated the Spartanburg Oratorio Society, directing for several years its performances of major choral and orchestral masterpieces. He was known and loved for his lively sense of humor, witty repartee, and buoyant personality. He maintained high artistic standards and refined taste. He enjoyed popular music and jazz, but he never allowed these secular elements to intrude into his music for worship.
He was married to Patricia Gilmore Williams, a distinguished local artist and portraitist who predeceased him by several years. He is survived by a sister in Illinois, two married daughters, a married son, five grandchildren, and a great-grandson. A memorial service was held at First Presbyterian Church on March 20. Donations in his memory may be sent to the Dr. John E. Williams Music Scholarship Fund in care of First Presbyterian Church, 393 E. Main St., Spartanburg, SC 29302.
—John M. Bullard