Henry L. “Hank” Hokans dead at 84

Nunc Dimittis

Henry L. “Hank” Hokans, 84, of Ogunquit, Maine, died June 2. Born and raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, he received early musical training from his parents and studied organ with T. Charles Lee and William Self, whom he succeeded as organist at All Saints Church, Worcester, serving for 20 years. Hokans received bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the New England Conservatory and was inducted into Phi Kappa Lambda Honor Society. He was appointed organist of the Worcester Art Museum, director of music at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and chairman of the fine arts department of Worcester Academy. After serving with the 5th Air Force in the Korean War, Hokans received a Fulbright Scholarship to study for a year in Paris with Pierre Cochereau and Jean Langlais. 

Hokans served in residencies, was accompanist for many choral groups, founded and directed the Worcester Concert Choir, and played recitals in abbeys and cathedrals both in England and on the Continent. He accompanied the American choir, Canterbury Singers, USA, in England for the VE Day 50th Anniversary Commemorative Service at York Minster Cathedral in 1995.  

In 1989 he accepted a position at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke in Portland. He served as organist/choirmaster at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Frederiksted, St. Croix, as musical director of St. Ann’s, Kennebunkport, and since 2001, as music director of St. Peter’s-by-the-Sea, Cape Neddick, Maine. He also worked in organ design, building, and maintenance with several organ builders, and operated his own organ service company, H. L. Hokans Associates.

Henry L. Hokans is survived by his wife of 25 years, Louise (George) Hokans of Ogunquit; daughter Rebecca Hokans Nanof; son Richard W. Hokans; two grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and sister-in-law Ruth W. Hokans.

Robert L. “Bob” Milliman, 89, died March 1 in Des Moines, Iowa. Born in Des Moines on January 29, 1926, he graduated from East High School and was then drafted into the U.S. Army. He served during World War II in the Pacific from 1944–46. In 1947 he married Twylla Kurschinski at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Des Moines. In 1964 the family moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where Milliman worked for AT&T until his retirement in 1982. They then returned to Des Moines, where he tuned and repaired pipe organs. Milliman was a life member of the Beaverdale V.F.W. Post 9127, Urbandale, American Legion #663, and the Telephone Pioneers. Robert L. Milliman is survived by his wife of 67 years, Twylla, daughters Norma (Robert) Rees and Polly Milliman, six grandchildren, one great grandchild, and brothers, William (Barbara) Milliman and Paul (Kate).

Robert Lawson Van Doren, 99, died May 18 in Columbia, South Carolina. Born in Roselle Park, New Jersey, on March 8, 1916, he became organist at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Roselle Park at age 15. He attended Columbia University and the Juilliard School of Music, where he met his future wife, Lib, who was in the same graduate program. They married in 1943, sharing their passion for music for more than 59 years. After receiving a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Columbia University and Juilliard, he taught in the public schools of Roselle Park before joining the Army during World War II. In 1950 he received the degree of Fellow, Trinity College of Music, London, England. Van Doren became an instructor in music and music education at the University of South Carolina, where he rose in rank to full professor and retired as Distinguished Professor Emeritus in 1978.

From 1945 until 1970 he served as organist and choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church (now Cathedral) and organized and directed the citywide Junior Choir Festival for 25 years. In the 1950s, he was helped organize the Sewanee Conference on Church Music in Sewanee, Tennessee, and taught there for many summers. Van Doren served as president of the Columbia Music Festival Association, dean of the Columbia Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, president of the South Carolina Music Educators Association, and vice president of the Southern Division of the Music Educators National Conference. In 1988 he was elected to the Hall of Fame of the South Carolina Music Educators. He was a member of other clubs, including the “Friends of Music,” University of South Carolina School of Music.  

Robert Lawson Van Doren is survived by a son and a daughter, three grandchildren, and three great-granddaughters. 

Donald Stuart Wright, 74, died June 4. Born on December 26, 1940, he was most recently organist and choirmaster at St. Christopher Episcopal Church in Oak Park, Illinois, and for nearly a decade before that was at St. Richard of Chichester Episcopal Church in Chicago. Throughout his life, he served mainly Episcopal and Lutheran parishes. A graduate of the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, his organ teachers included Thomas Matthews, Austin C. Lovelace, and Flor Peeters. He was active for many years as a recitalist, largely in the Chicago metropolitan area. Don was married for 42 years to his wife, Lisa Curran Wright. He would always be recognized by his Hercule Poirot-like mustache and his dapper attire. Don was also proud of his 1930 V-16 cylinder Cadillac and his “yacht” (the family’s pontoon boat kept at their Wisconsin cottage). His popular piece, A Gigue for the Tuba Stop, published by World Library, was written for his son, Michael Slane Stuart. Donald Stuart Wright is survived by his wife Lisa, children Katherine, Thomas, Nicholas, Alexandra, Veronica Solis, Nathaniel, and Michael, as well as four grandchildren and one sister.

John Ogasapian, of
Pepperell, Massachusetts, died in Los Angeles on July 11, shortly after he was
diagnosed with cancer of the pancreas and liver. He was 64. Dr. Ogasapian was
professor of music at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, where he had taught
since 1965. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in organ
and a Ph.D. in musicology from Boston University, where he was a student of the
late George Faxon. He was organist and choirmaster of St. Anne’s
Episcopal Church in Lowell 1961-99, and interim organist and choirmaster
of All Saints Church in Worcester, Massachusetts 2002-03. He authored or
edited eight books and published over a hundred articles, essays and reviews in
many journals including The Diapason. The Organ Historical
Society honored him with its Distinguished Service Award in 1994 and the
designation of Honorary Member in 2000.

Dr. Ogasapian served as editor of The Tracker: Journal of
the Organ Historical Society
(1993’2000) and was a contributing editor of Journal of Church
Music (1985’1988). He was chairman of
the 1978 OHS national convention in Lowell, Massachusetts, and chairman of the
2000 OHS American Organ Archives Symposium in Princeton, New Jersey.

His books include Litterae Organi: Essays in Honor of
Barbara Owen (edited by Ogasapian and
others; he also contributed an essay; OHS Press, 2005); Music of the
Colonial and Revolutionary Era (Greenwood
Press, 2004); The Varieties of Musicology: Essays in Honor of Murray
Lefkowitz (edited by John Daverio and John
Ogasapian, Harmonie Park Press, 2000); English Cathedral Music in New
York: Edward Hodges of Trinity Church (Organ
Historical Society, 1994); Church Organs: A Guide to Selection &
Purchase (Baker Book House, 1983, AGO &
OHS collaboration, 1990); Henry Erben: Portrait of a
Nineteenth-Century American Organ Builder
(Organ Literature Foundation, 1980); Organ Building in New York City:
1700’1900 (Organ Literature
Foundation, 1977). He was working on a ninth book, Music Culture in
the Guilded Age: Civil War to World War I,
at the time of his death.

He played his last recital on May 25 at Methuen Memorial
Music Hall, featuring works by Paine, Buck, Chadwick, Foote, Parker, Hovhaness,
Still, Rogers, Beach, and Matthews. His memorial service was held at All Saints
Church, Worcester, on July 30. He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Nancy,
their daughter and son-in-law, and two grandchildren.

L. Robert Slusser
died May 29 in San Diego at the age of 83. He had served as minister of music
at La Jolla Presbyterian Church in California from 1968 to 1989. Born October
13, 1921, in Chicago, he studied piano and organ at the American Conservatory
of Music and was assistant organist to Leo Sowerby at St. James Cathedral.
During World War II he served as a lieutenant in the Navy. He earned a
bachelor’s degree in music at San Jose State College and served as
organist and assistant choirmaster at First Presbyterian Church, San Jose. He
received a master’s degree in organ from Northwestern University in 1953
and served as minister of music at First Presbyterian Church, Birmingham,
Michigan until 1968. In 1960 he was co-chair of the AGO national convention in
Detroit. When he was appointed to La Jolla Presbyterian Church, he developed
multiple choirs, string and brass ensembles, a Christian dance group, and a
Choir Festival series. Slusser was dean of the San Diego AGO chapter
1971’72 and was responsible for bringing many famous organists to San
Diego. In 1986 he received an honorary doctorate from Tarko College in St.
Louis. He is survived by his wife Shirley, two daughters, a son, two
grandchildren and two great-grandchilden. A service celebrating his life was
held on July 16 at La Jolla Presbyterian Church.

Ruth Virginia Sutton
died April 19 at her home in Ypsilanti, Michigan, after a long battle with
cancer. She was 59. Born May 12, 1945 in Detroit, Michigan, she graduated from
Wayne Memorial High School and then attended Capitol University. She
transferred to Eastern Michigan University where she earned bachelor’s
and master’s degrees in music. Mrs. Sutton served as a local piano
teacher for over 40 years, was organist at various area churches, accompanist
for the Ann Arbor Cantata Singers, and also the Walled Lake and Ypsilanti High
School choir programs. She is survived by her husband Ronald Sutton, two
daughters, and a granddaughter. Funeral services took place on April 22 at
First Presbyterian Church, Ann Arbor.

Bob G. Whitley died
July 31 at his home in Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania, from liver cancer. He was 76.
For more than 30 years he was organist and choir director at Fox Chapel
Episcopal Church. Whitley grew up in Oklahoma and was a 1951 graduate of the
University of Oklahoma at Norman. He was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to
attend the Royal School of Church Music, then in Canterbury, England. He also
studied organ at the Royal College of Music in London and played recitals in
Canterbury Cathedral and Dover Town Hall. He served in the Army during the
Korean War, and was organist and director of music at the Letterman Army
Hospital Chapel at the Presidio in San Francisco. After the Army, he was
appointed organist at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, San Francisco, where
he helped design and oversee the installation of a 55-rank Aeolian-Skinner
organ. In 1964, Whitley was appointed to Fox Chapel Episcopal Church. He also
directed the Pittsburgh Savoyards, a Gilbert & Sullivan opera company, the
Shady Side Academy Glee Club, and the glee club at The Ellis School. After
leaving Fox Chapel Episcopal Church in 1999, Whitley served as organist and choir
director at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Fox Chapel, where he remained
until his retirement last year.

Henry Murlin Kelsay,
82, died August 23 in Springfield, Missouri. He was born on February 17, 1923
in Versailles, Missouri. After graduation from high school in Booneville,
Missouri, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1942, rising to the rank of 1st
lieutenant and serving as an air corps navigator. He fought in several World
War II battles and air campaigns in southern France and Italy, and was
decorated with numerous medals and citations. Kelsay graduated from Union
Theological Seminary in New York City, and went on to serve as music director
at several churches in the Little Rock, Arkansas area, including Pulaski
Heights Methodist Church and Christ Episcopal Church. He served as dean of the
Central Arkansas AGO chapter 1954-55 and 1959-61. Later in life he
became interested in interior decorating and was successful in that endeavor.

At the time of his death, Kelsay was a member of St. James
Episcopal Church in Springfield, Missouri. A memorial service took place there
on September 17. He is survived by his sister-in-law and three nephews.

--Virginia Strohmeyer-Miles

Noel Mander, MBE,
FSA, prominent British organbuilder, died September 18 at his home in Suffolk,
England, at the age of 93.

Born on May 19, 1912 in Crouch near Wrotham, Mander was
brought up in South London. Having left school (which he hated), he went to
work for A & C Black, publishers. The office work did not suit him,
however, and through his uncle, Frederick Pike, he met Ivor Davis who had
worked for Hill, Norman & Beard. After working with him for a while, Mander
started on his own in 1936, the first organ being that at St. Peter’s
Bethnal Green opposite St. Peter’s School, which years later was to
become the organ works. Unfortunately, Christ Church Jamaica Street, Stepney, where
he rented workspace, together with the organ he was working on and all his
equipment, were lost in the first air raid on East London 1940.

Shortly after that, he joined the Royal Artillery, seeing
service in North Africa and Italy, where he worked on a number of instruments,
including the organ in Algiers Cathedral, which had been silent for years.
Having been invalided out of active service in Italy, he joined the Army
Welfare Service and during his convalescence he repaired a 17th-century organ
in Trani.

After the war he assisted the London Diocese in getting
organs working again in bomb-damaged churches. He set up a workshop in an old
butcher’s shop in Collier Street before moving in 1946 into the old
buildings of St. Peter’s School in Bethnal Green, where the firm remains
to this day. In 1948 he married Enid Watson with whom he had five children,
living over the workshop in Bethnal Green. Most of his early work revolved
around the rebuilding of organs, many of which survive to this day.

He always had an affection for historic instruments and
restored a number of antique chamber organs, setting new standards for the time
with his sympathetic appreciation and restoration of them. Of particular note
was the restoration of the 17th-century organ at Adlington Hall in Cheshire in
1958-59, which was in a completely desolate state. It had not been
playable for perhaps a century, 
but with painstaking care the organ was restored and remains one of the
most important survivors in England.

In the 1960s he became aware that interest was growing in
tracker-action organs in the rest of Europe, and this encouraged him to
investigate this form of action himself, initially in the restoration of
instruments (which otherwise might have been electrified) and then in new
organs. Ultimately a number of such instruments were built including the export
of some to places such as Bermuda and the Sir Winston Churchill Memorial
Foundation in Fulton, Missouri.

Having been involved with the rebuilding of a number of
large organs, he was awarded the contract to rebuild the organ in St.
Paul’s Cathedral in London during the 1970s. This project, lasting almost
five years, was perhaps his greatest pride and was completed just in time for
the Queen’s Silver Jubilee celebrations at St. Paul’s. In 1978 H.M.
Queen Elizabeth made him a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). He
retired in 1983 to his home in Suffolk, but retained an interest in what the
firm was doing right to the end. The 60th anniversary of the Mander firm was
marked in 1996 by publication of a collection of essays in his honor entitled
Fanfare for an Organ Builder.

Noel Mander’s interests were by no means restricted to
organs. He was a keen historian and an avid bookworm. He was a Fellow of the
Society of Antiquaries and very active in the Council of Christians and Jews
for many years. He became a very popular member of the Earl Soham community in
Suffolk, where he retired to in 1983. He was also the British representative
for the Sir Winston Churchill Foundation in Missouri and secured a number of
significant pieces of antique furniture for the Wren church rebuilt there,
including, during the last year of his life, a fine 18th-century pulpit that
had once stood in a City church.

Philip Marshall, who
served as organist at both Ripon and Lincoln cathedrals, died on July 16. Born
in Brighouse in 1921, his early studies were with Whiteley Singleton, a pupil
of Edward Bairstow. He gained an Associateship of the Royal College of Music,
and in 1946 won three prizes in the Fellowship examination of the Royal College
of Organists. He earned his BMus at Durham in 1950, by which time he was
assistant to Melville Cook at Leeds Parish Church. He also served as organist
at All Souls, Haley Hill, Halifax, where he met Margaret Bradbury, whom he
married in 1951, and who survives him. The Marshalls moved that year to Boston,
working at the Parish Church and Grammar School. By 1957,
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  Philip Marshall had completed his
doctorate at Durham, studying with Bairstow’s York successor, Francis
Jackson, and was appointed organist at Ripon Cathedral. Founding the choir
school, rebuilding the cathedral instrument and producing a chant book were
highlights of his tenure at Ripon.

An accomplished model engineer, organbuilder and composer as
well as an outstanding organist, accompanist and teacher, Dr. Marshall served
as organist and master of the choristers at Lincoln Cathedral for 20 years
until retirement in 1986. The Dean and Chapter named him Organist Emeritus in
the early 1990s.

Dorothy Hildegard Nordblad died of congestive heart failure on September 9 at the Moorings, a
retirement community in Arlington Heights, Illinois. She was 93. A lifelong
member of Ebenezer Lutheran Church in Chicago, she served for 37 years as
organist and director of junior choirs at Edison Park Lutheran Church, where
she directed 60 children in three choirs. Nordblad also taught history, math
and music to hundreds of children, serving the Chicago public schools for 40
years.

The daughter of Swedish immigrants, she was born in Chicago
in 1911 and graduated from Senn High School before attending Northwestern
University, where she received her bachelor’s degree in education in 1932
and a master’s degree in education in 1946.

Her teaching career began at Stewart School, and in the late
1950s Nordblad moved to Beaubien Elementary School on the Northwest Side. In
addition to teaching, she was assistant principal, a position she held until
her retirement in the 1970s. After she moved to the Moorings retirement home,
she organized and directed the choir there, continuing as its director for more
than seven years. Funeral services were held on September 14 at Ebenezer
Lutheran Church, Chicago.

Donald W. Williams,
of Ann Arbor, died September 22 at the Chelsea Retirement Center, Chelsea,
Michigan, following a seven-month battle with cancer. He was 66.

Williams received his bachelor’s degree (1961) and
master’s degree (1962) from Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee,
where he studied with Scott Withrow. In 1979 he received the DMA from the
University of Michigan, where he studied with Marilyn Mason. At Michigan, he
was given the Palmer Christian Award by the Organ Department of the School of
Music in recognition of his accomplishments in teaching, performing, and choral
conducting.

Dr. Williams served as organist and choirmaster at Zion
Lutheran Church in Ann Arbor from 1963 until 1995, when he became
organist-choirmaster at Chelsea First United Methodist Church, a position he
held until his death. He was a member of the organ faculty of the National
Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan, from 1966 to 1970, and was adjunct
lecturer in organ at the University of Michigan in the early 1970s. He taught
organ performance and church music at Concordia University in Ann Arbor (1976-95,
1999 until his death). He was co-founder of the Ann Arbor Youth Chorale, which
he directed with Richard Ingram and Ruth Datz from 1987 to 2001, and was
founder and conductor of the American Chorale of Sacred Music.

Williams performed at churches and cathedrals in this
country and abroad, including the National Cathedral and the Shrine of the
Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., St. Thomas Episcopal Church in New
York City, St. Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal, and various European venues.
From 1981 to 1985 he performed as a member of Principal VI, a group of
organists from the greater Ann Arbor area. In 1986, he gave the world premiere
of Vincent Persichetti’s last composition, Give Peace, O God.

In addition to the various positions he held in the Ann
Arbor chapter of the American Guild of Organists, Williams was chair of worship
standards and repertoire of the American Choral Directors’ Association
(1995-2001), and a member of the board of the Boy Choir of Ann Arbor from
2000 until his death. He was a life member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.

Funeral services were held on September 26 at First
Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor. Williams is survived by his 97-year-old
father, Joel Williams, of Marietta, Georgia.

John Hubert Corina, 86, of Athens, Georgia, died December 13, 2014. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, he studied piano and organ with his father. As a young oboist, he taught in the Cleveland Music Settlement, performed with the Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra, and was a bandsman in the Army at Fort Meade and West Point. Corina earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Case Western Reserve University and a doctoral degree in composition from Florida State University. He taught composition, oboe, and theory at the University of Georgia, where he performed with the UGA Baroque Ensemble and the Georgia Woodwind Quintet and established the New Music Center and the Electronic Music Studio. In 1985, he was awarded the university’s teaching excellence professorship; he was named Professor Emeritus of Music and retired in 1991.

As composer of over 130 works, Corina received 14 awards from ASCAP and other organizations. He was an organist/choirmaster for 50 years, serving at Young Harris Memorial UMC and Emmanuel Episcopal Church. He also conducted the University of Georgia Symphony Orchestra and the Athens Choral Society, among other choruses, orchestras, and bands, and became the founding board chairman of the Athens Civic Ballet and founding director of the Classic City Band.  

John Hubert Corina is survived by his wife of 54 years, Carol; son and daughter-in-law, Robert and Sandra Corina; son, Donald Corina; daughter and son-in-law, Susan and Michael Mears; daughters and son, Mary Ellen Gurbacs, Gail Brant, and John L. Corina; granddaughter and grandson, Laura and Michael Johnson; granddaughters and grandson, Jordan, Sydney, and Brendan Corina; brother and sister-in-law, Lawrence and Jacqueline Corina, and other family members.

Myles J. Criss died on January 12 of melanoma, his cat Gracie at his side. He was born on April 7, 1933, in Winterset, Iowa. He attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and the Kansas City Conservatory. In 1952 he joined the U.S. Navy; his naval career included service on the hospital ship USS Haven, where he worked for the chaplain, played the ship’s organ, and had his first choir. The USS Haven sailed throughout the Pacific during the Korean War. He also served aboard the supply ship USS Alludra and the destroyer USS Dixie.

Honorably discharged from the Navy in 1956, Criss returned to Kansas where he enrolled at Washburn University in Topeka, studying organ with Jerald Hamilton. He transferred to Kansas University, studying organ with Laurel Everette Anderson and conducting with Clayton Krehbiel. He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1960 and master’s degree in 1963. 

Criss served in organist and choirmaster positions at many churches, including at All Souls’ Episcopal Church in Oklahoma City, where he subsequently designed the organ, developed choir programs, and founded the Canterbury Choral Society, at Grace Episcopal Cathedral in Topeka, Kansas, where he established a full choir program, and at Good Samaritan Episcopal Church in Corvallis, Oregon. Semi-retiring from Good Samaritan in 2002, he accepted the position of organist at the Congregational Church of Corvallis. 

He founded the Topeka Festival Singers in 1984 and conducted them until 1987. He was made an honorary Canon and retired from Grace Cathedral in 1997. In December of 2013, Canon Criss moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas, where he assisted with the music program at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.

Criss was a member of the Association of Anglican Musicians and the American Guild of Organists, which he served as dean three different times. He traveled extensively and knew by heart the stop lists of pipe organs around the world, many of which he played. He also played concerts and recitals throughout the U.S. Myles J. Criss is survived by nieces and nephews Sandra Bentley, Linda Mosteller, Marjorie Ross, Larry Kuhn, Anita Luce, Lynn Ellen Morman, David Morman, Debi Foster, and Steve Criss, and by a stepsister, Sharon Boatwright.

Bertram Schoenstein, 97 years old, died January 8, 2015, in San Rafael, California. Born September 11, 1917, Bert was the eldest remaining third-generation member of the pioneer San Francisco organbuilding family. As a youngster he helped his father, Louis, in the organ business, but coming of age in the depth of the Great Depression when there was little prospect for the organ business, he began a 40-year career as a master painter and decorator. During World War II, he served in the Army Air Corps. After retiring, he achieved his dream of a second career in organbuilding with Schoenstein & Co. from 1978 to 1995. Bert was a natural mechanic and practical problem solver. In addition to running the paint and finish department, he devised many clever fixtures and tools for the other departments and maintained plant equipment. Also a natural musician, as was the family tradition, he played the violin in several orchestras and ensembles including the Deutscher Musik Verein. Among his many mechanical interests was antique car restoration, specializing in Model T Fords. Bertram Schoenstein is survived by children Karl and Heidi, five grandchildren, and three great grandchildren.

Charles Dodsley Walker, 94, died in New York City on January 17. At the time of his death he was the conductor of the Canterbury Choral Society and organist and choirmaster emeritus of the Church of the Heavenly Rest in New York City, and the artist-in-residence of St. Luke’s Parish, Darien, Connecticut. During his career Walker held numerous positions, including at the American Cathedral in Paris, St. Thomas Chapel, and the Church of the Heavenly Rest in New York City, the Berkshire Choral Institute, Union Theological Seminary School of Sacred Music, Manhattan School of Music, and New York University. A Fellow of the American Guild of Organists, he also served as president of the AGO from 1971–75.

An article in memoriam will follow in the April issue of The Diapason.

Harry Wilkinson, 92, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, died January 15 of congestive heart failure. Born in Saginaw, Michigan, in 1922, he spent most of his life in the Philadelphia area. He began his study of the organ at the age of twelve with Harry C. Banks of Girard College. The Girard College organ remained his favorite throughout his life. He studied organ with Harold Gleason and David Craighead at the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester, New York, earning a doctorate degree in music theory there in 1958. In 1995, Wilkinson was named honorary college organist and honorary lifetime member of the Girard College Alumni Association. A lifelong member of the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, he was a Fellow of the AGO and served on a national level as councilor for conventions. Wilkinson was professor emeritus of music theory and composition and taught organ students at West Chester University, serving there for over 35 years. He also served on the faculties of Chestnut Hill College, Beaver College, and Arcadia University. As a church musician, he served as director of music and organist for St. Martin-in-the Fields Episcopal Church, Chestnut Hill. Wilkinson recorded several discs with the Pro Organo label. Memorial gifts may be made to the Organ Restoration Fund, St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church, 4625 Springfield Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19143. 

Noel Goemanne, Catholic Church musician and composer, died January 12 in Dallas. He was 83. Born in 1926 in Poperinge, Belgium, Goemanne was a graduate of the Lemmens Institute of Belgium, and studied organ and improvisation with Flor Peeters, and at the Royal Conservatory of Liege. During World War II, he refused an offer from the Nazis to become a composer for the Third Reich; he was later arrested for playing the music of Mendelssohn during the Nazi occupation of Belgium.
In 1952 he and his wife Janine immigrated to the United States, settling in Victoria, Texas, where he was organist at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. In response to the liturgical changes brought about in the 1960s by the Second Vatican Council, he composed the first Vatican II-approved Masses in English. During that time he gave sacred music workshops on college campuses; he also established the sacred music program at St. Joseph College in Rensselaer, Indiana.
Goemanne held organist and choirmaster positions in the Detroit area, at St. Rita’s Catholic Church and Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Church, and in Dallas, at St. Monica’s Catholic Church, Holy Trinity Seminary, and Christ the King Church, where he served from 1972 until this past summer.
His compositional output includes over 200 sacred compositions, with over 20 Masses. His organ work Trilogy for Dallas was the first work commissioned for the Lay Family Organ at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center.
Goemanne’s many honors include an award from the Institute of Sacred Music in Manila, Philippines in 1974; the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice Cross from Pope Paul VI in 1977; honorary doctorates from St. Joseph College in Rensselaer in 1980 and Madonna University in Livonia, Michigan in 1999; and numerous ASCAP awards. Goemanne was a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, the American Guild of Organists, the American Choral Directors Association, and the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. He is survived by his wife Janine, daughter Claire Page and husband Mike, son Luc and wife Candy, and three grandchildren.

John B. Haney, longtime Canon Organist and Choirmaster of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Columbia, South Carolina, died February 13 at age 77. Born in Illinois, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in organ from the University of Illinois, and received the Master of Sacred Music degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City.
In 1970 he moved to Columbia, South Carolina, to become organist and choirmaster at what was then Trinity Episcopal Church, where he served for the next 33 years. Prior to that, he held positions at Reveille United Methodist Church, Richmond, Virginia; Central Presbyterian Church, Montclair, New Jersey; and Temple Emanu-El, New York City.
While at Trinity, he began the cathedral choir’s periodic residencies at English cathedrals and developed the Wednesdays at Trinity concert series. Haney was a member of the American Guild of Organists and the Association of Anglican Musicians.

John Wright Harvey died December 31, 2009. “Organ—my hobby, my work, my play, my vocation, my recreation. Recital work a specialty.” So wrote Professor Harvey on a faculty information sheet dated October 26, 1961. He went on to list “Carillon—(and bells of all sorts)—a lifelong interest.” These dual interests defined John’s 24 years as professor of music at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a career which began in September 1960, and ended with his retirement in June 1984. In 1962 the UW Memorial Carillon received 27 new bells and two claviers, enlarging it to a total of 51 bells. On February 2, 3, and 4, 1970, John gave identical recitals initiating the Austin Organ Company’s Opus 2498 in the University’s Eastman Recital Hall. John taught organ and carillon to students from freshman level to doctoral candidates. Announcements of his carillon recitals appeared regularly and often.
John Harvey was born in Marion, Indiana, on June 15, 1919. He began piano study at age 8, trombone at age 14, and organ at 15. He completed a Bachelor of Music degree in organ from Oberlin Conservatory in 1941. The degree was awarded in absentia since John was by then stationed aboard a destroyer participating in the Battle of Midway. While in the Navy, John served as a musician, a signalman, and a quartermaster. He survived the loss of the USS Atlanta, sunk off Guadalcanal in November 1942. Following the war, John received a bachelor’s degree in music education from Oberlin in 1946 and a master’s degree from the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary in 1952. His master’s thesis was on the history and development of the organ in the chapel at West Point. Before coming to Madison, he served the First Presbyterian Church in Englewood, New Jersey; Webb Horton Memorial Presbyterian Church in Middletown, New York; Central Union Church in Honolulu, and National City Christian Church in Washington, D.C.
Beginning in 1947, John was active in the American Guild of Organists. In 1952 he organized the Northern Valley chapter in Englewood, serving as dean for its first three years and scholarship chairman for two years. In 1958 he was secretary of the Washington, D.C. chapter. In Madison he was dean of the AGO chapter from 1964–66. In 1953–56 John contributed to The American Organist, including a three-issue story on the West Point organ.
In Madison and beyond the university, John was active as well. He was organist at First Congregational Church. He also served as organ consultant and advisor to many congregations, including St. John’s Lutheran, Luther Memorial, Bethany Methodist, and Mt. Olive Lutheran. He was particularly involved with the design of the Austin organ at First United Methodist. An instrument of interest was the Hinners organ at St. Mary’s in Pine Bluff. John gave recitals statewide, in venues large and small, including several on the Casavant organ at St. Norbert’s Abbey in DePere.
John Harvey’s interests extended well beyond music. Pictures of Clarissa, his 1932 Chevy roadster, appeared in the newspaper, as did pictures of his model railroad. He also collected disc recordings from the early 1900s.
John married Jean Cochran on May 25, 1945, and was the father of three daughters, Ann, Carol, and Jane. John suffered from Alzheimer’s and died on December 31, 2009. Survivors include his wife, Jean, his daughters, and a brother.
—John R. Krueger
Madison, Wisconsin

August “Ed” Linzel, Jr., died January 19 in Arlington, Texas, at the age of 84. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, he attended the Princeton School of Music, and served as organist and choirmaster at St. Mary the Virgin Episcopal Church in New York City for 16 years. He was active in the American Guild of Organists, performing as organist, harpsichordist, and conductor at national (1948, 1950, 1952) and regional conventions. Linzel also served as dean of the New York City AGO chapter from 1956–59. In 1964 he served as organist-choirmaster at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Indianapolis, Indiana, and in 1972 he served in that same capacity at St. Boniface Episcopal Church in Sarasota, Florida. He later returned to Little Rock, where he was organist at Pulaski Heights Presbyterian Church, Christ Episcopal Church, and First Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville, Arkansas. August Linzel, Jr. is survived by his sons Ted and John, daughters Patricia and Jennifer, and brothers Milton and Jesse.

William Bernard MacGowan, concert organist, choir director, and college professor, died December 15, 2009 in Gainesville, Florida. He began organ study with Nelson Brett in Jacksonville, and during the 1940s studied organ with Robert Baker and piano with Percy Grainger at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Michigan, where he studied with Palmer Christian, Robert Noehren, and Maynard Klein. A naval communications officer during the Korean War, MacGowan established choirs and singing groups on the ships where he served. When in port, he studied choral conducting with Robert Shaw and musicology with Julius Herford.
His many positions included those at St. Philip’s Church in Durham, North Carolina; Old North Church in Boston, Maple Street Congregational Church, Trinity Episcopal Church, and the Tanglewood Music Center, in Massachusetts; All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California; and Bethesda by the Sea Episcopal Church in Palm Beach, St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in High Springs, and St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Gainesville, in Florida. As a recitalist, he performed at important venues in New York City, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and in Assisi, Italy, and in Germany. MacGowan was a member of the American Guild of Organists, Society of St. Hubert, Phi Gamma Delta, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia; his hobbies included scuba diving and snorkeling.
William Bernard MacGowan is survived by brothers Bradford and John and their wives, two nephews, and two nieces.

Richard Thornton White died on December 8, 2009, in Memphis, Tennessee, in his home across the street from St. John’s Episcopal Church, where he served for 36 years. He was 95. His first organ study was with Adolph Steuterman; in 1935, he was awarded the William C. Carl Scholarship to the Guilmant Organ School in New York City. In 1937, he won a gold medal in performance from that school. The Diapason (July 1, 1937), in reporting the event, noted that “Guilmant graduates have built up an enviable reputation for brilliancy, interpretative power, and poise in their playing, and the class of this year sustained that reputation.” White also studied with Frank Wright and Frederick Schlieder. He held organist-choirmaster positions in New York City and New Jersey, served in the U.S. Army in the South Pacific during World War II, and in 1950 returned to Memphis to serve at St. John’s Episcopal Church, where he led the music program until his retirement in 1986. White was also active in the Sewanee Church Music Conference, which he served as a faculty member and secretary/registrar.
He earned Associate (1938) and Fellow (1940) certifications with the American Guild of Organists, of which he was a member for 74 years, serving the Memphis chapter as dean several times, and also as chapter examination coordinator.
Richard Thornton White is survived by his wife Anna, whom he married in 1938, sons Richard White, Albert White and his wife Betsy, two grandchildren, and nieces and nephews.

Joy Anne Moore Marsh died peacefully at her home in Plano, Texas, on July 9. She was 69. Born in Dallas on July 19, 1935, she graduated from North Dallas High School in 1953. She earned her bachelor of music degree in organ from Southern Methodist University in 1957, studying with Dora Poteet Barclay, and then completed her master’s degree in music literature in 1961 at the University of Texas, Austin. Her thesis was “Form and Style in the Organ Works of Olivier Messiaen.” Mrs. Marsh taught music in the public schools of Midland and Dallas. A 40-year resident of Plano, Texas, she also taught private piano. She is survived by one sister, Mary E. Moore Skalicky, concert organist of Big Spring, Texas, three daughters and three grandchildren, and was preceded in death by her husband Noble Earl Marsh.

Jack H. Ossewaarde died December 30, 2004 at his home in Stamford, Connecticut. He was 86. Born November 15, 1918 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Ossewaarde began his music training at age seven, and sang with the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church Boys’ Choir in Kalamazoo. He became organist and director of music at North Park Reformed Church, Kalamazoo, at age 14, and also served as organist at Bethany Reformed Church while still a teenager.

After graduating from Kalamazoo Central High School in 1936, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music from the University of Michigan. He was organist and music director at First Baptist Church, Ann Arbor, and an instructor at U-M before being inducted into the U.S. Army shortly before the United States entered World War II. After serving in the Army, Ossewaarde studied at Union Theological Seminary. In 1946 he was appointed organist and choirmaster of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The following year he was appointed organist at Calvary Episcopal Church in New York City, where he served for six years. He then served Christ Church Cathedral in Houston for five years, before being appointed to St. Bartholomew’s Church, New York City, where he served for 25 years until his retirement. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Donna Ossewaarde, a daughter, a son, four grandchildren, one great-grandchild, a brother and sister-in-law, and a sister and brother-in-law.

Calvert Shenk died from cancer on July 9 at his home in Dearborn Heights, Michigan. He was 64. Most recently Mr. Shenk served as assistant professor of music at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. He also worked at Assumption Grotto Church in Detroit, where he assisted as organist, chant master and composer.

Born November 21, 1940 in Joplin, Missouri, Shenk earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in organ performance from Northwestern University, and continued studies with Theodore Marier (Gregorian chant), Gerre Hancock (improvisation) and David Willcocks (choral conducting). He held music positions at St. Henry Parish, Chicago, Illinois; Armed Forces School of Music, Norfolk, Virginia; St. Philip Parish, Battle Creek, Michigan; St. Catherine Parish, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Cathedral of St. Paul, Birmingham, Alabama. In addition, he worked as adjunct instructor at Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek, as music critic for the Battle Creek Enquirer and News, as choral director at St. Philip Catholic Central High School, and as associate director, accompanist and composer-in-residence for the Battle Creek Boys Choir.

He played recitals thoughout the midwest, east and southeast, and performed at the 1986 AGO national convention in Detroit. Internationally, he presented an organ recital at Eglise Notre-Dame in Douai, France, and led the St. Catherine Church Choir on a tour of Italy in March 1987. Mr. Shenk was a Fellow of the AGO and served as dean of the Southwest Michigan chapter, as well as educational concerns chairman of the Birmingham, Alabama chapter. He was a member of the Hymn Society, the Church Music Association of America and the Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians.

A prolific composer, his works are published by MacAfee Music, GIA Publications and CanticaNOVA Publications, and he was co-author of the Adoremus Hymnal (Ignatius Press). A funeral mass was held on July 13 at Assumption Grotto Church, Detroit. Mr. Shenk is survived by his wife of 37 years, Ila Marie Connors Shenk.