Howard Wood celebrates 50 years

Elise Murray Cambon died December 30, 2007, at Touro Infirmary, New Orleans, Louisiana. Dr. Cambon received a B.A. from Newcomb College in 1939, a Master of Music in organ from the University of Michigan (1947), and a Ph.D. from Tulane (1975). For 62 years she served St. Louis Cathedral as organist, music minister, and director of the St. Louis Cathedral Choir and Concert Choir. She was named Director Emerita in 2002.
A Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Cambon studied in Germany in 1953, attended Hochschule fur Musik in Frankfurt-am-Main, and continued her studies in organ with Helmut Walcha, harpsichord with Marie Jaeger Young, and conducting with Kurt Thomas. She also did post-graduate work at Syracuse University, Oberlin College, and Pius X School of Liturgical Music in Purchase, New York. She spent a summer at the Benedictine Abbey of Solesmes, France, studying Gregorian chant.
Dr. Cambon was a professor in Loyola’s College of Music (1961 to 1982), founding their Department of Liturgical Music, and also taught music at the Louise S. McGehee School and Ursuline Academy. She was one of the founders of the local chapter of the American Guild of Organists. She received the Order of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the French government for encouraging French music in New Orleans. She led the St. Louis Cathedral Concert Choir on five pilgrimages to Europe, where they sang at St. Peter’s in Rome, Notre Dame de Paris, and other famous cathedrals and churches. In 2004, she made a gift of a new Holtkamp organ for the cathedral. Dr. Cambon was interviewed by Marijim Thoene for The Diapason (“Her Best Friends Were Archbishops—An interview with Elise Cambon, organist of New Orleans’ St. Louis Cathedral for 62 years,” October 2004).

Anita Jeanne Shiflett Graves died September 16, 2007, at age 86. Born September 20, 1920, in Lincoln, Illinois, she attended Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and earned a master’s degree in music at Northwestern University. She had worked as a church organist, choir director and funeral home organist, and taught at Drake University and San Jose State University. A funeral service was held at Campbell United Methodist Church in Campbell, California.

Kay Wood Haley died July 10, 2007, at age 90 in Fairhope, Alabama. Born March 26, 1917, in Sumner, Illinois, she began playing for church services in Flora, Alabama, at age 14. She attended Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, and then transferred to the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Harold Gleason and graduated in 1938. From 1939–1983, Mrs. Haley was organist at Judson College in Marion, Alabama, and at First Baptist, First Presbyterian, and St. Paul’s Episcopal churches, all in Selma, Alabama. She helped found the Selma Choral Society and the Selma Civic Chorus, and helped lead the Alabama Church Music Workshop.

Gerald W. Herman Sr. died August 25, 2007 at age 81 in Gainesville, Florida. Born November 9, 1925, he began his 61-year organist career on April 28, 1946, at Rockville United Brethren Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and played for several other churches in the area. A job transfer with Nationwide Insurance in 1979 brought him to Gainesville, Florida, where he served as organist at Kanapaha Presbyterian Church and then at Bethlehem Presbyterian Church in Archer, Florida. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Charlotte, a daughter, and a son.

Theodore C. Herzel died September 28, 2007, in York, Pennsylvania. Born October 10, 1927, in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, he held church positions in Lynchburg, Virginia, and Detroit, Michigan, and served as organist-director of music for 28 years at First Presbyterian Church, York, Pennsylvania, retiring in 1988. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Westminster Choir College and a master’s at the Eastman School of Music. He was an active member of the York AGO chapter and the Matinee Music Club.
H. Wiley Hitchcock, musicologist, author, teacher, editor and scholar of American as well as baroque music, died December 5 at the age of 84. In 1971 he founded the Institute for Studies in American Music at Brooklyn College of the City of New York, and in 1986 he edited, with Stanley Sadie, the New Grove Dictionary of American Music. He retired from CUNY in 1993 as a Distinguished Professor, but maintained a consulting relationship with ISAM until the end.
Born on September 28, 1923, in Detroit, Michigan, Hitchcock earned his B.A. in 1944 from Dartmouth College and served in the military during WW II. After the war he studied music with Nadia Boulanger at the Conservatoire Américan and at the University of Michigan, from which he earned his Ph.D. in 1954. His dissertation was on the sacred music of Marc-Antoine Charpentier.
He started teaching in 1950 at Michigan and in 1961 moved to Hunter College in New York. A decade later he went to Brooklyn College and became founding director of ISAM. In his honor, the ISAM is to be renamed the Hitchcock Institute for Studies in American Music. In addition to his work on Grove, Hitchcock edited numerous publications. His last book, Charles Ives: 129 Songs (Music of the United States of America), was published by A-R Editions in 2004.

Everett W. Leonard died June 9, 2007, in Katy, Texas, at age 96. Born March 4, 1911, in Franklin, New Hampshire, he began piano lessons at age nine and organ lessons in high school. He worked for 40 years for the U.S. Postal Service in Washington, DC. In addition, he served as organist at Central Presbyterian Church and Mount Olivet Methodist Church, both in Arlington, Virginia, and at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, Punta Gorda, Florida, and at the Lutheran Church of the Cross, Port Charlotte, Florida. A longtime member of the AGO, he served as dean of the District of Columbia chapter.

W. Gordon Marigold, longtime author and reviewer for The Diapason, died November 25, 2007, in Urbana, Illinois. Born May 24, 1926, in Toronto, he earned a B.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, and earned an M.A. from Ohio State University. He also studied in Munich, Germany. Dr. Marigold taught German at the University of Western Ontario, Trinity College Schools, the University of Virginia, and at Union College in Barbourville, Kentucky. At Union College, he was a department head, division chairman, and college organist, and he supervised the installation of a new organ by Randall Dyer in 1991. He retired as professor emeritus of German in 1991, and moved to Urbana, Illinois.
Dr. Marigold received his musical training in piano, organ, and voice at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and in Munich. He served as organist at churches in Toronto, at First Methodist Church in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he gave an annual series of recitals, and churches in Columbus, Ohio. He was heard in radio organ recitals broadcast by station WOSU in Columbus, and played on the annual Bach recital at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Champaign, Illinois.
Professor Marigold was an internationally known scholar of German Baroque literature and music, and author of five books, countless articles in scholarly journals (including The Diapason, Musical Opinion, and The Organ), hundreds of reviews of German literature for Germanic Notes and Reviews, and countless reviews of recordings and books for The Diapason. He was a recipient of many research grants for study and research in Germany.
Dr. Marigold is survived by his wife Constance Young Marigold, whom he married on August 22, 1953. A Requiem Eucharist was celebrated on December 1 at the Chapel of St. John the Divine in Champaign, Illinois. Linda Buzard, parish organist and choirmaster, provided music by Bach, Purcell, Byrd, and Willan, along with hymns Lobe den Herren, Austria, Slane, and Darwall’s 148th.
In addition to numerous reviews of new recordings and books, Dr. Marigold’s Diapason bibliography includes:
“Max Drischner and his organ writings: a neglected modern,” Oct 1955;
“Austrian church music experiences extensive revival,” May 1956;
“The organs at the Marienkirche at Lübeck,” Dec 1969;
“A visit to Preetz, Germany,” April 1971;
“Some interesting organs in Sweden,” May 1971;
“Organs and organ music of South Germany,” Oct 1974;
“Organs in Braunschweig: some problems of organ placement,” Aug 1982;
“18th-century organs in Kloster Muri, Switzerland,” Feb 1986;
“Organ and church music activity in Munich during the European Year of Music,” Aug 1986;
“A variety of recent German organs,” April 1989;
“Dyer organ for Union College, Barbourville, KY,” Dec 1991.
(Dr. Marigold continued to write reviews to within weeks of his death. The Diapason will publish these reviews posthumously.—Ed.)

Johnette Eakin Schuller died September 21, 2007, at age 66 in Brewster, Massachusetts. She earned degrees from the College of Wooster, Ohio, and the Eastman School of Music. She and her husband, Rodney D. Schuller, served for 31 years as ministers of sacred music and organists at the Reformed Church of Bronxville, New York. Johnette Schuller also held positions at Andrew Price Memorial United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee; the Presbyterian Church in Bound Brook, New Jersey; the Post Chapel in Fort George G. Meade, Maryland; and Calvary Lutheran Church in Verona, New Jersey.

William Ernest Baker died August 31, 2007 in Tucson, Arizona. Born in 1938 in Denver, he had enlisted in the United States Air Force as an in-flight computer technician. During this time, he studied organ at the University of the Pacific, and later studied at the University of Colorado. While in Denver, he worked with Fred H. Meunier & Associates. Mr. Baker’s early work took place in California and Nevada; in 1963, he rebuilt the 1877 Johnson organ at St. Paul Episcopal Church in Sacramento. He relocated to New York City in 1968, serving as organist-choirmaster at St. Savior’s Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn, where he further rebuilt and enlarged the 1911 Reuben Midmer & Sons organ. He eventually settled in Hatfield, Massachusetts, living on the top floor of the wooden-frame building that housed his shop. Mr. Baker would take on difficult projects, such as improving the actions for the slider windchests at St. Thomas Church in New York, and restoring the high-pressure Solo chests of the Skinner organ at Mt. Holyoke College following water damage. Upon retirement, Mr. Baker moved to Mexico. His remains were inurned October 29 at St. John’s Cathedral in Denver.

William Dinneen died July 26, 2007 in Greenville, Rhode Island. He was 91. Mr. Dinneen, a graduate of Harvard University, served as organist for over 60 years, including positions at the chapel of Brown University (where he taught) and First Baptist Church in America, both in Providence. He also directed the University Glee Club and the Rhode Island Civic Chorale, and served as keyboardist for the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and as music critic for The Providence Journal. A member of the Rhode Island AGO chapter, he served as dean in the 1950s, was a recitalist and accompanist for many Guild programs, and for years offered Sunday afternoon coaching sessions for groups of organists. He was awarded the chapter’s Anna Fiore-Smith Award in 2005. He is survived by Frances, his wife of 64 years, two sons, and two grandsons.

Noel E. Heinze, of Riceville, North Carolina, died on December 14, 2007, of a massive heart attack. He was 67. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, he graduated from Michigan State University with a master’s degree in English and music. During the Viet Nam War, he served as a captain in the U.S. Army Adj. Corps. He worked in contact administration with various firms in Washington, D.C., and most recently with Palmer, Wahl in Weaverville.
He began playing the organ in church at age 11, while attending Cranbrook Academy in Michigan. He served as an organist while in the Army, and held church positions in Michigan, Maryland, Massachusetts, and New York, before moving to North Carolina. Most recently he served as organist at St. Giles Chapel, Deerfield Retirement Community in Asheville. A member of the American Guild of Organists and the Organ Historical Society, he performed in concerts with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as well as at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Noel Heinze is survived by his wife of 37 years, Kathryn Heinze, a daughter, a sister, and many nieces and nephews.

Herbert A. Severtsen died at age 77 on October 1, 2007, in Spokane, Washington. Born March 4, 1930, he attended the New York Institute for Blind and Bard College, and received a master’s degree and professional diploma in music from Columbia University. He met his wife when she joined the choir at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in New York City, where he was organist-choirmaster for 25 years. In Spokane, he was employed by the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, and the Unitarian Universalist Church, and by Davis & Hosch Music. He served as dean of the Spokane AGO chapter 1978–80 and was awarded a lifetime membership in 2004. He is survived by Billie Marie, his wife of 41 years, five children, and two grandchildren.

Craig Smith died November 14, 2007 in Boston. He was 60 years old. He was the founder and artistic director of Emmanuel Music, the resident ensemble at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Boston. Over the years he built Emmanuel into a major musical center that presented works of Schütz, Handel, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Debussy, Ravel, and contemporary composers, especially John Harbison. Between 1970–77, Smith conducted the complete cycle of Bach cantatas, the first time all these works had been performed in America. Mr. Smith studied at Washington State University and the New England Conservatory. He collaborated with the stage director Peter Sellars on Mozart and Handel operas, and works by Bach, Weill, Gershwin, and Gilbert and Sullivan; the productions were seen in both American and European venues, and on DVD. Mr. Smith was principal conductor of the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels from 1988–91 and had taught at the Juilliard School, MIT, the New England Conservatory, Pepperdine University, and the Tanglewood Music Center.

James Gary Stuart, age 72 and formerly of Lake Bluff, Illinois and Santa Fe, New Mexico, died on January 17, from complications due to cancer. He was preceded in death by his wife Nancy Anderson Stuart, an accomplished singer and music teacher, in 2006. Gary is survived by a sister, a brother, nieces, a grandniece, and a grandnephew. Born on January 28, 1935 in Jacksonville, Illinois, he earned B.Mus. and M.M. degrees from Northwestern University and began a career as a church organist-choirmaster for several churches on the North Shore of Chicago, including St. James the Less (Episcopal) in Northfield, and Church of the Holy Spirit (Episcopal) in Lake Forest, before beginning a music ministry at the Church of the Holy Comforter (Episcopal) in Kenilworth in 1990.
Gary married Nancy Elizabeth Stuart on March 29, 1970 in Lake Forest, Illinois. Together Nancy and Gary spent a lifetime devoted “first and foremost” to church and choral music. In addition to private teaching, he had also served as accompanist for the Chicago Symphony Chorus, the North Shore Choral Society, and the Lake Forest Camerata Singers. Mr. Stuart led two singing tours to England and was the visiting accompanist for a third. He retired as director of music at the Church of the Holy Comforter in Kenilworth in 2002 after establishing a music ministry of quality music and an Evensong series that included performances of Requiem settings by Duruflé, Fauré, and Rutter, and Masses by Gounod and Schubert. A celebration of the Holy Eucharist in thanksgiving for his life was celebrated at the Church of the Holy Comforter on January 23. A choir composed of current and former choir members and colleagues led by current music director Derek E. Nickels sang anthems by Lutkin, Mozart, and Vaughan Williams. The family asks that donations be made to the American Cancer Society, 820 Davis Street, Evanston, IL 60201.
—Derek E. Nickels

Susanne L. Taylor died September 10, 2007, in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, at the age of 89. A graduate of Smith College, Mrs. Taylor also attended the College of Charleston. She served as assistant organist at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Charleston, and in Mount Pleasant served as organist at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and Christ Episcopal Church, and as junior choir director at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. She also spearheaded the restoration of the Henry Erben organ at the Huguenot Church in Charleston. A member of the Charleston AGO chapter, Mrs. Taylor served as dean from 1965–67. Preceded in death by her husband, Francis Bergh Taylor, she is survived by her four children and eight grandchildren.

Raymond J. Barnes, 73, founding dean of the Southern Nevada AGO Chapter, died suddenly of a heart attack the afternoon of May 21, after having played for the morning worship service. On April 30, 2006, the chapter presented him with an Honorary Lifetime Membership in the guild. Born in 1933 in Adrian, Michigan, he began piano lessons at age five with his aunt, Ella Kafer, later studying with Myria Fox, whose piano studio was on the campus of Adrian College, where he saw the college’s four-manual Hutchings-Votey organ. He entered Adrian College in 1951 and began organ study with James Houston Spencer, graduating in 1955.
Barnes’s career in music education included teaching in Pensacola, Florida; Biloxi, Mississippi; and in Las Vegas, Nevada, where he was influential in developing and implementing a music curriculum for the Clark County schools. His teaching career in Clark County, Nevada spanned 25 years, during which time he earned a master’s degree from University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
In addition to his activities in the AGO and in music education organizations, he was a member of the Fellowship of Methodist Musicians, and with his wife was active in the Swedish American Fraternal Organization, the VASA Order of America. He is survived by his wife Inga-Britt of Las Vegas and by two brothers. A memorial service was held on the campus of UNLV on June 11.
The Southern Nevada AGO Chapter has established the Raymond J. Barnes Memorial Scholarship Fund to assist young students interested in the organ with lesson scholarships, and to help underwrite attendance at Pipe Organ Encounters. Contributions to the fund may be sent to: Raymond J. Barnes Memorial Scholarship Fund, Joan Winter—Treasurer, HCR 38—Box 559, Las Vegas, NV 89124.

Charles M. Eve, 72, died of cancer at his residence on February 10. He was a retired assistant professor of music at the University of Louisiana at Monroe and organist at the First Presbyterian Church of Monroe, Louisiana. A graduate of Central High School in Pueblo, Colorado, he earned the bachelor of music and master of music degrees from University of Colorado, where he also did additional study. His teachers included Arthur Poister, Claire Coci, and Vernon DeTar. He served as an organist and chaplain’s assistant in the U.S. Army.
Before coming to Monroe, he taught at Temple Buell College and the University of Colorado, and served as organist and choir director at Christ Methodist Church in Denver. In 1956, he placed second in the AGO playing competition. While studying in New York City, he served as organist at All Angels Church, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, and Interchurch Center.
After coming to NLU in Monroe, Louisiana, he served as organist at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, Grace Episcopal Church, and the First Presbyterian Church. He had given recitals at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., New York’s Riverside and Trinity churches, and at the U.S. Air Force Academy. He was the former dean and founder of the Ouachita Valley AGO Chapter, a member of the American Musicological Society, and the National Association of Presbyterian Musicians.
Mr. Eve is survived by his sister and her husband, as well as by a nephew and two nieces, and a host of friends and former students. A memorial concert was held February 25 at the First Presbyterian Church in Monroe. A series of memorial concerts is planned.

Rolande Falcinelli died in Pau, France, on June 11, at the age of 86. She was one of the leading exponents of the modern French school of organists-improvisers-composers and taught organ and improvisation at the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique from 1954 to 1986. Among her pupils are some of the greatest French virtuosos and improvisers of our time.
A favorite disciple of Marcel Dupré, she was the most authorized performer of his works, as the composer himself asserted. She reached the highest level of virtuosic skill, as testified by her own Poèmes-études, the most difficult pieces ever written for the organ, which she played and recorded in the U.S.A. during her legendary 1950 tour.
As a composer, she leaves a catalog of 74 opus numbers that includes organ, piano and harpsichord works, chamber music, vocal music and orchestral works. Her writing is characterized by tormented chromatic harmonic progressions, by explorations of tone color, and by the new perspectives of extra-European music (she integrated Persian and Indian modes and rhythms into her works). She pursued and extended Marcel Dupré’s ideals, associating the organ with other instruments: she composed works for organ and violin, organ and violoncello, organ and viola, organ and two violas, organ and flute, organ and piano, organ and voice, organ and orchestra.
Today, her artistic legacy (as a performer, an improviser and a composer) is inspiring an awakening interest in her works, sustained by a progressive series of CDs and numerous publications. —Sylviane Falcinelli

A mass was held at Saint-Eustache Church in Paris, France, on June 30 in remembrance of Rolande Falcinelli. The titular organist Jean Guillou, who was one of her first disciples (he began to take private lessons from her in 1947), improvised with an unforgettable and moving intensity at the beginning and at the end of this ceremony. Philippe Brandeis (the last of her 65 students awarded the First Prize in Organ at the Paris Conservatory) interpreted her works: Offertory for the Feast of Christ the King (op. 38), Prayer to the Holy Spirit (op. 24, no. 4), and Antiphon of the Salve Regina (op. 43). Her colleague Jason Meyer, the American violinist from Boston, performed his own special arrangement for violin solo of the cadences and solos in her work for organ and violin, Song of Sorrow and Struggle (op. 53). Gregorian chants were sung by a men’s choir from the Paris Conservatory, directed by Louis-Marie Vigne. The Belgian Stéphane Detournay, a specialist of her works, also rendered homage to her high spiritual ideals and her constant devotion to her art.
—Carolyn Shuster Fournier
Paris, France

John Anthony Steppe lost a year-long battle with cancer at the age of 51 on October 14, 2005. He was a native of New Jersey, born in Jersey City on February 3, 1954. He studied voice at Westminster Choir College. A man of many talents, he was an artist, a gourmet cook, and a consummate vocalist. His rich bass/baritone voice was heard in many venues around south Florida, most notably in the church choirs of St. John the Evangelist, Lighthouse Point; St. Martin in the Fields, Pompano Beach; and finally at St. Gregory’s in Boca Raton. He sang with the Florida Philharmonic Chorus and was featured bass soloist in Handel’s Messiah in a community-wide production at First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale. But his true passion and dream was to be an organbuilder. The dream became a reality when he, Walter Guzowski, and Christopher Kane established Guzowski and Steppe Organ Builders, Inc., in 1983. His passion and love of the instrument was evident in the craftsmanship in every instrument he designed or enhanced. John’s graceful, lyric visual designs were inspirational. He was a master in woodworking as well. He is survived by his mother, Sonia Bobo, of Neptune, New Jersey. Innumerable friends will miss his exuberant personality, acutely wry sense of humor, and delight in all things musical. Memorials may be made to St. Gregory’s Music Ministry, 100 Northeast Mizner Boulevard, Boca Raton, FL 33429.
—Paul Aldridge

Henry VanSeters, curator of the organs at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, for 42 years, died in September 2005 in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York. He began playing the organ at age 10, apprenticing in his teens and later becoming an organbuilder, technician and installer for M. P. Möller. He served in the U.S. Coast Guard in World War II, and after the war was appointed curator of organs at West Point.
He guided the rebuilding and expansion of the Cadet Chapel organ from 211 ranks to more than 334 ranks. In addition to the chapel organ, he maintained, tuned, and rebuilt the Post Chapel, Catholic Chapel, Old Cadet Chapel, and St. Martin’s Chapel organs all on the USMA post.
In addition to maintaining and rebuilding numerous organs in the Hudson River Valley, he built five pipe organs for various churches, including his home church, The Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Clifton, New Jersey. He was a frequent consultant to churches and attended conventions of the American Guild of Organists, American Institute of Organbuilders, and Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America.
Mr. VanSeters is survived by Teresa, his wife of 54 years, a son and daughter, granddaughters, and many friends. A memorial service was held at the Cadet Chapel with organists Lee Dettra and A. Robert Chapman.

Southern Methodist University’s emeritus professor of organ and sacred music Robert Theodore Anderson succumbed to Parkinson’s disease on May 29 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Born in Chicago on October 5, 1934, RTA (as he was affectionately known by hundreds of students and friends) received his early training at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. Undergraduate work was accomplished at Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington), where he studied organ with Lillian Mecherle McCord. At Union Theological Seminary in New York, he was awarded the degrees Master of Sacred Music (magna cum laude) in 1957 and Doctor of Sacred Music in 1961. He was an organ pupil of Robert Baker and studied composition with Harold Friedell and Seth Bingham.
A Fulbright Grant awarded in 1957 permitted Anderson to study in Frankfurt with Helmut Walcha. During the two years he spent in Germany, he served as guest organist at Walcha’s Dreikoenigskirche, and toured as a recitalist under the auspices of the American Embassy.
Anderson began teaching at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts in 1960. He retired from the school (because of ill health) in 1996, but continued to teach for several more years to complete the degree programs of his final organ majors. Dr. Anderson was promoted to full professor in 1971, and was subsequently awarded the first Meadows Distinguished Teaching Professorship and named a University Distinguished Professor (SMU’s highest rank).
Two of RTA’s students, Wolfgang Rübsam and George C. Baker, won first places at the prestigious Chartres Organ Competition, and many others repeatedly placed in American contests. Anderson was known for his widely comprehensive organ repertoire and toured extensively as a solo recitalist, for a time under the auspices of the Lilian Murtagh/Karen Macfarlane Concert Management. A Fellow of the American Guild of Organists, Anderson served that organization as National Councillor for Education. He was Dean of the Dallas AGO chapter (1965–67), and served in many other capacities during his years in Dallas. The chapter named its annual recital series in his honor at the time of his retirement.
Anderson’s funeral was held at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu on June 3, with organist Katherine Crosier at the Beckerath organ and RTA’s Union Seminary classmate Nyle Hallman playing harp. His ashes will rest in Chicago, next to those of his parents. SMU is planning a Dallas memorial service, to be held in September.
—Larry Palmer

Howard Clayton died March 5 in Norman, Oklahoma. He was 79. He had earned degrees in education from Emporia State University, Emporia, Kansas, in music from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, and a Ph.D. in general administration from the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Clayton held music teaching positions in Illinois before switching his emphasis to library science, which he taught at the University of Oklahoma. He had also held positions at other universities, including Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. He was editor of the educational journal Learning Today from 1968–85. At the time of his death, he was serving as organist at St. John Nepomuk Catholic Church in Yukon, Oklahoma. Howard Clayton is survived by his wife of 59 years, Wilma, daughter Caren Halinkowski, son Curtiss, brother Paul, a granddaughter, and nieces and nephews.

Everett S. Kinsman, age 86, died January 14 in Bethesda, Maryland. He had studied at the Catholic University of America and was an organ student of Conrad Bernier and Paul Callaway. He had served at St. Matthew’s Cathedral and St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., and was organist at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart for 22 years, beginning in 1949. His last position was at Our Lady of Mercy Church in Potomac, Maryland.

Mark L. Russakoff died April 12, Easter Sunday, at the age of 58. He had served most recently as director of music ministries at St. Irenaeus Catholic Church in Park Forest, Illinois.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, September 16, 1950, he studied piano with Samuel and Delores Howard at Birmingham-Southern Conservatory, and organ with Joseph Schreiber at Birmingham-Southern Conservatory and with H. Edward Tibbs at Samford University. He earned a bachelor of music degree at Washington University, St. Louis, studying organ with Robert Danes and Howard Kelsey, and harpsichord with Anne Gallet. He also studied organ with Pierre-Daniel Vidal and harpsichord with Agnès Candau at the Strasbourg Conservatory, and earned master’s and doctoral degrees in organ at Northwestern University as a student of Wolfgang Rübsam and Richard Enright.
Russakoff taught at Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University and at Thornton Community College. He served as organist/director of handbell ensembles at Flossmoor Community Church, director of music at St. Emeric Catholic Church, Country Club Hills, and was music editor and engraver for ACP Publications in South Holland. He is survived by his wife Cynthia, daughter Rachael, and sister Dale.

Charles Shaffer, 78, died May 2 in Los Angeles. Born in Akron, Ohio on November 17, 1930, his first piano lessons were in the Akron public schools, and he was a boy chorister at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church there. During World War II, Shaffer and his family moved to South Gate, California, where he continued his piano studies and deepened his interest in playing the organ and in organ building. By age thirteen he was playing services at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in South Gate. During his high school years, the family moved back to Akron, and Shaffer took his first organ lessons and attended his first meetings of the AGO chapter there.
Shaffer’s first year as an undergraduate was spent at Oberlin Conservatory, where he studied with Fenner Douglass. His studies were interrupted when he was drafted to serve in the U.S. Army during the Korean Conflict. Upon discharge from the service he continued his studies at the University of Redlands (California), where he studied with Dr. Leslie P. Spelman and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in organ performance.
Charles Shaffer served for eighteen years as organist of First Presbyterian Church in Hollywood, California, and later at First Baptist Church in Pasadena. An active teacher and performer, he served the AGO in various capacities at the local and regional level and several of his articles have appeared in The American Organist.
In the early 1990s he was invited to consult on an organ renovation project at Westwood United Methodist Church in Los Angeles. His role soon evolved from consultant to principal donor and co-designer of what has come to be called the Shaffer Memorial Organ (in memory of his wife of 29 years, Phyllis). The core of the organ was a large pipe instrument installed by Schantz in 1995. The expansion and revision of this instrument occupied Shaffer for the rest of his life. With co-designer Burton K. Tidwell and others, the organ has grown to include 153 ranks of pipes and 83 digital voices located in the chancel and gallery of the church and controlled by a four-manual and a two-manual console. It is one of the largest organ installations in southern California and was heard at the 2004 AGO convention.
Shaffer’s generosity to the church’s music ministry also included the gifts of five pianos (in memory of his parents and his wife’s parents), a digital carillon system, and seed money for an endowment fund to care for the instruments. About the many years of their close collaboration, Burton Tidwell has written of Charles, “His desire to explore possibilities beyond the ordinary, and then see that they could happen, has challenged and expanded my own concepts of organ building. Mr. Shaffer’s vision and generosity have provided all of us with a lasting legacy.” Charles Shaffer is survived by his sister, Lona Abercrombie, three nephews and three nieces.
—Gregory Norton
Minister of Music
Westwood United Methodist Church
Los Angeles, CA

Frank B. Stearns died February 4 at the age of 67 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Born in Brattleboro, Vermont, he received a bachelor of music degree from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, and a master’s of music from the University of Pittsburgh, as well as a master of education degree from Slippery Rock University. He served as an elementary teacher for 28 years, and was director of music for 31 years at Zion’s Reformed United Church of Christ in Greenville, Pennsylvania. For the last ten years he was director of music at Center Presbyterian Church in Slippery Rock. Stearns was active in community musical groups and was also a member of numerous musical and historic organizations, including the American Guild of Organists, the Organ Historical Society, the American Recorder Society, and the Mercer County Historical Society, which named him Volunteer of the Year in 2007. Frank Stearns is survived by his wife of forty years, Patricia, sons Jim and David, and two grandchildren.

Raymond A. Zaporski, age 81, died on February 28 in Roseville, Michigan. He was a music minister-organist for the Archdiocese of Detroit for over 50 years, serving St. Angela Parish Church in Roseville, St. Blase Catholic Community in Sterling Heights, and St. Anne Catholic Community in Warren, Michigan. Raymond Zaporski is survived by his wife, Dorothy, sons Mark, Michael, and Martin, daughter Mary Beth, and their families.

Catharine Crozier
died on Friday, September 19, 2003 in Portland, Oregon, at the age of 89. The
cause of death was a severe stroke with complications from pneumonia.

Catharine Crozier was born in Oklahoma, where she began to
study the violin, piano and organ at an early age, making her first appearance
as a pianist at the age of six. She was awarded a scholarship to the Eastman
School of Music in Rochester, New York, where she studied organ with Harold
Gleason and graduated with the Bachelor of Music degree and the
Performer's Certificate. As a graduate student, Ms. Crozier received the
Artist's Diploma and the Master of Music degree. In 1939 she was
appointed to the organ faculty of the Eastman School of Music and became head
of the organ department in 1953. Ms. Crozier received the following honorary
degrees: Doctor of Music, from Smith College, Baldwin-Wallace College, and the
University of Southern Colorado; the Doctor of Humane Letters from Illinois
College, and in October, 2000, the Doctor of Musical Arts from the Eastman
School of Music, University of Rochester.

Following her debut at the Washington National Cathedral,
Washington, DC, in 1941, Catharine Crozier joined the roster of the Bernard
LaBerge Concert Management (currently Karen McFarlane Artists, Inc.) with which
she remained for 61 years. Dr. Crozier played recitals throughout the United
States, Canada and Europe, and was heard on national radio in many European
countries, the United States, and on Danish National Television. She was one of
three organists chosen to play the inaugural organ recital at Avery Fisher Hall
at Lincoln Center in 1962, and was engaged for a solo recital there in 1964.
She returned to Lincoln Center to perform a concerto with orchestra at the
inauguration of the Kuhn organ in Alice Tully Hall in 1976, followed by a solo
recital there one year later. In 1979 she was awarded the International
Performer of the Year Award by the New York City AGO chapter, presented to her
by Alice Tully at the conclusion of Crozier's award recital at Alice
Tully Hall. Shortly after this event, she recorded many of the pieces from that
recital for Gothic Records.

From 1955 to 1969 Dr. Crozier was organist of Knowles
Memorial Chapel at Rollins College in Florida. She conducted master classes
throughout the United States, teaching at Union Theological Seminary in New
York, the Andover Organ Institute, at Claremont College and Stanford University
in California, and Northwestern University. In addition she served as a member
of the jury at many international organ competitions, the latest being the 1994
Calgary International Organ Festival.

In addition to performing and teaching, Dr. Crozier
co-edited several editions of the Method of Organ Playing
style='font-style:normal'>, written by her husband, Harold Gleason. The first
edition of the Gleason book appeared in 1937. Following the death of Dr.
Gleason, Catharine Crozier edited the seventh edition (1987) and the eighth
edition (1995).

In 1993 Catharine Crozier moved to Portland, Oregon, where
she was artist-in-residence at Trinity Cathedral until early 2003. As
artist-in-residence, she frequently played organ voluntaries at services, gave
solo recitals and continued to teach. Her recent performances were broadcast
over Oregon Public Radio and in 2001 she was a featured artist on Oregon Public
Television's "Oregon Art Beat." Known for her definitive
playing of organ works of Ned Rorem and Leo Sowerby, two of the five Delos
International CDs she made during the last twenty years of her life included
the major organ works of these two composers.

On Dr. Crozier's 75th and 80th birthdays, she
performed solo recitals from memory at The Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove,
California; her 85th birthday recital was played at The First Congregational
Church of Los Angeles. Recently, the American Guild of Organists began to
compile a video archive series of great organists; Catharine Crozier was the
subject of The Master Series, Vol. I,
which shows her performing and teaching in her 86th year.

A memorial service/concert and reception will be held on
January 26, 2004, at Trinity Cathedral in Portland, Oregon, with the Trinity
Cathedral Choir (John Strege, director) and organists David Higgs and Frederick
Swann. Memorial donations may be sent to: Music Endowment Fund, Trinity
Cathedral, 147 NW 19th Avenue, Portland, OR 97209.

Morris Chester Queen
died on August 3. Born on September 30, 1921, he grew up in Baltimore,
Maryland, where he began music study at age 7. He became musically active at
Mt. Zion Methodist Episcopal Church, where he and his family worshipped, and
played piano and organ for the church, sang tenor in the Senior Choir, and
directed the youth choir at age 17. During World War II, he served in the U.S.
Navy, where he directed the Great Lakes Naval Octet. In 1947 he was appointed
music director at Sharp Street Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, Baltimore,
where he would serve for 55 years. That same year he entered Howard University,
where he received both the bachelor of music and bachelor of music education
degrees. In 1955, he received the master of music degree in composition and
choral conducting from Howard University. In addition to his church post, he
also founded and conducted the Morris Queen Chorale and taught at Lemmel Junior
High School and then at Walbrook Senior High School. He also directed the
Baltimore Chapel Choir, including more than 20 performances of Handel's
Messiah. During his tenure at Sharp Street Church, he served under 11 pastors
and missed only one Sunday in 55 years. On May 6, 2002, he was awarded the
Honorary Doctor of Sacred Music by the Richmond, Virginia Seminary. He is
survived by his wife, Ovella Queen, nieces, nephews, cousins, and a host of
other relatives and friends. A memorial service was held on August 9 at Sharp
Street Memorial United Methodist Church, Baltimore.

Remembering Bethel Knoche (1919-2003)

Bethel D. Knoche, 83, the first person to serve as principal
organist at the world headquarters of the Community of Christ (formerly,
Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) in Independence,
Missouri, died on April 27, 2003, at her home in Independence following a long
illness. During her service to the world church, which was a period of nearly
thirty years, Bethel's ministry reached literally thousands of people
internationally, initially as organist for the church's radio broadcast
of daily morning devotions from the Stone Church and subsequently during her
years presiding at the Auditorium Organ as a participant in worship at world
conferences, recitalist, workshop leader and teacher, and as originator of the
weekly broadcast recital, "The Auditorium Organ."

A native of Arcadia, Kansas, she moved with her family to
Independence when she was eight. Following graduation from William Chrisman
High School, Bethel attended Graceland College for a year and then returned to
Independence, whereupon she began her service with the world church. In
addition to her radio work, her responsibilities included playing for many
church services, accompanying various choirs at the Stone Church, as well as
providing the organ accompaniment for the church's annual broadcast
performance of Handel's Messiah. During that time she began studying organ
with Powell Weaver, well-known Kansas City organist and composer, and completed
a bachelor of music degree in 1946 from Central Missouri State Teachers
College, Warrensburg, Missouri. She then entered a master's degree
program at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where she was a
student of Harold Gleason for the next six years.

Many area organists began to recognize that there was
something quite special about Bethel's playing, and thus her career as a
teacher began. In addition to her serving on the faculties of Graceland and at
Warrensburg, she joined the faculty of the newly-formed, but short-lived,
Independence branch of the Kansas City Conservatory of Music. She also served a
number of years as an adjunct instructor of organ at the University of Missouri-Kansas
City's Conservatory of Music, where she taught degree-seeking students at
the bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels. Following her tenure
at the Auditorium, Bethel continued to influence the lives of hundreds of children
by teaching elementary music in the Raytown, Missouri public school system
until her retirement.

In the 1940s Bethel was in a position to share the dreams
and aspirations of the church leadership of having a fine pipe organ in the
world headquarters building, which at the time was a large incomplete domed
shell. It was her association with Harold Gleason and his famous wife, organ
virtuoso Catharine Crozier, that culminated in the design and installation of
the Aeolian-Skinner organ in the Auditorium, completed in 1959, which at the
time was the largest free-standing organ in the United States. Dr. Gleason
served as organ consultant for the church, Ms. Crozier played the inaugural
recital in November 1959, and Bethel was at the organ for its dedication during
the church's world conference in April 1960.

The arrival of the organ, which was considered by many
(including Aeolian-Skinner's president, Joseph Whiteford) to be
Aeolian-Skinner's masterpiece, heralded a new era in the musical life of
the community as well as the church. From the very beginning, Bethel invited
many distinguished guest musicians from all over the United States and abroad
to perform in Independence, a tradition which continues to the present day. Not
only has the Auditorium Organ been a superb instrument for performing great
organ literature, it was designed to possess in abundance the necessary
qualities for encouraging a vast congregation to sing. A congregational hymn
with Bethel Knoche at the Auditorium Organ was a truly inspiring moment for all
present. The organ also provided a new outlet for the church's
longstanding commitment to radio ministry and eventually became one of the most
frequently heard organs on the air. "The Auditorium Organ," a
program heard for more than thirty years, originated as a 30-minute recital
featuring Bethel Knoche and broadcast weekly over an international network. The
organ also set a new standard of excellence against which all future organs in
the Midwest would be measured, and Bethel provided invaluable assistance to countless
congregations in their selection and purchase of new organs.

Sensing the need to have many people prepared to play the
new organ on a regular basis, Bethel assembled and trained a small, but very
dedicated, corps of volunteer organists to share the playing responsibilities
at the many events that would be taking place in the Auditorium. In addition to
the many services that occur in conjunction with the church's biennial
world conference, a daily listening period was instituted, for which the organ staff
would provide invaluable assistance, enabling countless visitors to the
building to experience the beauty and power of the splendid new organ. The
daily recitals have continued to the present day (daily during the summer and
weekly throughout the rest of the year), made possible by a volunteer staff
that now comprises thirty-five gifted musicians.

Bethel is survived by her husband of fifty-six years, Joseph
T. Knoche; her daughter, Anne McCracken of Jackson, Tennessee; her son, Joseph
K. Knoche of Independence; her sister, Shirley Elliott of Fremont, Nebraska;
five grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren, and a host of former students,
friends and admirers from all over the world. Plans are now being formulated
for an appropriate world church commemoration of the life and ministry of
Bethel Knoche.

--Rodney Giles

Ft. Lauderdale, FL and Cherry Grove,NY

Past Dean, Greater Kansas City AGO