Marcelo Giannini recital tour

Wesley Roberts is Professor of Music at Campbellsville University, where he teaches piano, organ, and musicology, and has been a member of the faculty since 1982. He has presented concerts as pianist and organist throughout the United States, in Europe and in Asia, including premieres of works by the Dutch composers Hans Osieck, Johan van Kempen, and Kees Weggelaar, and the American composers Tom Johnson and James W. Moore. He is the author of articles and reviews in British, Dutch, and American journals, and co-author with Maurice Hinson of The Piano in Chamber Ensemble, 2nd Edition, published in 2006. Dr. Roberts has served as a visiting professor at the French Piano Institute in Paris and at Shanghai Normal University, and is currently organist at Calvin Presbyterian Church in Louisville.

A century-old slice of music history arrived on the campus of Campbellsville University in central Kentucky in early 2007, when a Farrand & Votey organ was moved from Nashville, Tennessee, to the George W. and Marie T. Ransdell Chapel. The organ was built in 1894 for Christ Church in downtown Nashville, as a modest instrument of approximately fifteen ranks.1 Over the course of many years, it has been rebuilt and enlarged to its present size of 51 ranks and 3,014 pipes. That Campbellsville University could acquire such a treasure was in itself a miracle, considering few universities nowadays are in a financial position to afford an organ of this size. But the miracle of a pipe organ is that it can be rebuilt and enlarged for much less expense than the purchase of a new instrument. Such would be the story of Farrand & Votey’s pioneering instrument from the 1890s.

The organ’s origins
At the time Christ Church contracted with Farrand & Votey for an organ in June 1894, the church was moving into a new sanctuary and desirous of a fine instrument for its new facility. William R. Farrand (1854–1930) and Edwin Scott Votey (1856–1931) worked for Whitney Organ Company in Detroit, and when Whitney retired in 1887 the two joined to establish their own company. The company was soon expanded through the acquisitions of two small organ building firms, Granville Wood (1890) and Roosevelt (1892). Always seeking new innovations, Farrand & Votey employed the most modern construction techniques of the time, using several recent developments patented by Roosevelt and a few of their own. Their technique paid off handsomely, for they quickly reached national attention with important installations in key locations across the United States. At the Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago, they exhibited two organs, including a four-manual instrument in Festival Hall. Undoubtedly, these accomplishments attracted the attention of Christ Church, as it did others.2
Farrand & Votey’s new organ for Christ Church was a three-manual instrument of approximately fifteen ranks. It was played for the first time during the opening services for the new building on Sunday, December 16, 1894. The organist was accompanied by a quartette plus a “chorus choir” of three ladies and fourteen men. The organ used the newly developed electro-pneumatic action, a revolutionary technique for the time; called ventil, it had a separate wind supply for each stop, with individual valves for every pipe. Its keyboard was attached to the instrument, as in tracker actions, although the original plans had called for it to be set across the chancel in a detached console. The organ was considered the best that could be obtained for the time and was the only one of its kind in the southeastern United States. As might be imagined, the organ quickly became a source of pride for the church and city.
The new instrument drew its electrical power from a series of four large batteries for key action, and obtained wind pressure from a water pump. The batteries were expensive to maintain and proved to be unreliable. Little to no maintenance seems to have taken place during the first dozen years. During this period, there were no fewer than seven different organists. In 1906, Arthur Henkel was hired as organist/choirmaster, and entrusted to care for the instrument. A committee was formed and before the end of the year, Orla D. Allen, a builder who had been with Farrand & Votey, was contracted to restore the instrument. Allen installed a new electrical Holtzer Cabot rotary transformer, or motor-generator, for key action and a Ross hydraulic engine for wind pressure. He releathered the organ, rebuilt much of the internal workings of the console, and moved the latter across the chancel, as the original plans detailed. The work took six months and was said to be thorough and complete in church documents.
In the years to follow, the organ served as the principal musical vehicle for worship services and concerts. Henkel gave concerts on the new instrument to demonstrate its capabilities. One such concert program, dated December 5, 1909, included J. S. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor and Boëllmann’s Suite Gothique, as well as lesser-known works by G. M. Dethier, Edwin Lemare, and Edward d’Evry.

Additions and repairs
A set of chimes with twenty tubes was presented for the organ by Jane Washington Ewing in memory of her husband Felix Grundy Ewing in 1936. They were dedicated and heard for the first time on October 28, 1936.3 Later, a Schulmerich carillon was given by Louise Bransford McGavock in memory of her parents, William Settle and Noda McGavock Bransford, in late 1944. With no place to install the gift, a front tower for the church was constructed in 1947, and the carillon was installed therein.4
By 1940, Henkel had noted to the church that the relays between the console and the organ had deteriorated to the point that repairs were needed.5 Pilcher Organ Company from Louisville, Kentucky, was engaged the same year to install a new console (with relays built inside) and seven new ranks. Company records show that by the time work was complete, Pilcher had added nine new ranks. These consisted of a Gemshorn 8′ on the Great; Vox Celeste 8′, Aeoline 8′, and Trompette 8′ on the Swell; Flute Celeste 8′ and Unda Maris 8′ on the Choir; and a Flute 8′, Octave 8′, and Super Octave 4′ in the Pedal. In addition, three ranks were revoiced: the Trumpet 8′ (Great), Oboe 8′, and Vox Humana 8′ (Swell); and the Clarinet 8′ (Choir) was given new bass. By the time work was finished in September 1940, the organ was said to have been enlarged to 2,438 pipes.6 Pilcher’s fee for these additions and service was $7,298.7
Further expansion of the organ began to be discussed after World War II, and a new console was installed by Möller Organ Company in 1955. This console, the third for the organ, is still in use today. Tonal improvements were made a few years later in 1959.
Henkel continued service at Christ Church until his retirement in 1959. He had served a total of fifty-three years as organist-choirmaster, and in honor of his ministry, the church dedicated the organ to Henkel upon his retirement. He was succeeded by Peter Fyfe, who served in the same capacity for the next thirty-five years, until 1994.8 During Fyfe’s years of service, many fine musicians from around the country came to Nashville and played the organ in either church services or concerts, including Leo Sowerby, John Scott, and Fred Swann, among others. An unusual event was the first performance of a Mass for Moog synthesizer and organ given in Christ Church by Nashvillian Dr. Gregory Woolf in the early 1970s.9
In 1967, Fyfe and Christ Church turned to A. W. Brandt and Company of Columbus, Ohio, for extensive work, releathering much of the instrument and repairing pneumatics and pipe boards. An extensive contract detailing the operation was signed in September for the sum of $16,535. The Choir organ was expanded in a second agreement with Brandt two months later, which called for the installation of six new stops in the Choir and one in the Great. Additions in the Choir included a new Rohrflute 8′ (replacing the Concert Flute 8′), Spitz Principal 4′ (replacing the Rohrflute 4′), Nazard 22⁄3′ (replacing the Flute Celeste 8′), Blockflute 2′ (replacing the Harmonic Piccolo 2′), Cymbal III (replacing the Geigen Principal 8′), and Krummhorn 8′ (replacing the Clarinet 8′). A new Gedeckt 8′ (replacing the Doppel Flute 8′) was placed in the Great. The total cost for these additions was $6,730.
The maintenance and care of the organ was entrusted to Dennis Milnar in 1968 and has remained with him and the Milnar Organ Company to the present day.10 A newcomer to Nashville from upstate New York, Milnar soon established his own company and developed a business that has serviced organs throughout Tennessee and in surrounding states. Under Milnar’s guidance, a new Tierce 13⁄5′ was added to the Choir in 1974. Additional work was done on the organ throughout the 1980s, including releathering the console pneumatics in 1981, converting the Double Open Diapason to a 32′ Sub Bourdon in 1984, releathering the wind chests in 1987–88, and installing a Scharf III, Trombone 32′, and other stops in 1989. The expression machines were releathered in 1991.

Liturgical renewal—changes at Christ Church
While many of these changes were being made to the organ, discussion within Christ Church began to develop following World War II on the placement of important items within the chancel. Those concerned with liturgical renewal suggested the baptismal font, pulpit, and altar of the church be brought forward from the back wall to the front of the chancel for closer contact with the congregation. Similarly, efforts to study the possibility of placing the organ in the balcony began during the 1960s after Peter Fyfe had been organist for several years, but there was never a coordinated effort to any of these ideas until after 1980, when Rev. Tom Ward became rector. Ward enthusiastically supported changes in the liturgy laid out in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, and it was through his encouragement that church leaders studied and retained a liturgical consultant to suggest changes. A new design was approved in 1990, which called for the altar table, with adjoining pulpit and baptismal font, to be moved close to the front of the chancel, and for an extension of the balcony to relocate the organ and choir therein. The initial changes to the front of the chancel were completed in 1992 with the installation of a new altar. Shortly thereafter, discussion turned more decidedly toward moving the organ and choir to the balcony, and plans began to be developed to reinforce the balcony and enlarge it for this purpose. As these plans developed, various organ consultants agreed that the Farrand & Votey could not satisfactorily be reworked and reinstalled in the balcony. Consequently, the decision was made to purchase a new organ rather than move the existing instrument to the balcony. Renovation of the balcony for this purpose was completed in 2003, and an impressive 60-rank Lively-Fulcher organ was installed. The new organ was played for the first time on June 1, 2003, by church organist Michael Velting.11 With these changes complete, the church no longer needed its Farrand & Votey organ and placed it up for sale.

An organ for Ransdell Chapel
About the same time, the initial stages of designing the new Ransdell Chapel for Campbellsville University were beginning. Upon learning of the availability of the Farrand & Votey organ in October 2003, University Organist Nevalyn Moore and Wesley Roberts approached University President Michael Carter and received permission to investigate the possibility of acquiring the instrument for the new chapel. As they visited the church and played the organ, they realized that the organ would serve well as both a service organ to support the university’s chapel services, and a concert organ to support the academic program. Upon Moore’s and Roberts’ recommendation, with the assistance of Dennis Milnar, the organ was purchased for $30,000. The university then engaged Milnar Organ Company to convert the console and relays to solid-state technology, rebuild, redesign, move, and install the instrument in Ransdell Chapel.
The purchase of the organ at the early stages of design for Ransdell Chapel enabled architects to provide adequate space and facilities to house the instrument. Groundbreaking for the chapel was on October 25, 2005. Two additional stops were offered as gifts to the university for the organ. James and Nevalyn Moore, Campbellsville University School of Music faculty, gave a Zimbelstern, and Maynard and Jewel Faye Roberts of Ocala, Florida, gave a Trumpet en Chamade.
Excitement grew over the next year and a half as Ransdell Chapel was being built. As construction neared completion, Milnar began delivery of the organ in February 2007, in a series of six weekly trips from their shop in Eagleville, Tennessee. The initial delivery on February 20 brought many of the largest parts of the organ, including the huge wooden Sub Bourdon pipes and wind chests. Students and faculty joined the Milnar crew in unloading its precious cargo from week to week as pipes and equipment arrived.12 The Central Kentucky News Journal featured a front-page story on the organ in its April 5, 2007 issue.
The installation was completed in time for the dedication of Ransdell Chapel on April 18, 2007. University Organist Nevalyn Moore was at the console for the momentous occasion. Later in the summer, the Trumpet en Chamade arrived and was installed in the rear of the chapel for antiphonal effect. The chapel was also equipped with a Bechstein concert grand piano built in 2002, and a new Yamaha upright piano in an adjoining class/rehearsal room. Both instruments were gifts from friends of the university.
The organ was formally dedicated in a recital by Nevalyn Moore on September 4, 2007. On the program were selections by Albert Travis, Johann Sebastian Bach, Gordon Young, James Moore, Jean Langlais, and Charles-Marie Widor. The organ has since come to be admired in its new setting for its visual and musical beauty, and treasured for its capabilities and rich heritage.

Christ Church Cathedral
Specifications of the original Farrand & Votey organ13

GREAT
16′ Double Open Diapason*
8′ Open Diapason
8′ Viola de Gamba
8′ Doppel Floete
4′ Octave
22⁄3′ Octave Quint
2′ Super Octave
Mixture III*
4′ Trumpet

SWELL
16′ Bourdon
8′ Open Diapason
8′ Salicional
8′ Stopped Diapason
8′ Gemshorn
4′ Flute Harmonique
Cornet (?) ranks
8′ Oboe
8′ Vox Humana*
Tremolo
*To be added later

CHOIR
8′ Geigen Principal
8′ Dolce
8′ Concert Floete
4′ Rohr Floete
2′ Piccolo Harmonique
8′ Clarinet

PEDAL
16′ Open Diapason
16′ Bourdon
8′ Violoncello

Couplers
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal
Choir to Pedal
Swell to Great Sub Octaves
Swell to Great Unison
Swell to Great Super Octaves
Great Octaves
Choir to Great Sub Octaves
Choir to Great Unison
Swell to Choir
Swell Octaves

Ransdell Chapel
Farrand & Votey organ
Redesigned and rebuilt by Milnar
Organ Company, 2007

GREAT
16′ Quintaton
8′ Open Diapason
8′ Gedeckt
8′ Gemshorn
4′ Octave
4′ Koppel Flute
22⁄3′ Twelfth
2′ Fifteenth
V Fourniture
8′ Trumpet
III Scharf
8′ Trumpet en Chamade
Unison Off
Great 16
Great 4
Chimes
MIDI to Great

SWELL
8′ Open Diapason
8′ Stopped Diapason
8′ Salicional
8′ Aeoline
8′ Vox Celeste
4′ Flute Harmonic
4′ Gemshorn
2′ Principal
III Plein Jeu
II Sesquialtera
16′ Contra Fagotto
8′ Trompette
8′ Oboe
4′ Clarion
8′ Trumpet en Chamade (Gt)
Tremolo
Unison Off
Swell 16
Swell 4
MIDI to Swell

CHOIR
8′ Rohrflute
8′ Dolce
8′ Unda Maris
4′ Spitz Principal
22⁄3′ Nazard
2′ Blockflute
13⁄5′ Tierce
III Cymbel
8′ Krummhorn
8′ Trumpet en Chamade (Gt)
Tremolo
Unison Off
Choir 16
Choir 4
MIDI to Choir
Moore Zimbelstern

PEDAL
32′ Sub Bourdon
16′ Principal
16′ Quintaton
16′ Bourdon
8′ Octave
8′ Flute
8′ Cello
4′ Super Octave
32′ Trombone
16′ Trombone
8′ Trumpet
4′ Clarion
MIDI to Pedal

Couplers
Great to Pedal 8, 4
Swell to Pedal 8, 4
Choir to Pedal 8, 4
Swell to Great 16, 8, 4
Choir to Great 16, 8, 4
Swell to Choir 16, 8, 4
Great/Choir Transfer

Pistons
Generals: Thumb 1–6 & Toe 1–9
Swell: Thumb 1–6
Great: Thumb 1–6
Choir: Thumb 1–6
Pedal: Thumb 1–6 & Toe 1–6
Swell to Pedal: Thumb & Toe
Great to Pedal: Thumb & Toe
Choir to Pedal: Thumb & Toe
SFZ: Thumb & Toe
Combination Adj.: Thumb
Cancel: Thumb

Expression
Swell
Choir

Compass
61-note manual
32-note pedal

Memory System
Peterson ICS-4000

From the builder
When Christ Episcopal Church in Nashville, Tennessee, asked us to market their Farrand & Votey organ for them, we took the project to heart. The organ had been under our care for almost 40 years, and this project became personal.
I thought we had a possible new home for it in Nashville, but that did not materialize. Professor Wesley Roberts, of Campbellsville University in Kentucky, read an advertisement of ours and called us. After several discussions, Wesley, Nevalyn Moore, and I met at Christ Church. The organist of Christ Church, Dr. Michael Velting, gave a demonstration of the instrument, and they were impressed. I told them if we could redesign the organ to be on one level, instead of several, within a good room, in a good location, the organ sound would be enhanced.
We were so pleased when the university decided to purchase the organ and commission us to redesign, rebuild and install it in their forthcoming new chapel. That was the beginning of a long successful project. There were two major factors that made the project successful. First was the university’s willingness to make the necessary repairs and upgrades to the organ. The second was the architect, Jeff Bennett, who was enthusiastic about the organ and open to our recommendations.
The organ room at Christ Church was about 15 feet square with a height of about 25 feet. The tonal opening that faced the congregation was in front of the Choir box wall, and allowed limited egress of sound. The opening facing the Choir was larger, and allowed most of the sound egress. Both openings supported pipe façades with lovely hand-painted pipes. The limited floor space made it necessary to have the organ speak at several levels. Fortunately, it was an inside room, and the organ enjoyed good tuning stability.
The new home in Ransdell Chapel gave us an area that is 58 feet wide and 18 feet deep, with 26 feet of height. This area has complete temperature and humidity control. The outside walls of the organ area consist of eight-inch thick block, ridge insulation and a brick exterior. The ceiling has two layers of 5/8-inch drywall and the concrete slab floor is about 12 feet above and behind the stage. The sound projection is fantastic.
The architect provided us with new Swell and Choir chambers. These virtually soundproof enclosures have six-inch thick insulated walls, with two layers of 5/8-inch thick drywall on the inside with another layer outside. The doors are made of insulated steel, providing a most effective crescendo of sound.
Pipes that were once placed deep in the chamber were placed in an unobstructed position. The 32′ Bourdon spoke under the Choir and Great windchests and about 18 inches from a large bellows; it now has five feet of unobstructed space to develop its full sound and bounce off a solid wall. The listener can not only hear this powerful stop but also feel its reverberating tone. This is also true for the 32′ Trombone and the 16′ Principal, which were in the back of the old chamber behind the Swell box.
The organ now speaks with greater clarity and the volume has increased by at least 50 percent. To crown the organ, the parents of Professor Roberts donated funds to add a beautifully made
(A. R. Schopp’s Sons) Trumpet en Chamade. We mounted this on the rear wall at the height of the main organ. The large-scaled, flared copper reed has a warm strong sound that truly crowns the instrument without taking away from the grandeur of the main organ.
To hear and see this instrument today with its software-based organ control system (Peterson ICS-4000) and think back to its beginning with a water pump for air pressure and batteries to operate the magnets, speaks volumes about the reigning king of instruments.
—Dennis Milnar

The European community and in particular, France, lost an important advocate for the organ with the untimely death of Jean Boyer. Mr. Boyer died of cancer on June 28 in Lille, France, at the age of 56.

He was born on October 4, 1948, in Sidi Bel Abbes in Algeria, into a musical family; his organist father was a student of André Marchal. He began his musical studies in Toulouse, a city well known for the quality of its organs. These exceptional instruments played a central role in his musical training, which was completed under the guidance of Xavier Darasse, in whose class he earned a first prize in organ at the Conservatoire de Toulouse in 1969.

In Paris, he was greatly influenced at St-Séverin Church by Francis Chapelet and André Isoir. In 1975 he became co-titulaire of this church, a post he held until 1988; he also served as organist at the historic organ of St-Nicolas-des-Champs until 1995. Mr. Boyer’s recordings have received great praise from the musical press, and in 1972 he was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque. In addition to his concert activities, Jean Boyer was a devoted pedagogue. At the time of his death he was professor of organ at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Lyon.

Mr. Boyer was an excellent organist and organ professor, much beloved by his students. He was a scholar and did a great deal to promote the understanding and accurate performance practice of ancient music and was a strong advocate for the thoughtful restoration of historic organs. He was remembered at a Requiem in Lille, France, July 1.

--Gene Bedient

David Messineo, principal university organist at Princeton University, died June 11 of an apparent heart attack at his home in Shohola, Pennsylvania. He was 45. Born on August 14, 1958, in Hackensack, New Jersey, Messineo began playing the piano at age four and took up the organ at age 11. He served as organist at Grace Episcopal Church in Port Jervis, New York, and Rutherford (NJ) Congregational Church while still a teenager. He attended the Juilliard School in New York City, where he graduated with a Mus.B., M.M. and doctor of musical arts with honors in organ performance. During his time at Juilliard, he served at St. Stephen’s Roman Catholic Church in Kearny, New Jersey, and for eight years was associate director of music/organist at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark. For 16 years, he was minister of music at the Glen Ridge Congregational Church, where he played the organ and directed seven choirs. He also taught organ at Montclair State University for many years. Messineo joined the Princeton staff in 2000. He gave recitals across the United States and performed in historical venues in Germany, the Czech Republic, France and the Netherlands. Messineo also played theatre organ, and in 1979, he opened the new Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall and continued as organist there for several years. He studied theatre organ with a former silent movie accompanist and was known at Princeton for his annual performance around Halloween improvising with the 1925 silent movie, “The Phantom of the Opera.” Funeral services took place on June 16 at the Milford United Methodist Church, Milford, Pennsylvania.

Myron J. Roberts, 92, died May 15 in Camden, Maine, after a brief illness. He was born in San Diego, California, January 30, 1912, and at the age of nine he moved with his family to Palo Alto, California. Raised in a musical family, he developed an early passion for piano and organ. By the time he was in high school, he was studying piano and then organ with Stanford University organist, Warren Allen. Roberts completed his undergraduate studies in 1935 at the College of the Pacific (now the University of the Pacific) in Stockton, California, where he was an organ student of Allen Bacon. He completed a master’s degree in the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary, where he studied with Clarence Dickinson. After two years as an organist in the greater New York area and as an interim organist in Richmond, Virginia, Roberts joined the faculty of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln in 1940, where he taught organ and music theory for 34 years. He also held positions in Lincoln as organist at First-Plymouth Congregational Church, Holy Trinity Episcopal Church and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Risen Christ.

Roberts was married to Virginia W. Roberts. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts retired at the same time and moved to Rio del Mar on Monterey Bay in California. After Mrs. Roberts’ death in 1975 Mr. Roberts continued to live in California and resumed playing the organ in public recitals. It was at this time that he met and became long-time friends with Anthony Antolini, who was teaching at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz County. When Prof. Antolini and his family moved to Maine in 1991 Mr. Roberts decided to join them and moved to Cushing in 1993, where he built a home with a view of the St. George River.

Roberts composed works for organ, choral music and pieces for organ and other instruments. Among his 22 published works are Homage to Perotin (1956), Pastorale and Aviary (1969) and Fanfare and Tuckets (1991) for organ. His best known choral compositions include O Lord, We Beseech Thee (1965), Jubilate Deo (1976) and Magnificat (1977). His most unusual composition is Five for Organ and Marimba (1975). After moving to Maine Roberts continued to compose music and teach organ on a limited basis. He also maintained a lifelong interest in astronomy and gardening.

Roberts was a communicant of the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist in Thomaston, Maine where he took an active part in the work of the organ search committee. In 2003 that committee selected the Bedient Pipe Organ Company of Roca, Nebraska to build its new organ. The president and founder of the company, Gene Bedient, was a student of Mr. Roberts at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln many years ago.

A memorial service was held on June 20 at the Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist, Thomaston, Maine. There were also two performances of the Dvorák Requiem by the Down East Singers in memory of Mr. Roberts on May 23 at St. Andrew’s Roman Catholic Church in Augusta, Maine, and on May at the Rockland Congregational Church, Rockland, Maine.

An in-depth biographical interview with Mr. Roberts was published in the June 1997 issue of The American Organist.

--Anthony Antolini

Dom Francis Kline, OCSO, died August 27 at Mepkin Abbey, Moncks Corner, South Carolina, following a long illness. Born Joseph Paul Kline III in 1948 in Philadelphia, he began playing for church services when he was ten years old; he studied with Alexander McCurdy at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, and with Vernon de Tar at the Juilliard School. During his last year at Juilliard, he performed the complete organ works of J. S. Bach in 14 recitals in Manhattan, repeating the cycle the following year in Philadelphia, where the concerts were recorded and are still broadcast on the radio. He entered the Trappist monastery of Our Lady of Gethsemane in 1972, taking the name Francis, and was ordained a priest in 1986. In 1990 he was elected third Abbot of Mepkin Abbey.
He published articles and books on theology and spirituality. Given permission by his superiors to take up music again, Abbot Francis played a limited number of recitals, including at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival. He also worked with the Diocese of Charleston, and the environmental community, to preserve open space. He is survived by his parents, two brothers and their wives, and six nieces and nephews. A memorial service was held at Mepkin Abbey on August 31.

George M. Kreamer died June 10 at his home in Lake Charles, Louisiana. He was 93. A graduate of the Chicago Musical College, he studied piano with Rudolph Ganz. During World War II he served in the Army’s Secret Intelligence Division, specializing in foreign languages and participating in the invasion of Normandy. While in France, he studied organ with Marcel Dupré. Mr. Kreamer was organist at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where he taught music and French for 30 years at the Episcopal Day School. A founding member of the Lake Charles Community Concerts, he served as president of the organization 1964–82, and as president of the Lake Charles Piano Teachers Association. A funeral service was held on June 13 at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd.

Ann Rogalla Portenga died in November, 2005 in Muskegon, Michigan, following a battle with cancer. Born in 1954 in Muskegon, she played for school Masses in fifth grade. She received a bachelor of music degree from the University of Michigan in 1977, and later studied organ with Philip Gehring at Valparaiso University. In 1981, she was appointed director of music-organist at the First Congregational Church, Muskegon, a position she held until her death.
Mrs. Portenga inaugurated “Concerts by the Park,” an organ recital series held during the Muskegon Art Fair, in 1987. A member of the Muskegon-Lakeshore AGO chapter, she served as dean 1988–90. Since 1978 she was a member of the West Shore Symphony Orchestra, playing French horn and keyboard instruments. She is survived by her husband Roy, three children, her parents, two sisters, and a brother. A memorial service was held at the First Congregational Church of Muskegon on November 21, 2005.

Carl E. Stout died in February at age 75, from complications following heart surgery. Growing up in Syracuse, New York, he first studied organ with Edith Schmidt and as a teenager became organist of the First Presbyterian Church in Fulton, New York, where he was featured on a weekly radio broadcast. He learned organ maintenance at the Chester Raymond Organ Company in New Jersey and serviced the Princeton Chapel organ weekly. Returning to Syracuse, he studied organ with Arthur Poister, and subsequently earned a master of arts degree from East Carolina University. His teaching positions included those at Mercyhurst College, St. Olaf College, and Syracuse University. He served as organist-choirmaster at Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Rocky Mount, North Carolina; Trinity Episcopal Memorial Church, Warren, Pennsylvania; and St. Paul’s Cathedral in Erie, Pennsylvania. He is survived by two nephews.

Maurice Odell Tillery, 61, of Newark, Arkansas, died on March 9, 2006. Born August 18, 1944, in Benton, Arkansas, he was an elementary music teacher in the Newark School District and a member of the Central Arkansas AGO chapter. He was organist at the Hazel Edwards United Methodist Church in Newark, and had previously served as organist at other churches, including St. Francis of Assisi, west of Little Rock. He is survived by a son and a daughter, a brother, two sisters, and three grandchildren. Funeral services were held at Old Union Baptist Church.