Paul S. Hesselink dead at 82

John Allen Ditto

John Allen Ditto died March 9. He was born February 12, 1945, in Kansas City, Missouri. At the age three he showed great interest in the piano and was taught by Pauline Chaney and Lucille Hoover of Plattsburg. Beginning at age nine and continuing through high school years, he studied piano at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, with organ lessons beginning in 1961.

After graduating from Plattsburg High School in 1963, Ditto went on to earn a Bachelor of Music degree in organ and church music from Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa. In 1969 he earned his Master of Music degree in organ and sacred music from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. From 1969 until 1972 he was director of music for First Presbyterian Church, Evansville, Indiana. In 1972 he began his Doctoral of Musical Arts degree studies at Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York. 

After completing his doctorate, he returned to Missouri as assistant professor of organ, piano, and music history at Central Methodist University, Fayette, and organist at Linn Memorial United Methodist Church on campus from 1975 to 1982. He then began teaching at the University of Missouri Kansas City Conservatory of Music, a position he held until his retirement in 2015. During this time Ditto served as organist/music director at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Kansas City. He was a member of St. Paul’s Church and continued to be involved after his retirement.

Throughout his career Ditto played numerous recitals throughout the country and was an artist with Phyllis Stringham Concert Management. He was an active member of the Kansas City chapter of the American Guild of Organists, attending and performing at conventions and pedagogy conferences. During summer months, Ditto spent time on Lopez Island, Washington, where he was organist at Grace Episcopal Church. 

Upon retirement Ditto volunteered at the Kansas City Free Health Clinic and St. Luke’s Hospital. He also served as chairman of the program committee on the UMKC Retirees Association Board. He was a lector and chalice bearer at Bishop Spencer Place, where he resided the final year of his life.

John Allen Ditto is survived by his sister Mary Alice (Larry) Roberts, nephew Zach (Ashley) Nelson, and his great-nieces, Lilly and Sylvie Nelson, all of Plattsburg, Missouri. Services were held April 16 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Kansas City. Former students Shelly Moorman-Stahlman and Robert L. Bozeman played prelude and postlude, all pieces learned as students with Ditto. St. Paul’s Choir sang movements from Durufle’s Requiem at the Holy Eucharist service. Memorial contributions may be made to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church for the music program (stpaulskcmo.org), to the American Guild of Organists, New Organist Scholarship Fund in memory of John Ditto (agohq.org), or to John A. Ditto Memorial Music Scholarship, P. O. Box 136, Plattsburg, Missouri 64477.

—Robert L. Bozeman and Shelly Moorman-Stahlman

Paul S. Hesselink

Paul S. Hesselink, 82, died May 1. Born June 6, 1940, in Mitchell, South Dakota, he had been a resident of Las Vegas, Nevada, since 1993. He had previously lived in Iowa, Nebraska, Washington, Michigan, Ohio, Colorado, and Virginia.

Hesselink was a graduate of Lynden (Washington) High School and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in music in 1962 from Hope College, Holland, Michigan, where he majored in organ. He studied musicology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, under a Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship; earned a Master of Arts degree in organ pedagogy from Ohio State University, Columbus; and received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in organ performance from University of Colorado, Boulder. His organ teachers included Roger J. Rietberg, Wilbur C. Held, Arthur Poister, Everett J. Hilty, and Don A. Vollstedt. He studied harpsichord in Paris, France, with Davitt Moroney.

In 1966 Hesselink joined the faculty at Longwood College (now University), Farmville, Virginia, where for twenty-six years he taught organ, harpsichord, music theory, music form and analysis, church music, handbells, and music appreciation. He was named a recipient of the college’s Maria Bristow Starke Award for Excellence in Teaching, and he chaired the Longwood department of music for three years. During the 1978–1979 academic year he was a guest faculty member at the University of Colorado in the department of organ and church music. Upon early retirement from Longwood, he was named Professor Emeritus. He relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada, to become dean and chief executive officer at Nevada School of the Arts, a private, non-profit community arts school, holding that position for twelve years. He also taught organ as adjunct faculty at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, beginning in 1993.

As a church musician, Hesselink served as the director of music (organ, choir, and handbells) at Farmville Presbyterian Church, Virginia, for twelve years and as organist at Christ Church Episcopal in Las Vegas for six years. He was an active member of the Southern Nevada Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and he served as program chair of the AGO Region IX Midwinter Conclave, hosted by the Southern Nevada Chapter in January 2006. From 2005 to 2019 he managed the chapter’s organ recital series bringing nationally and internationally known organists to perform in Las Vegas. Upon his retirement from that responsibility, the chapter honored him by naming the recital series the Paul S. Hesselink Organ Recital Series. Hesselink also held memberships in the Organ Historical Society, the College Music Society, the American Musicological Society, and the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society.

Active during his entire professional life as an organ and harpsichord recitalist, lecturer, and workshop leader, he also performed as a duo-piano team member with Longwood colleague Frieda Myers. He was harpsichordist-in-residence with the Roxbury Chamber Players of New York for “Music in Historic Places” during the summers of 1984 and 1985. In 1996 he was harpsichord soloist for the world premiere performance of the Nevett Bartow Concerto for Harpsichord with the Nevada Chamber Orchestra; he later recorded the work with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra in Bratislava for the MMC Recordings label. Hesselink was the recipient of two National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar awards—at Yale University and later at the Arnold Schoenberg Institute at the University of Southern California. The seminars resulted in a ten-year research project regarding the commissioning, composition, and publication of Schoenberg’s only work for organ, Variations on a Recitative, opus 40. At the end of the second summer seminar, he was invited to publish his research in the Journal of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the composition of the Schoenberg organ work, his article, “Variations on a Recitative for Organ, Op. 40: Correspondence from the Schoenberg Legacy,” was republished in The American Organist (October and December 1991).

Hesselink was a force in the acquisition of the Maurine Jackson Smith Memorial Organ installed in 2004 in Dr. Rando-Grillot Recital Hall, Beam Music Center, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. This instrument, which was designed, fabricated, and installed by Rudolf von Beckerath Orgelbau, Hamburg, Germany, is the largest mechanical-action organ in Nevada. In 2013 he published “As I Recall: A History of the Maurine Jackson Smith Organ at UNLV.”

Paul S. Hesselink is survived by a brother, Philip Hesselink of Omaha, Nebraska; two sisters, Elaine Helmus of Jefferson, Iowa, and Ardys Hansum of Omaha. Also surviving is his former student, longtime friend, and partner of more than fifty years, Linda Parker. His ashes were interred in the family plot in the Gibbsville, Wisconsin, cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Guild of Organists, the Southern Nevada Chapter of the AGO, or the Organ Historical Society.

James Elwin McCray

James Elwin McCray, music professor and administrator, choral conductor, and composer, died March 3 at his home in Fort Collins, Colorado, following a period of declining health. He was born February 27, 1938, in Kankakee, Illinois, and received degrees from Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, and Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. He earned a Ph.D. degree in music from the University of Iowa, Iowa City. Before arriving in Fort Collins, he was a member of the music faculty of the University of South Florida, Tampa, and chairman of the music departments at Longwood College, Farmville, Virginia, and St. Mary’s College, South Bend, Indiana. From 1978 until 1988 he was chairman of the department of music, theatre, and dance at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, from which he retired as Professor Emeritus of Music.

McCray composed and published over one hundred choral compositions that were sung by vocal ensembles in public schools, churches, and universities—many of them commissioned by these organizations. He received professor of the year awards from the honor societies of two universities, was awarded the Mellon Prize for distinguished contributions to scholarship, and was recognized for excellence in teaching by the Colorado State Alumni Board. An active church musician, he served Protestant and Catholic churches for decades. Additionally, he conducted Laudamus, a civic choral ensemble, and authored three books and numerous professional articles. From November 1976 through December 2016, he wrote a monthly column for The Diapason, “Music for Voices and Organ,” reviewing new choral music and reintroducing other anthems appropriate throughout the liturgical year.

As a university administrator, McCray was a leader who planned for the future and found innovative solutions to the changing climate of higher education. He was a strong and vigorous advocate for his departments and worked to broaden his departments’ reputation. A particular asset of his leadership and community building was his continuing success at hosting distinguished musicians, scholars, and composers from around the country to interact with students and frequent, gracious entertaining of the Fort Collins choral community at his home.

James Elwin McCray is survived by his wife, Joanne Campbell, and his children by his previous wife, Chris: son Matthew McCray of Los Angeles and daughter Kelly McCray of Tampa; and step-children Emily Lefler of San Diego, Bradley Lefler of Los Angeles, and predeceased by his stepson, Scott Lefler. A celebration of life was held April 6 in Fort Collins. Memorial gifts should be directed to the future James E. McCray Music Scholarship, which the family hopes to eventually endow to support conducting students in the CSU Department of Music. Checks should be made payable to the Colorado State University Foundation, Post Office Box 1870, Fort Collins, Colorado 80522, or made online at advancing.colostate.edu/give.

Robert D. Rhoads

Robert D. Rhoads, 88, retired vice president and technical director of Schoenstein & Co., Benicia, California, died February 10 in Sonoma, California. Born in Burbank, California, his family moved to a farm in Sunnyside, Washington. Rhoads attended Simpson College in Washington and assisted in relocating the college to San Francisco. Part of that project was installing two campus pipe organs. In San Francisco he earned an AA in electrical engineering from Cogswell College while working on installation and maintenance of industrial boilers.

In 1960 he started Robert D. Rhoads Pipe Organ Service. The following year he became an M. P. Möller representative, selling, installing, and servicing organs in the Northern California area. In 1970 he returned to Simpson College as head of maintenance and engineer of their radio station. When offered an opportunity to plan and install radio studio equipment and transmitters throughout the country, he became chief engineer of Family Radio, a national religious network.

After completing the radio broadcasting project in 1974, Rhoads again entered the organ business. He purchased a building and set up an organ shop, employing two full-time people besides his wife, Dolores. During the “pizza organ” craze, the firm renovated and installed many Wurlitzer organs.

In 1978 Rhoads Pipe Organ Service was purchased by Schoenstein & Co. Robert Rhoads became factory manager, and Dolores Rhoads manager of tuning service. Robert Rhoads was responsible for developing and refining the designs of nearly every component of the Schoenstein electric-pneumatic action system. He coordinated the engineering, production, and installation of all new organs as well as major rebuilding jobs. Some of his notable projects at Schoenstein were organs at St. Paul’s Parish, Washington, D.C., and First-Plymouth Congregational Church, Lincoln, Nebraska. He also supervised the restoration of the Mormon Tabernacle organ in Salt Lake City, Utah, and accomplished installing the façade of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Conference Center organ in Salt Lake City while the building was under construction.

In 1996 Rhoads was named vice president and technical director of Schoenstein & Co. In April 2003 he retired after 24 years of service. Robert D. Rhoads is survived by his wife Dolores, two children, and seven grandchildren.

James Wyly

James Wyly died October 15, 2023, in Oaxaca, Mexico. He was born November 15, 1937, in Kansas City, Missouri, and was educated in public schools. He graduated in 1959 from Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts, where he majored in English and studied organ at nearby Smith College with Henry Mishkin. He then enrolled in the new Doctor of Musical Arts degree program at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, earning his degree in 1964. From 1961 through 1963 he was supported by the Fulbright Commission for his research and dissertation on historic pipe organs of Spain, living in Madrid. He was prepared to teach organ, harpsichord, music theory, and music history.

Wyly taught on the music faculty of Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, Illinois, from 1964 to 1968. Then he served on the music faculty of Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa, from 1968 to 1976, where he also taught in a humanities program based in classical literature.

In Chicago he met and married Mary Gae Porter, who served as a librarian at Grinnell and later at Chicago’s Newberry Library. From 1977 through 1985 James Wyly devoted himself to the study of clinical psychology and the analytical psychology of Carl Jung. He earned his PsyD degree from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology in 1981 and his diploma in analytical psychology from Chicago’s Jung Institute. He maintained a private practice in Chicago from 1981 until 2003, also serving on the staff of Fourth Presbyterian Church’s Replogle Counseling Center. He was an active teacher in the training programs of the Jung Institute until 1997.

In the 1990s Wyly worked with several groups of psychologists in Mexico City, people who wanted to study Jungian psychology and become analysts. He taught classes and provided clinical supervision for candidates.

In 2000 Wyly met paintings conservator Helen Oh, who taught painting at the Palette and Chisel Academy in Chicago, and he studied with her until 2003, learning 17th-century techniques. James and Mary Wyly moved to Oaxaca, Mexico, in 2003, first living in a 17th-century house of the late painter Rodolfo Morales. In 2008 they moved into the house of architect Guillermo de la Cajiga, where he pursued his passion in the studio of his dreams. At the same time a group of musicians gathered around him to learn and perform music of the Baroque era. The Wylys hosted two or three concerts a year until 2023.

In 2010 James Wyly was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Treatment provided by two young physicians using alternative medicine delayed symptoms until the summer of 2023 when they cured the leukemia but could not reverse the anemia that followed. Mary, these doctors, and a loyal circle of friends cared for him until he died peacefully in his bed.

Edward Brewer, 82, died April 3 in Leonia, New Jersey. Born in 1938 in Erie, Pennsylvania, his talent for music was revealed at an early age.

Brewer majored in organ at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Oberlin, Ohio. As a graduate student at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Brewer received a Fulbright Fellowship to continue his studies with organist Helmut Walcha in Frankfurt, Germany. His harpsichord studies continued with Maria Jaeger.

Edward Brewer’s school days ended in New York City in 1963 where he served in the Domestic Peace Corps until 1964, when he became organist and choir director at Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village. As a continuo player he served Amor Artis, Oratorio Society of New York, and New York Choral Society, as well as New York Philharmonic, New York Collegium, Orpheus, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and Philharmonia Virtuosi. He participated in the Madeira Bach Festival, Mostly Mozart Festival, and North Country Chamber Players summer festival. He was founding director of the Soclair Music Festival, a role he filled for 30 years. As founder and director of the Brewer Chamber Orchestra, he participated in a series of first-time recordings of operas by George Frederick Handel for MMG, Nonesuch, Delos, and ESS.A.Y.

Edward Brewer also provided portable pipe organs and harpsichords in European styles of the 18th century for New York musical organizations involved in the performance of Baroque music. This service continues as Baroque Keyboards, LLC, under the management of his son and daughter.

Edward Brewer is survived by his wife of 51 years, oboist Virginia Brewer; his son Barry and wife Tomoko and their daughters Miako and Emiko; and daughter Hazzan Diana Brewer and wife Sara Brewer and their daughter Camilla.

Kenneth Gilbert, 88, harpsichordist, organist, musicologist, and teacher, died April 16. He was born December 16, 1931, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He studied organ with Conrad Letendre, piano with Yvonne Hubert, and harmony and counterpoint with Gabriel Cusson. Gilbert won the Prix d’Europe for organ in 1953 and studied for two years with Nadia Boulanger (composition), Gaston Litaize and Maurice Duruflé (organ), and Sylvie Spicket and Ruggero Gerlin (harpsichord). While he was on leave for these studies, he remained the organist and music director at Queen Mary Road United Church, Montreal, between 1952 and 1967. In 1959, he designed and oversaw the installation at Queen Mary Road Church of the first major modern mechanical-action organ in Canada, an instrument built by Rudolf von Beckerath of Hamburg, Germany. Gilbert was a leader in the formation of the Ars Organi society, which influenced organ performance standards in eastern Canada. He received an honorary doctorate degree in music from McGill University in 1981.

While in Paris in 1965 on a Quebec government grant doing research on Couperin in preparation for a CBC series of performances of the composer’s complete works for harpsichord, Gilbert undertook work for a new edition for the Couperin tercentenary in 1968. (He subsequently recorded the Couperin works for RCI, released on Harmonia Mundi in France, RCA in England, Musical Heritage Society in the United States, and other labels in Italy and Japan.) Heugel would publish Gilbert’s four volumes of Couperin works as part of its early-music series, Le Pupitre, between 1969 and 1972. Gilbert prepared a new edition from existing editions of the 555 sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti; eleven volumes were published by Heugel between 1971 and 1984. He prepared a facsimile edition of the complete harpsichord works of Couperin, published by Broude in 1973, and edited the complete harpsichord works of d’Anglebert, printed by Heugel in 1975. He also prepared new editions of Bach’s Goldberg Variations for Salabert in 1979, Frescobaldi’s first and second books of toccatas for Zanibon in 1979 and 1980, and Rameau’s complete harpsichord works for Heugel 1979. In 1980, he began to prepare a reissue of Couperin’s complete works for L’Oiseau-Lyre of Monaco. With Élizabeth Gallat-Morin, he produced an annotated edition of Livre d’orgue de Montréal, published in three volumes by Éditions Jacques Ostiguy in 1985, 1987, and 1988.

Gilbert’s performances were devoted primarily to the harpsichord. In 1968, he gave his first recital in London and commenced an international career of concerts, broadcasts, and recordings. He was a soloist with several Canadian and American orchestras.

Gilbert taught at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal 1957–1974, at McGill University 1964–1972, at Laval University 1969–1976, and at the Royal Flemish Conservatory, Antwerp, Belgium, 1971–1974. In 1988, he began to teach at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and he became professor of harpsichord at the Conservatoire de Paris. For some years, he taught at Accademia Chigiana, Siena, Italy. Furthermore, he presented masterclasses throughout North America and Europe.

In 1978, the Canadian Music Council named Gilbert Artist of the Year. He was honored with the Prix de musique Calixa-Lavallée in 1981. In 1986, he was named an officer of the Order of Canada and in 1988 was elected to the Royal Society of Canada. He was an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music and Officier de l’Ordre des arts et lettres de France.

John Benjamin Hadley, 92, died January 5 in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Born July 1, 1927, in Iowa Falls, Iowa, he began playing organ in local churches at age 13 and received a Bachelor of Music degree from Iowa Falls Conservatory of Music in 1946.

After additional study in boy choir training and organ under John Dexter in Grand Rapids, Michigan, he entered the London School of Church Music, London, Ontario, where he spent three years under the tutelage of Ernest White and Raymond Wicher. While in London, he met and married Dorothy Helen Gallop with whom he would spend 52 years, while raising two daughters, Vicki and Kim.

The Hadleys moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1951 where they would remain until the late 1980s. His first position was at St. Clement’s Catholic Church, Chicago, as organist and choirmaster, followed by Grace Episcopal Church, Hinsdale, and then Church of the Ascension, Episcopal, Chicago. In 1955, Hadley began assisting S. E. Gruenstein in his duties as editorial director and publisher of The Diapason. Upon the death of Gruenstein in December 1958, Hadley and Frank Cunkle were named associate editors of the journal. Hadley became publisher in August 1958 and left the staff of The Diapason September 1, 1959, for his duties at the Church of the Ascension. During his time in Chicago, he was a sales representative for the Schlicker Organ Company and held several positions with the Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America.

Hadley became an editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica. He made several trips to China in the 1980s as the editorial liaison for the Chinese edition of the encyclopaedia. Additionally, he was a senior editor of Compton’s Encyclopedia and executive editor for The Britannica Book of Music as well as The Britannica Book of English Usage. It was during this time that he became an entrepreneur, and along with the vision of wife Dorothy, they opened a British import store in Door County, Wisconsin, where they had a second home.

In 1993 the Hadleys moved to Hendersonville, North Carolina, to be closer to the Brevard Music Festival. He became passionate about the program, choosing to bequeath the majority of his estate for the continuing funding of its work. In his retirement he served as organist of Hendersonville’s First United Methodist Church and finally St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Asheville, North Carolina.

John Benjamin Hadley was preceded in death by his wife Dorothy, his partner Phyllis Hansen, and daughter Vicki Anderson. He is survived by son-in-law John Anderson, grandson Matt Anderson, and daughter Kim Parr.

Edmund Shay died April 21 in Woodbury, New Jersey. He was born in the Bronx, New York City, and attended the High School for Music and Art in Manhattan, followed by The Juilliard School, New York City, where he received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees. In 1962 he was awarded a Fulbright fellowship allowing him to study in Germany with Helmut Walcha. He later earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in performance and music theory from the University of Cincinnati.

Shay’s career as concert organist, teacher, and composer included teaching at the University of the Pacific, Beloit College, Pembroke State University, Madison College (now known as James Madison University), and Columbia College, Columbia, South Carolina. He maintained an active recital schedule while teaching and wrote articles for The American Organist and The Diapason. From 1986 through 1991 he wrote organ music reviews for The Diapason. For fourteen years, Shay directed a summer seminar for organists called “Bach Week,” sponsored by Columbia College. Upon his retirement in 2003, Shay relocated to a winter home in Washington, D.C., with a summer home in Vermont. In 2014 he began to battle dementia, and in 2017, he moved to Friends Village in Woodstown, New Jersey, and subsequently to Merion Gardens Assisted Living in Carney’s Point, New Jersey.

Edmund Shay was predeceased by his life partner of over 35 years, Raymond Harris; he is survived by his adopted nephew and niece, Dale and DeeAnn Harris of Salem, New Jersey. Memorial gifts in Shay’s name may be given Alzheimer’s research or your local animal shelter.

Nicholas Temperley, professor emeritus of the School of Music, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, died April 8. Born and educated in England, Temperley came to the University of Illinois in 1959 as a postdoctoral fellow, and he joined the faculty in 1967. He taught classes in the School of Music, supervised over fifty dissertations and theses, and served on dozens of doctoral committees. His publications include The Music of the English Parish Church (1979), Hymn Tune Index (1998), editions of music (including volumes for the Musica Britannica series and an edition of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique), and Bound for America: Three British Composers (2003), as well as several edited essay collections and scores of book chapters and journal articles.

After retiring in 1996, Temperley continued to be a researcher, writer, and editor. He also went on to guide the establishment of the North American British Music Studies Association [NABMSA] (2003) and serve as its first president, and he endowed prizes for student research: the Nicholas Temperley Dissertation Prize (later the Nicholas Temperley Musicology Research Scholarship, University of Illinois) and the Nicholas Temperley Student Paper Prize (NABMSA). In 1977, he was one of the co-founders of the Midwest Victorian Studies Association [MSVA], a group that sought to promote the interdisciplinary study of Victorian culture.

In 2012, a festschrift in his honor (Music and Performance Culture in Nineteenth-Century Britain, ed. Bennett Zon) was published. In April 2019, MVSA presented him with its Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in bringing music into the purview of Victorianists.

A memorial service will be planned for a later date. Memorial gifts may be sent to the Evelyn Burnett Underwood fund at the Urbana School District, which provides musical instruments to students who cannot afford them (contact Stacey Peterik at [email protected]).

James Merle Weaver, 82, died April 16 in Rochester, New York. Born in Danville, Illinois, he began piano and organ studies there. He attended the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, during which time he gave piano and organ demonstrations and private lessons at a local music store and played Sunday church services. While on a high school field trip to Washington, D.C., Weaver saw his first harpsichords, displayed at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. During his sophomore year at the U of I, he went to Amsterdam to study harpsichord and historical performance practice with Gustav Leonhardt.

Returning to Illinois, Weaver completed his bachelor’s (1961) and master’s (1963) degrees. Weaver and his young family then moved to Boston’s North End. His facility as a continuo player developed, both as a concert artist and for recordings. While in Boston, he befriended the music director of Old North Church, John T. Fesperman, who had been Leonhardt’s first American student (1955–1956). Fesperman left Boston in 1965 to take a position at the collection of musical instruments in the Smithsonian’s newly opened National Museum of History and Technology; Weaver followed him to the Smithsonian the next year, where he began a diverse career producing concert programs and exhibits, among other activities. In 1971, he worked to found the Friends of Music at the Smithsonian, which continues to support the Smithsonian Chamber Music Society.

Weaver pursued his exploration of newly restored harpsichords and forte-pianos in the Smithsonian’s collection, producing recordings. He established an ensemble in residence at the museum in 1976, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, which produced recordings through the Smithsonian Collection of Recordings, an arm of the institution’s Division of Performing Arts (DPA), which Weaver joined in the late 1970s.

In 1983, DPA’s functions were absorbed by other portions of the institution, and Weaver returned to the Division of Musical Instruments at the National Museum of American History (NMAH), as the National Museum of History and Technology had been renamed in 1980.

In addition to his Smithsonian activities, Weaver occasionally appeared with the National Symphony Orchestra and various professional choruses of the area. With the Smithsonian Chamber Players, he had a presence in the inaugural festivities for Jimmy Carter and later performed twice, including once as harpsichord soloist, at the Carter White House. He was subsequently invited to play at five inaugural luncheons, from Ronald Reagan’s second inaugural to George W. Bush’s first. Weaver taught at various times at American University, the University of Maryland, Cornell University, the Aston Magna Academy, and the Baroque Performance Institute at Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

Following his move to Washington, D.C., in the 1960s, Weaver served as organist or organist/choirmaster at several churches, including Baltimore’s Mount Calvary Church, Washington’s St. Columba’s Episcopal Church and All Souls Episcopal Church, and finally at All Hallows Episcopal Church, Davidsonville, Maryland.

Following retirement from the Smithsonian, Weaver was appointed executive director (later chief executive officer) of the Organ Historical Society. During the last years of his tenure at the OHS, he supervised the relocation of its headquarters and archives to “Stoneleigh” in Villanova, Pennsylvania. He also expanded the E. Power Biggs Fellowship program.

James Merle Weaver is survived by husband/partner Samuel Baker; son Evan (Jill), three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. He was predeceased by wife Patricia Estell and long-time former partner Eugene Behlen. Memorial gifts may be given to the Biggs Fellowship Program of the Organ Historical Society, 330 N. Spring Mill Road, Villanova, PA 19085; or the Friends of Music at the Smithsonian, P. O.
Box 37012, Washington, DC 20013-7012 (https://www.smithsonianchambermusic.org/donate).

Franklin Ashdown

Franklin Ashdown, physician, organist, and composer, died January 30 in El Paso, Texas. Born May 2, 1942, in Logan, Utah, he started playing the piano at an early age and was called to be the organist for his ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at age 13. After his family moved to Lubbock, Texas, he began organ studies with Judson Maynard. He completed his undergraduate work at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, where he sang in the concert choir. Pursuing his passion for medicine, he attended Southwestern Medical School of the University of Texas in Dallas. He was in Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas when President John F. Kennedy was shot and brought into the emergency room, where Ashdown was recruited to be a liaison between reporters and doctors.

Ashdown spent his medical residency in Salt Lake City, and he spoke later of the great influence Tabernacle Organist Alexander Schreiner had on him. He felt that the signature sound of the Tabernacle organ and the sonorities Schreiner was able to exploit in his improvisations greatly affected his writing. Ashdown also studied organ in Utah with James Drake, who encouraged him to begin composing.  

This was also the time of the Vietnam War, and Ashdown was able to defer being drafted until he completed his medical training. In order to fulfill his military obligations, he was assigned as a doctor to Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, New Mexico, in 1971. He started his own medical practice as an internist in 1973, serving as physician in Alamogordo until his retirement in 2008.

For many years Ashdown was organist and choir director at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Alamogordo. Even during his busy medical years, he was composing. Upon his retirement, he was able to focus his full-time attention on composing organ and choral works. His organ works include many hymn and folk tune arrangements and also numerous original concert works. Over his career he had published more than 250 pieces for solo organ, at least 30 collections of organ music, 15 works for organ with other instruments, and 50 choral works with Augsburg Fortress, Concordia Publishing House, Gentry Publications, GIA Publications, H. W. Gray, Wayne Leupold Editions, Lorenz, MorningStar Music Publishers, Neil Kjos Co., Oregon Catholic Press, The Organist’s Companion, Oxford University Press, Paraclete Press, Sacred Music Press, and Zimbel Press.  

His works were performed in venues such as Grace Cathedral, San Francisco; The Tabernacle at Temple Square, Salt Lake City; St. Paul’s Cathedral, London; and Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris. They have also been featured on American Public Radio’s Pipedreams, National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, and the Tabernacle Choir’s weekly broadcast Music and the Spoken Word.

Franklin Ashdown is survived by six siblings as well as 27 nieces and nephews and 101 great-nieces and nephews. Services were held February 4 at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Alamogordo.

Margo Halsted

Margo Halsted died February 22. Born Margo Armbruster on April 24, 1938, in Bakersfield, California, she was first introduced to the carillon as an undergraduate student at Stanford University. From Stanford she earned a bachelor’s degree in music (1960) and a master’s degree in education (1965). In 1975 she earned a Master of Music degree from the University of California Riverside. Halsted passed the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA) carillonneur examination at the 1967 congress in Ottawa, Canada, and earned a diploma from the Netherlands Carillon School, Amersfoort, in 1981. She was active within the GCNA over many years, serving as assistant secretary, a member of the board of directors, chair of several committees, and editor of the guild’s newsletter. Halsted was awarded honorary membership in the GCNA and twice received the GCNA’s Certificate for Exceptional Service. She was also awarded the University of California Berkeley Medal, Bell and Citation Awards from the World Carillon Federation, and was an honorary member of the Belgian Carillon School, Mechelen.

Over the course of her career, Halsted served as associate carillonneur for Stanford University, 1967–1977; lecturer, university organist, and carillonist for University of California Riverside, 1977–1987; assistant professor and later associate professor at the University of Michigan, 1987–2003; with additional service at Michigan State University and University of California Santa Barbara, teaching more than 200 students to play the carillon. At the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, she taught and performed on the university’s two carillons in the only master’s degree program for carillon in the United States. She was named Associate Professor Emerita in 2003.

Halsted concertized around the world, consulted for carillon projects in the United States and abroad, and lectured/presented at five World Carillon Federation conventions. She composed music for the carillon and published numerous articles about the instrument and served as contributing editor for the carillon for The Diapason from 1981 until 1991.

Margo Halsted was preceded in death by two weeks by her husband Peter LeSourd. Memorial gifts for may be made to the Armbruster Fund, an endowment that she started to benefit the University of Michigan’s carillon program (https://donate.umich.edu/XVjKB).

Jan Reagan Rowland

Jan Reagan Rowland died January 18 in Houston, Texas. He was born in Beaumont, Texas, in 1944, attended local schools there, and enrolled at Lamar University in Beaumont, where he studied electrical engineering and enrolled in German language classes. He completed two years of study before being called into the United States Army and serving from 1966 to 1968, where his expertise in speaking German earned him an assignment in Munich, Germany. It was there that he met his future wife, Hanne, and they were married in Berlin in 1969.

As his tour of duty in the army was nearing its end, the United States representative for E. F. Walcker & Cie. of Ludwigsburg, Germany, suggested that Rowland take a job at Walcker so that he could become more useful as a skilled organ installer once he returned to the United States. Rowland worked at Walcker for 35 days in July and August of 1968, then returned to the United States, where two Walcker jobs awaited installation: one in Michigan, the other at Colby College, Waterville, Maine. While in Waterville, Rowland learned of another installation happening at the First Congregational Church in the same town and made a visit to the church, where he met David W. Cogswell, the owner/president of Berkshire Organ Company. Cogswell telephoned Rowland early in 1969 with an offer of a job as factory manager of Berkshire, which Rowland accepted, and within a couple of months he was named executive vice president.

Discussions between Rowland, Cogswell, and others about the costs of travel to Europe to meet with organbuilders germinated the idea of an organization of organ building individuals, not companies, and resulted in a convention with no title in Washington, D.C. That gathering in 1973 became the founding of the American Institute of Organbuilders. As an attendee of that convention, Rowland was considered a co-founder of the organization and was designated a charter member.

Later in 1973, concerned about the slow growth of the Berkshire Organ Company, Rowland decided to form his own company with Pieter Visser, who was hired by Berkshire only four months earlier. Houston, Texas, was chosen as the site for the new company, Visser-Rowland Associates.

The company grew as Houston expanded in the 1970s and 1980s, with oil companies creating more jobs and with more churches being built. For the next eleven years, Visser-Rowland built dozens of pipe organs for sites from Maine to California. One of the last instruments before Rowland’s retirement from the firm was built for Bates Recital Hall at the University of Texas at Austin. At the time, it was the largest mechanical-action organ pipe organ built by a United States firm, having 67 stops.

Rowland was accepted into membership of the International Society of Organ Builders in 1984, and he became a member of the editorial board of the society’s information trade journal, for which he wrote articles on various organbuilding techniques. He often translated articles and speeches of other organbuilders from German into English. He was invited to Europe over two dozen times to the annual International Society of Organbuilders congresses due to his expertise.

In 1984 Rowland started his own shop producing custom drawknobs for many organbuilders in America, Europe, and Japan. However, his real enjoyment came from designing and building special tools and machines for different organbuilders, tools and machines that could not be bought elsewhere.

Rowland was perhaps best known for his intelligence and ability to imagine, invent, and make things work better and more efficiently. He was internationally respected for his designing of a computerized lathe for completing tasks such as shaping drawknobs for pipe organs. This enabled pipe organ builders to cut costs enormously by reducing labor and time, making tens of thousands of hours of tedium and templates obsolete through his inventions. Rowland constructed some of these computerized systems for pipe organ companies in Europe, filling the cargo hold on a plane to ship the devices overseas.

Rowland enjoyed attending the American Institute of Organbuilders convention every year with his wife, Hanne. He was proud that the AIO stayed in business and attracted and taught organbuilders to help each other and keep organbuilding an interesting and unusual business.

Jan Reagan Rowland is survived by Hanne, his wife of 54 years, of Houston, and a sister Karen Rowland Richardson and her husband Ronnie of Beaumont, Texas. A military burial with full honors was held at the Houston National Cemetery on January 30.

—Hanne Rowland

Karen Rowland Richardson

Christopher Lavoie