Madeline Smith Atkins, of Port Washington, New York, died July 17 at the age of 75. A teacher of English and music in New York City high schools until her marriage to Robert A. Atkins, she shared her husband’s interest in pipe organs, and after he and friends restored the organ in Port Washington’s Beacon Theatre, she became house organist. She was associate organist at St. Mary’s Church in Manhasset, New York, and played in many other Nassau County churches. She frequently played Long Island’s only theatre organ, at Chaminade High School in Mineola. Active in numerous organizations, she was secretary of the Nassau AGO chapter. After her children were grown, she earned master’s and doctoral degrees in English literature from St. John’s University. Her dissertation provided the basis of her book, The Beggar’s “Children”: How John Gay Changed the Course of England’s Musical Theatre, published by Cambridge Scholars Press in 2006.
George Bragg died May 31 in Fort Worth, Texas, at the age of 81. Founder of the Texas Boys Choir and a two-time Grammy winner, he founded the Denton Civic Boys Choir while a freshman at North Texas State College; the choir moved to Fort Worth in 1957 and was renamed the Texas Boys Choir. On the morning of November 22, 1963, the choir sang in Fort Worth for President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy, several hours before the president’s assassination.
Mr. Bragg received his first Grammy Award in 1967 for Best Choral Performance for Charles Ives: Music for Chorus, and his second in 1968, for The Glory of Gabrieli, which was recorded in Venice at St. Mark’s Basilica. During his tenure, the choir gave over 3,000 performances, in the U.S. and in Europe, performed on radio and television and with opera companies and symphony orchestras, and recorded 26 albums.
Gene Brooks died July 21 in Edmond, Oklahoma, at the age of 71. He earned a bachelor of music degree from Oklahoma Baptist University and master of music and doctor of music degrees from the University of Oklahoma, and did additional graduate study at the University of Colorado. Dr. Brooks served as choir director and music department chair at Cameron University, Lawton, Oklahoma, and at Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls, Texas, also chairing the music department at the University of Arkansas–Little Rock. He led choirs on numerous tours and at concerts throughout the U.S., including at Carnegie Hall; the show choir he directed, the Singing Texans, presented 25 concerts on a USO tour of the Caribbean.
Dr. Brooks served the American Choral Directors Association in various capacities, including as national treasurer, and as executive director from 1977 until his death. He was active in other music organizations, including MTNA and MENC.
David R. Curfman died July 24 in Washington, DC, at age 65. Dr. Curfman combined a career as a neurological surgeon with his interest in music and history. He was chief of neurosurgery at Providence Hospital, assistant clinical professor of neurological surgery at the George Washington Medical Center, senior attending in neurosurgery at Washington Hospital Center, president of the Washington Academy of Neurosurgery, and maintained a private surgical practice. He had studied piano and organ and since 1969 had been historian and curator at Grace Lutheran Church in Washington, where he had served as organist and choirmaster during medical school and residency.
Dr. Curfman served two terms as president of the Cathedral Choral Society, as chairman of the music and programming committee for the 200-member resident symphonic chorus of Washington National Cathedral, and was active in the AGO.
Steven J. Korte died January 1 in Canton, Ohio, at the age of 49. A graduate of Ohio University, he was a project manager with Diebold Corporation and organist for St. Stephen the Martyr Lutheran Church in Canton, Ohio. A member of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Canton and the Canton AGO chapter, he enjoyed doing freelance music engineering for local churches and musicians.
Joy E. Lawrence, long-time member of the Cleveland AGO, died on January 27, 2007. She was 81 years old and had been in declining health for a number of years. Lawrence received her MSM degree from the School of Sacred Music of Union Theological Seminary, New York, and her PhD from Case-Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. She served as organist at several prominent churches in the Cleveland area and as a teacher in the Cleveland Public School system.
Howard Don Small died July 13 in Minneapolis at the age of 74. He earned BM and MM degrees in organ performance from the Eastman School of Music. He taught at Albion College in Michigan and served as choirmaster-organist at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Minneapolis. Under his direction, the cathedral choir made five recordings, including of William Albright’s A Song to David, which had its world premiere at St. Mark’s in 1983. He formed the Cathedral Choral Society, which gave singers from area churches and the community the opportunity to perform large works. Several of his service music harmonizations appear in The Hymnal 1982, and some of his choral compositions have been published by Oxford University Press. Don Small was named Canon Musician of St. Mark’s Cathedral in 1989, and was made Canon Musician Emeritus in 2003. He then served for a time as organist at St. John the Evangelist in St. Paul, and was organist-choirmaster at Joyce United Methodist Church in Minneapolis.
