Ruth F. Kehl died October 27, 2009, in Delmar, New York. She was 94. A lifelong member of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Albany, she served as organist and choir director there from 1942 to 1995, and as executive director of Albany’s junior choir Youth Festival from 1962 to 1967. She was also active in other groups at St. John’s and was a member of the Eastern New York AGO chapter. Ruth Kehl is survived by her cousin Marilyn Marcil and several friends and caregivers.
John J. Peters died December 9, 2009, in Evanston, Illinois. He was 64. Born in Evanston, October 29, 1945, he obtained his first pipe organ in his teens, and rebuilt it in his parents’ basement. That led to a career spent restoring and maintaining church and theatre organs. Among his projects was the restoration of the Wurlitzer organs in the Chicago Theater and the Oriental Theater, both in Chicago. He also maintained the theatre organ at the Catholic seminary in Mundelein, Illinois. Peters served as president of CATOE (Chicago Area Theatre Organs Enthusiasts), and worked for 20 years at Bradford Organ Company.
Clemens Sandresky, 93 years old, died June 25, 2009 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. A proficient pianist from an early age, Sandresky enrolled at Dartmouth College as a pre-med student, but changed to a music major, which Dartmouth created for him. He was assigned Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto as a graduation project, and the performance was conducted by Nadia Boulanger. Sandresky also studied music at Harvard University and the Longy School, but was drafted into the Army in 1941. After the war, he established a studio in Asheville, North Carolina, and was director of music at All Souls Episcopal Church; he also taught and performed at the Brevard Music Camp in summer. Sandresky completed his master of arts degree at Harvard in 1952 and became dean of the School of Music at Salem College, where he gave yearly piano recitals in which he explored the piano repertoire from Mozart to Hindemith. Clemens Sandresky is survived by his wife Margaret, daughter Eleanor, son Charles and his wife Loretta and their sons Jacob and Charles.
Mary Shoup, age 83, died August 9, 2009 in Manfield, Texas. A graduate of North Texas State University, she lived for many years in Memphis and served as dean of the Memphis AGO chapter. She served as choir director at Colonial Park United Methodist Church, and as organist-choir director at Rebecca United Methodist Church and at Trinity United Methodist Church in Mansfield. Mary Shoup is survived by her son David Bryan Hairston, daughter Linda Hairston Horne, granddaughter Mary Margaret Horne, and sister Janet Ward.
Jeffrey Wasson died January 4, in Evanston, Illinois, from heart failure. He was 61. Born August 24, 1948, in Evanston, he spent his youth in Morganfield, Kentucky. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Northwestern University School of Music before completing his doctorate there. A musicologist, organist, and music professor, Wasson taught music for 27 years, first at Northwestern, and later at Barat College and DePaul University. He served as music director at St. Francis Episcopal and St. Mary of the Angels in Chicago, and St. Timothy’s Lutheran in Skokie.
Wasson won three National Endowment for the Humanities grants. He worked for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Ravinia Festival, and served on the boards of several music organizations, including Ars Musica Chicago and the North Shore AGO chapter. An editor and writer for A Compendium of American Musicology: Essays in Honor of John F. Ohl, he published seven articles in the reference work Reader’s Guide to Music: History, Theory, Criticism and 25 articles in The Hymnal 1982 Companion.
Wasson gave scholarly lectures and presentations at musicology conferences and institutions; his research topics included Gregorian chant, pre-tonal polyphony, and the borrowing processes in the work of Bach and Handel. He was a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which oversees the Grammy Awards, and was a member of the College Music Society, the International Musicological Society, and Phi Kappa Lambda.
