James W. Evans died at his home in Kansas City, Missouri, on
April 12. Mr. Evans was professor of organ in the Conservatory of Music of the
University of Missouri at Kansas City, retiring in 1982. He was organist and
choirmaster of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Kansas City from 1968 to
1982. Prior to that, he held a similar position at the Country Club
Congregational Church, also in Kansas City. Evans was born in Paw Paw,
Illinois, on May 25, 1917. He earned a B.A. degree from the College of Wooster,
and Master and Doctor of Sacred Music degrees from Union Theological Seminary
in New York City. From 1945 to 1952 he held a teaching position at Westminster
College, New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, and similar positions at Shurtleff
College, the University of West Virginia, and St. Paul's Seminary in
Kansas City. From 1952 to 1966 he served as minister of music at Mount Lebanon
United Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He served as Dean of
the AGO chapters in Youngstown, Ohio, Pittsburgh, and Kansas City. He his
survived by his wife, Ruth Thompson Evans, two children, four grandchildren,
and four great-grandchildren. A memorial service was held at St. Paul's
Episcopal Church in Kansas City on April 23.
Gerald E. Kinsella died of a heart attack on August 26 at
the age of 56. He had served as director of music for the Edgebrook Community
Church (UCC) in Chicago for the past 13 years and director of the church's Music Academy which he organized several years ago. Born on the northwest side of Chicago, he began his musical training at the age of five. After eight years of classical piano study, he went on to study theatre organ with Leon Berry and Reginald Foort. He earned the BMus degree from the American
Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Edward Eigenshenk, and continued
graduate study there in organ and composition. He performed on both classical
and thea-tre organ, and had played at the New York Paramount Theatre, the
Atlantic City Convention Hall, Shea's Theatre in Buffalo, New York, and
served for many years as assistant organist at WGN-TV, Chicago. Kinsella had
also worked for Karnes Music and Rodgers Organ Company, and was president and
co-founder of Church Music Service, a music consulting firm which included pipe
organ design and maintenance. He authored the book, "The Organ Student's Guide to Music Theory," and wrote a number of organ works and organ transcriptions of orchestral works. A memorial service was held at Edgebrook Community Church on September 30.
John R. Lively, former chairman of the music department at Carlow College and director of the Downtown Chorale and the Pittsburgh Concert Choir, died on August 20 at the age of 80. A resident of Highland Park,Pennsylvania, he was organist and choir director at Eastminster and Third Presbyterian churches. Mr. Lively was born in Charleroi and graduated in 1943 from Waynesburg College, where his father, Chauncey Lively, was dean of men. On
Halloween night that year, he married Janet Scott. He served as a Navy officer
in World War II, then moved to New York to attend the School of Sacred Music at
Union Theological Seminary, where he studied with Pietro Yon and David McK.
Williams. He continued postgraduate study at the Juilliard School and Columbia
University. After serving as music director and choirmaster at Trinity Lutheran
Church in Lancaster in the early 1950s, he returned to Pittsburgh where he
appeared as guest pianist on "The Children's Corner," a children's television show hosted by Josie Carey.
