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Nunc Dimittis

August 3, 2003
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Porter Warrington Heaps died on May 3, three weeks short of his 93rd birthday, in Palo Alto, California. A recitalist of classical and popular music, radio and television entertainer, church and synagogue organist, arranger and editor, he performed throughout the U.S. and abroad. Born in Cicero, Illinois in 1906, he began playing organ and piano at an early age and in the 1920s studied at Northwestern University, where he earned the BMus, BS, and MA degrees, spending the summers of those years in Paris studying with Marcel Dupré. For three years he was chapel organist at Northwestern, and for four years he played Vesper recitals in Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago. In the 1930s he served on the organ faculty of the Cosmopolitan School of Music and Dramatic Art in Chicago, taught at Northwestern, and substituted for Arthur Poister at the University of Redlands, California. In the 1940s and 1950s he did extensive radio and television work at major Chicago stations. For over 25 years he was organist for the Chicagoland Music Festival, held in Soldiers' Field every August. During this time he also served as organist and choirmaster of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Evanston. His career also involved work with the Hammond Organ Company, beginning in the 1930s until his retirement in 1970. For 35 years he traveled the world for Hammond, giving seminars, programs, and concerts. In 1970 Porter and Dorothy Heaps moved to Palo Alto, where he continued an active retirement. For three years he was Dean of the San Jose AGO chapter and was involved with the Pacific Council for Organ Clubs. For many years he was organist and music director for the Unity Palo Alto Community Church. His library of organ music will be donated to the School of Music at Northwestern University. He is survived by two daughters, five grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

Thomas Matthews died on April 10 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Born on April 1, 1915, he was appointed assistant organist at the age of 17 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, working under Norman Coke-Jephcott.  In 1936 he moved to Philadelphia to become organist-choirmaster of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, where he founded the boy choir. During World War II he conducted the famous Blue Jacket Choir at Great Lakes Naval Training Center and arranged more than 150 works for the concerts and weekly radio broadcasts. He served as Organist-Choirmaster at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Evanston, Illinois, from 1946 to 1960, where he refounded the Choir of Men and Boys which had been dormant since the 1920s. He also formed the St. Luke's Girls Choir and began the Bach Choir of Evanston, which still exists as the North Shore Choral Society. He also taught at Northwestern University and was director of music at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary. At about the same time he began his association with the Evergreen Conference in Colorado, serving 18 years as its Dean. He also composed more than 30 anthems, many of which are still performed throughout the country. He became the first Dean of the North Shore AGO chapter in 1957, the year of its founding. In 1960 Matthews left Evanston to become organist-choirmaster at Trinity Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a postition he held until his retirement several years ago. He is survived by his wife Mary, daughter Sarah, and two grandchildren. His son Roger preceded him in death. Services were held at Trinity Church on April 13.

Graham Steed died on March 6. Born in 1913, he was the last surviving of the four founding members of the RCCO Vancouver Island Centre. Steed received his FRCO in 1937 and upon the 60th anniversary of this event the RCCO Vancouver Island Centre made him a Centre Life Member in 1997. He was organist at Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria in the 1950s, during which time he founded the Victoria Centre of the Canadian College of Organists. He retired to Vancouver Island in 1986 after a long and distinguished career as organist and choir director in the USA and Canada. For nearly two decades he presented his "King of Instruments" course in Halifax and Victoria, and continued teaching this course up until the time of his death. He was a friend and student of Marcel Dupré and a champion of the music of Hermann Schroeder. In addition to regular daily organ practice, Steed was also working on a book on Dupré and on his autobiography.

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