Nunc Dimittis
Richard William Knapp, 80, of West Simsbury, Connecticut, died February 21. Born in Mineola, New York, on May 15, 1935, Knapp earned a bachelor of science degree in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1957 and a master’s degree in nuclear science from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Hartford Graduate Center, in 1959.
A pianist, organist, harpsichordist, and choral conductor, his early musical studies were with his father-in-law Glenn H. Smith of West Hartford. Knapp won the American Guild of Organists Hartford Chapter “Young Organist Award” in the late 1940s. A church musician for sixty years, he served as organist and director of music at the First United Methodist Church, Hartford, from 1957 through 1988.
As a teenager, Knapp installed a pipe organ in the family residence in West Hartford. Later, he designed, sold, and installed numerous instruments throughout New England as regional representative of Casavant Frères, of St-Hyacinthe, Québec, from 1966 until his death.
A firm believer in the positive role of nuclear power in promoting clean air and energy independence, Knapp worked for forty years in the commercial nuclear power field, starting as an experimental physicist with Combustion Engineering, Inc., in Windsor, Connecticut; he retired as director of nuclear systems business development for ABB-Combustion Engineering in 1997. He authored and presented numerous technical papers and received two patents and various awards for his work in nuclear power.
Richard William Knapp is survived by his wife Ann Stanford Baird Knapp, daughter Charlotte Knapp of Silver Spring, Maryland, son Jonathan of Tolland, Connecticut, daughter Lucelia Fryer of Tariffville, Connecticut, son William of Palm City, Florida, and several grandchildren. He was predeceased by his first wife, Demaris Smith Knapp, in 2005 and brother Peter J. Knapp in 2014.
Organist and physician Robert B. Scoggins, 83, died March 27 in Richmond, Virginia, where he and his wife of 56 years, the former Nancy Lee King, moved in 1965. The Scogginses became members of St. James’s Episcopal Church, where Bob substituted regularly on the four-manual Austin organ and twice served as interim organist. He served on organ committees at St. James’s that selected the 80-rank Rieger organ installed in 1974 and destroyed in the fire of 1994 and the 61-stop Fisk Opus 112 that was dedicated in 1999.
A dermatologist trained at Emory and Harvard and an officer of the U. S. Public Health Service at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, where he conducted research, Dr. Scoggins came to Richmond to join the medical faculty at the Medical College of Virginia (now Virginia Commonwealth University). He entered private practice in 1969, remaining as a volunteer on the medical school’s faculty, eventually as clinical professor of dermatology, until his retirement at age 70.
Born January 18, 1933, in Athens, Georgia, he took organ lessons there before entering high school at age 12. He was appointed organist of St. George’s Episcopal Church, Griffin, Georgia, playing the 1929 Pilcher 2-manual organ while completing high school. He worked as an organist for churches in Atlanta and elsewhere during his undergraduate and medical training at Emory University, including St. Paul’s and Grace United Methodist Churches. The Scogginses were married in 1960 in Atlanta at Second-Ponce de Leon Baptist Church, where Bob was the organist. During his residency in dermatology and work as a Harvard research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Scoggins pursued his musical interests with organ lessons given by John Cook.
Bob and Nancy Scoggins served many arts and cultural organizations, including the Richmond Symphony, the Richmond Fan District Association, the Federated Arts Council of Richmond, the Virginia Opera, the Riverside School, and the Vestry and various committees of St. James’s Church. Robert Scoggins is survived by his wife Nancy, daughter Elizabeth of Richmond, son Robert and grandson Ben of Colorado, and sister Joanne Taylor of Tallahassee, Florida. ν
