Joseph Chaplin, 91, died August 8 at his home in Newbury, New Hampshire. Born August 2, 1920, in Philadelphia, he began singing in choirs at age ten. He earned degrees in history and political science at Ursinus College, and became a research assistant in mathematics at the Moore School of Engineering, University of Pennsylvania. During World War II, he worked on the Differential Analyzer, and after the war helped develop early computers.
In 1953, Chaplin was appointed organist-choirmaster at the Unitarian Church of Germantown in Philadelphia, where he conducted Bach’s Christmas Oratorio nine times, and twice performed Britten’s Noye’s Fludde. By 1964, Chaplin was building organs and established the Chaplin Organ Company. He built 15 instruments and rebuilt 15 others. After retirement, he moved to Newbury, and served as organist-choirmaster at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Concord, New Hampshire.
George M. Hall, Jr. died July 15 at age 86 at his home in Greenwich Village, New York. He studied organ with Howard Kelsey, Russell Hancock Miles, Carl Weinrich, William McKie, and Paul Pettinga, and choral conducting with McKie at Westminster Abbey, London, and at the Royal School of Church Music. Hall served as organist and choirmaster at the Church of the Holy Apostles and Holy Name Church, both in New York City, and at Trinity Lutheran Church, Staten Island. He played recitals in the Netherlands, Spain, England, and the United States, and taught organ and choral conducting at the Manhattan School of Music and Wagner College.
Nancy Leask Phillips, 94, died August 11 in Mystic, Connecticut. Born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Glenbrook, Connecticut, she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Smith College. She taught music in Connecticut schools before moving to Arlington, Virginia, where she was active as an organist and choir director, and in 1972, played a recital at the Kennedy Center. Phillips moved to Ledyard, Connecticut, in 1973, and later to Mystic, where she served as organist and choir director at Mystic Congregational Church. She was also active as a harpist. A number of her compositions for organ and harp were published and performed.
Sharon L. Stein died August 28 at age 68. Born November 27, 1942, in Quincy, Massachusetts, she attended Gettysburg College and Tufts University, and completed a bachelor’s degree at SUNY–Albany. She later earned a master’s degree in healthcare administration. She began as a church organist while still a teenager, and more recently served as organist for churches in Rensselaerville, Unionville, Delmar, and Mechanicville. At the time of her death, she was organist at St. John the Evangelist and St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church in Rensselaer, New York.
