Wesley M. Vos 1940-2002
Wesley M. Vos, associate editor of The Diapason since 1967, died on May 9 at his home in Crystal Lake, Illinois. He was 61. Dr. Vos also was professor of music at DePaul University and served as organist for several area churches. He died of complications from liver disease; in 1991, he had undergone three liver transplants, the first two of which were rejected, and the third of which prolonged his life by 11 years.
Dr. Vos was born on November 16, 1940 in Sully, Iowa. His parents, William and Marjorie Vos, were farmers and workers in a window manufacturing plant in the small town of Pella, Iowa. Vos's grandmother was the one who insisted that he have piano lessons, and he was found to have a natural talent. By the time he was a teenager, he was giving piano lessons to other children in town and playing the organ for church services.
After graduating with a BA (double major, music and art) from Central College in Pella, he went on to receive master's and doctoral degrees in musicology from Washington University in St. Louis. His organ study had been with Laurence Grooters and Howard Kelsey, and summer study with Anton Heiller.
Wesley Vos began working for The Diapason in 1967 under editor Frank Cunkle, and he shared responsibilites for both the editorial and advertising departments. He also worked at the American College Bureau, then taught briefly at McHenry County College. In 1971, he was named associate dean for the school of music at DePaul University, where he had been teaching part-time. He served as academic advisor to the university's music students for about a decade, and then taught music history and theory for another 20 years. His area of expertise was early music, and he played the harpsichord in addition to the piano and organ.
Vos was a member of two local churches--the First Congregational Church of Crystal Lake and St. Paul United Church of Christ in Palatine. He held organist positions at First Unitarian Church, St. Louis; St. John's Episcopal Church, Franklin, Pennsylvania; Delmar Baptist Church, St. Louis; the Community Church of Barrington, Illinois; St. Mary's Church, Woodstock, Illinois; First United Methodist Church, Crystal Lake, Illinois; and most recently, St. Paul's United Church of Christ, Palatine, Illinois. He also had sung as a member of the professional choirs at the Church of Saints Michael & George, St. Louis, and the Church of the Ascension, Chicago. Vos performed with the Chicago Master Singers as well, taught private music lessons, and worked with many vocalists and instrumentalists as a coach-accompanist.
Wesley Vos is survived by his wife, Marie Ann Heiberg Vos, whom he married in 1968, and their two sons, Robert and Thomas; a son, Jaime Vos, from his first marriage, daughter-in-law Victoria Brasser-Vos, and two grandchildren, Parker and Anastasia Brasser-Vos; and two siblings, Robert G. Vos of Seattle and Marla Hardin of Pella, Iowa.
A memorial service was held on May 18 at the First Congregational Church, Crystal Lake. [The organ at that church, by Buzard Organ Builders, was featured on the cover of the March, 1997 issue of The Diapason.] The Chicago Master Singers and the Vestry Choir of the First Congregational Church both sang during the service.
Memorial gifts in his name may be made to the Regional Organ Bank of Illinois (660 N. Industrial Dr., Elmhurst, IL 60126) or to the McHenry County Music Center (31 E. Crystal Lake Ave., Crystal Lake, IL 60014).
(See "In Memoriam" on page 2 of this issue.)
