I had the pleasure of working with Lee for seven years at First Presbyterian Church of Arlington Heights, where I currently serve as Associate Director of Music and Organist. Lee was a very supportive colleague and mentor to me as a young church musician. He shared a lot of great organ literature with me and I learned a lot of great choral literature from him. Under Lee’s direction, the music program at First Pres flourished. He established a Concert Series, a Men’s Chorus, and a smaller Chamber group of singers – all of these things still going since his retirement in 2008. He remained a frequent concertgoer at our many Wednesday @ Noon recitals and our Sunday afternoon concerts. In fact, I last saw him at the 37th Annual Organ Fest on February 13, 2022. I will miss his smiling face at these events going forward.
In 2005, we embarked on an organ enlargement project that took the organ from 39 ranks to 52 ranks and addressed many of the instrument’s tonal deficiencies. It’s a different and much-improved instrument than the one I first encountered in 2001, largely due to Lee’s support. The Austin ‘vox in a box’ was given in celebration of Lee’s retirement in 2008 and I always say it is the heartbeat of the organ – now maybe Lee’s presence is always with us!
Above all, Lee was a consummate church musician. He understood we were not making music as a performance, but that he was called to develop the talents of those in our congregation to make music to the glory of God.
