How long have you worshiped at Saint Philip’s?
My wife, Yvonne, and I first came here in the 1990s when we were in Tucson for sabbatical leaves of absence from our jobs at Luther College in Decorah, IA.

We moved to Tucson full-time about 12 or 13 years ago, and we’ve worshiped here ever since.

Were you raised in a faith tradition?
I’m a cradle Missouri Synod Lutheran.

What’s the transition to the Episcopal Church been like?
It’s been easy. There are some subtle differences but the close relationship between the Lutheran and Episcopal churches is now decades old.

What about Saint Philip’s appeals to you?
A lot. The programming, the preaching, the wonderful music program, and the progressive outlook. We’re grateful for the parish’s many great qualities.

How are you involved at Saint Philip’s?
I’m on the Vestry and Chair of the Music Commission. I volunteer for First Sunday Breakfasts, and occasionally serve as a substitute organist for Jeffrey Campbell.

Where did you live before moving to Tucson?
We lived in the idyllic college town of Decorah, Iowa for fifty years.

What did you do professionally before retiring?
I was a professor of music at Luther College where I had a studio of pipe organ students and taught other courses in music and the humanities.

It was a wonderful place to work and it offered great opportunities to travel and teach many, many students. I loved them and treasured my colleagues. I still follow many of my former students’ careers.

We also raised our two girls in that “classic” small town environment. One is a professional cellist and the other works in the mortgage industry.

What did you enjoy about your career?
The many opportunities, including being able to visit Europe and Scandinavia, sometimes with students and also on my own with concert tours.

Where was one of your favorite places to tour?
Austria. I played many recitals in Vienna, at the cathedral, and in the Augustinian Church (which was the main Hapsburg court church). I also played in smaller towns with fabulous pipe organs. Igls in North Tyrol was a fun little ski town with an 18th century organ. That was a wonderful organ to play.

What’s something you’re really passionate about?
Trains! Not the model ones but the real ones. My entire family on my mother’s side were railroaders.

I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, and as a child my family used to travel to Washington, DC and to Denver and up and down Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Yvonne and I take the train as often as we can so we’ve done a lot of rail trips—including a cross country trip in Australia from Perth to Sydney comprising 5 nights and 6 days. We’ve traveled a lot by rail across Canada, New Zealand, Scandinavia and Europe.

In Vietnam we took the train to avoid a bumpy bus ride. When we arrived at our destination we were told by a local, that the train we took frequently derailed. We were glad to have arrived safely!

You took it up one notch more, didn’t you?
We did. We had a model train in our house in Iowa built a up on a tressel around the great room controlled with a remote. That was my big boy train—and provided a lot of amusement for family and guests!!

You love to travel. Where will you go next?
We have four trips planned. We’ll go to Zurich this week and travel up the Rhine to Strasbourg and Paris. Then we’ll be in Mnpls. For Thanksgiving, and in Sonoma, California in December before meeting both our daughters and their spouses in Vancouver,B.C. in late spring whereYvonne and I will celebrate our 60th wedding anniversary and our daughters will celebrate their 30th and 35th anniversaries. We’ll hop on a cruise and go up the Alaskan coast together.

If you hadn’t pursued music, what other career might you have explored?
I would have loved to be a journalist, and write for a magazine like The Atlantic or Saturday Evening Post.

I’ve written a lot of grant applications and proposals for new pipe organs during my career, but that was in the music realm, not journalism.

You’ve written something beyond grants proposals, correct?
That’s right. I wrote my autobiography and have written articles for national journals and appeared on numerous NPR radio programs such as “All Things Considered”, “Performance Today” and “Pipedreams”.

I documented every recital I’ve ever played along with every piece of music—beginning with grade school.

What’s a hobby that you enjoy?
I’ve participated in a lot of musicals and choruses. My only claim to acting fame was when I played Boyet in Shakespeare’s “Loves Labour’s Lost” in high school. My fantasy was to either play for the Chicago White Sox or to go to Broadway. My whole family is a bit on the “hammy” side; I guess it’s in our DNA.

What influence did your father have on you?
He was a successful businessman in Chicago, and offered his partnership in the firm to me. But when I told him I wasn’t interested he encouraged me to pursue my dream.

He always told me not to take myself too seriously. That was good advice and has served me well. He stole his favorite mantra from Shakespeare….”the world is your oyster”!

What’s something you’re still learning?
To be more patient and compassionate. I’d like to develop both qualities more—especially in this era of conflict. It’s ever more important to be able to relate to others who may not be on the same page as I am.

How did you and Yvonne meet?
In an organ practice room at college where we were both practicing as devoted, aspiring, ambitious “organ majors”. It was pretty much love at first sight.

I was dating someone but she stood me up for a scheduled date, so I went to practice the organ instead. Yvonne was in the room, and we seemed to “relate”. When I told her what had happened, she suggested we do something fun together to assuage my disappointment and to make me feel better. We went ice-skating by the Saint Olaf College Union, and that lit the fire. 60 years later we’re still very happy.

What’s something you find challenging?
Performing in front of people. I’ve performed in front of thousands of people but I still feel an edge before I begin to play. I once got off a cruise ship in Valparaiso, Chile, and proceed to the Anglican Church high above the port and played an afternoon recital on a 1903 Willis organ given by Queen Victoria. Now THAT was a challenge!

How do you manage that edge?
I pursue calm and strive to keep my wits about me. I’ve been performing since I was eight years old so I’ve figured it out. In fact, I’m a bit more comfortable performing music than speaking in public.

What do you do to replenish yourself?
I read a lot. Right now I’m reading Ron Chernow’s Mark Twain biography. I also enjoy Carl Hiassen; he appeals to my sense of camp and irony undoubtedly engendered early on by our subscription to “Mad” magazine as kids. And I love David Sedaris.

What’s something you’re proud of?
My more than 250 solo performances. And that my wife and children are happy, healthy, and successful.

What are some things you’re grateful for?
I’m grateful for my parents and the opportunities they afforded me.

They took full advantage of what Chicago offered and gave us wonderful adventures at the ballet, plays, musicals, the zoo, and museums. One of my girlfriends was the daughter of the first trumpet played with the CSO so I went to lots of concerts at Orchestra Hall.

I’m especially grateful for the educational values they engendered, despite being grade school graduates themselves and children of the depression. I earned three degrees with their encouragement and love.

And ultimately, I’m grateful for the good health I’ve had—and continue to enjoy.

What role does your faith play in your life?
It helps me be a better citizen in the world. It also offers hope which is transformational.

What’s are some of your core values?
Kindness. I try to take the best qualities in other people and enjoying them. That helps me be less judgmental.

Fun is another important value and informs our life. Yvonne and I focus on having good times and serious times with friends.

What’s one of your guiding principles?
Don’t panic. Keep a steady course. Don’t go too far right or too far left. That’s a very mid-west ethos but it’s served me well.

What’s one of your super powers?
Pursuing opportunities with abandon. That has taken me places I never thought I’d go.

Yvonne and I were a few hundred miles from the North Pole on a Norwegian ship recently. That was a real wow journey!

Another example is when a former student who was the U.S. ambassador to the Vatican learned I would be in Rome for three days and asked if would like to have a “back door” tour of the Holy See, including a visit the catacombs, final resting place of former popes. Her office used to be Mussolini’s office. It was a unique experience to put it mildly!

What’s something about you that friends have said they really appreciate?
My penchant for unabashedly pursuing healthy and good times.

What would you do if you won a big lottery pay day?
I’d pay off all Saint Philip’s deficits and complete the necessary capital projects. I’d also build a chapel at Luther College.

I’d also like to do something creative and fun that would benefit society. For example, give lots and lots of money to churches and public institutions so they could all have superb pipe organs.

How do organs benefit society?
They take us to a higher level. They take us into a realm that no other instrument can do single-handedly.

They render both sacred, as well great secular literature of the past—from many, many centuries ago. Organs can thrill people to their very core in a unique and thrilling way. Incidentally, pipe organs have the longest history of any solo instrument. We’re pretty proud of that tradition as purveyors of the craft!

One of the gifts of Saint Philip’s accords us is wonderful choral and instrumental musicians performing music at the highest level. And having the talented and artistic staff we are so rightfully proud of. Our clergy staff is hard to beat!

What’s something you haven’t done you’d still like to?
The impossible! I’d love to see my grandkids when they’re my current age. It won’t happen but it’d be great to see them in middle or “old” age. Right now they’re 24, 25, and 26 years old.

What’s a fun fact about you?
I was confirmed by the famous theologian, Martin Marty at my home parish in River Forest, Illinois. What a gift!