In memoriam.

Editor's Note: MTNA would like to recognize those individuals whose lives made a mark in the music teaching profession. We note with sorrow their passing.

Herbert H. Bowker, 88, of New Bedford, Massachusetts, died May 6, 2001. He was the co-founder of the Massachusetts MTA in the 1960s and a nationally certified organ teacher with an established private studio in New Bedford. He served as organist and choir director of the Unitarian Church in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, for thirty-four years.

Cheryl Boyd-Waddell, voice professor and director of vocal activities at Clayton College and State University in Georgia, died April 27, 2002. She resided in Marietta. Waddell served on the national College Faculty Forum Advisory Committee and was an MTNA member since 1991. In addition to giving recitals and teaching, she sang soprano in Thamyris, an award-winning, nationally recognized chamber ensemble.

Dorothy DeLay, 84, died March 24, 2002. One of the most influential violin teachers of the twentieth century, she taught for more than fifty years. Since 1974, she held the Dorothy Richard Starling Chair at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, commuting monthly from her home in Upper Nyack, New York. DeLay served as a grandmotherly mentor to a host of virtuoso violinists. After completing her education at Oberlin College, Michigan State University and Juilliard, she joined the Juilliard faculty in 1948, followed by the Aspen Music School faculty in 1970. She received an honorary doctorate of performing arts from the University of Cincinnati in June 2001 and was honored with the National Medal of the Arts in 1994, the National Music Council's American Eagle Award in 1995 and Yale University's Sanford Medal in 1997.

James J. Edmonds, 71, professor emeritus of piano and music theory at Eastern Washington University (EWU), died February 7, 2002, in a two-car collision. He received a bachelor's degree from Oberlin Conservatory of Music and master's and doctorate degrees from The University of Michigan. Edmonds was a past president of both Washington State MTA and the MTNA Northwest Division. He was involved in MTNA competitions as state and division chair and an official accompanist at all competition levels. He was selected by the student government as the EWU Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year for 1967-1968. In 1987, he was awarded the Frederick Douglass Distinguished Scholar Award, presented by the National Council of Black Studies Pacific Northwest.

Joseph Esposito, of Tustin, California, died in July 2001. He had been a member of MTNA since October 1949.

Michael Hammond, 62, died in January 2002, one week after taking office as the chair for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Before his NEA appointment, he was dean of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. Hammond also served as the founding dean of music for the new arts campus of the State University of New York at Purchase and as director of the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee.

Marie Hassel of Lincoln, Nebraska, died July 24, 2001. She loved her music and her association with MTNA.

Harpist Barbara Irish died February 17, 2002. She was founder of the Council of American Music Education Organizations (CAMEO), representing 500,000 members of professional music organizations and international music fraternities. Irish was a charter member and first president of the Central New York Chapter of the American Harp Society. She was president of Ithaca Music Club, the New York Federation of Music Clubs from 1980-1985 and the National Federation of Music Clubs (NFMC) from 1995-1999.

Charter member of the Interlochen Arts Academy faculty Robert Henderson Murphy died on September 22, 2001, in Traverse City, Michigan. Initially hired in 1962 as a dormitory counselor and instructor, "Murf" held various positions before settling in as instructor of organ, piano and class piano from 1971 through his retirement in 2001. He also served as organ instructor at the Interlochen Arts Camp from 1971-2000. From 1963-2001, he worked as organist and later as director of music at Central United Methodist Church in Traverse City.

Violinist Isaac Stern, 81, died September 23, 2001. His impact on the American classical music scene throughout the twentieth century, including his 1960 campaign to save Carnegie Hall from demolition, elevated him to icon status. More recently, he engaged young students in master classes and workshops at Carnegie Hall.

Robert E. Turner, 87, died November 28, 2001. Turner was certified as a master teacher and maintained a teaching studio in Santa Monica from 1946 until his death. Many of his students were involved in MTNA competitions as competitors and winners. He studied at Juilliard Graduate School, earned a master's degree in composition at Princeton and studied conducting at the Curtis Institute. He has been selected to receive, posthumously, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the California Association of Professional Music Teachers.

Mary A. Veverka, 61, died March 22, 2002. She taught piano out of her established studio in her La Grange Park, Illinois, home, and served on the faculties of Concordia University, Dominican University and Roosevelt University. Certified as a master teacher, Veverka earned a master's degree in music from Northwestern University. She also appeared as a soloist with many orchestras.