Frank Martin Church Papers, 1883-1952 | Oberlin College Archives

Frank Martin Church, organist, composer and teacher, was born in Sandusky, Ohio on April 20, 1874. He studied in the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, 1894-1898, graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1901, and studied in Paris with Guilmant and Widor, 1903-1905. He also received a Masters degree in music from the University of Chicago and became an Associate of the American Guild of Organists. Among the schools he served as director of music were Baylor University, Waco, Texas (1921-1922); Columbia College, South Carolina (1916-1921); Greensboro College, North Carolina; and Athens College and Snead Jr. College in Alabama. Following his retirement in 1953, Church traveled extensively. He married Maud Willard of Belvedere, Ohio, in 1914. A son, George of Paoli, Pennsylvania, and a daughter, Mrs. Robert D. Walhay, of Chevy Chase, Maryland, survived him. Church died on September 28, 1959 in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Sources Consulted

Entry taken from William E. Bigglestone's unpublished "[preliminary] Guide to the Oberlin College Archives," which was prepared as individual entry sheets in a three-ring binder during the 1980s; and, the student file of Frank Martin Church (RG 28).