Category Archives: Candlyn

“Lest We Forget”

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On June 8, 1947, St. Paul’s rector, George A. Taylor, dedicated a set of electronic chimes given by the congregation in honor of those from the parish who had died in military service during World War II.

Memorial plaque for World War II Dead

Memorial plaque for World War II Dead

The chimes, paid for by a special subscription from the congregation, had first been heard on Christmas Eve the previous year, when the organist, Raymond S. Halse, played carols before the service.

At the June dedication service, St. Paul’s choir sang Reginald De Koven’s setting of Kipling’s “Recessional.” Father Taylor took the title of his sermon from the the poem’s stirring line, repeated at the end of each of the first three stanzas: “Lest we forget!”

New York Times 6 Mar 1945

New York Times 6 Mar 1945

Among those listed is Donald Shore Candlyn, who was born in Albany in 1925 and graduated cum laude from the Albany Academy in 1943. He died 26 Dec 1944 in Luxembourg, during the Battle of the Bulge. The monument shown below is in the Memorial Grove in Van Cortlandt Park, the Bronx.

Donald Shore Candlyn memorial, Van Cortlandt Park, the Bronx

Donald Shore Candlyn memorial, Van Cortlandt Park, the Bronx

Candlyn’s parents. T. Frederick H. Candlyn and Dorothy Ridgway Candlyn, had moved to New York City in 1943 when his father, who had been the organist and choirmaster of St. Paul’s Church from 1915 until 1943, was named to the same position at St. Thomas Church, Manhattan.

As related in a November 12, 1945 New York Times article, “Sgt. Donald S. Candlyn was killed by a sniper’s bullet on Dec. 26, 1944 while on a mission above and beyond the call of duty. With the Germans on the offensive at the time, American communications had broken down and Sergeant Candlyn, in the face of heavy fire, had volunteered as a foot runner to obtain orders.” Candlyn was posthumously awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart.

In a will signed just before leaving for war, Donald Candlyn made several bequests. We know that one provision was for his father’s new church: in April 1948 a  new principal four-foot stop on the St. Thomas organ was dedicated in his memory. But the 19-year-old also left a bequest to St. Paul’s Church. In our chapel is a window that was a gift of Donald Shore Candlyn.

Donald Shore Candlyn window, St. Paul's Chapel

Donald Shore Candlyn window, St. Paul’s Chapel

Detail, Donald Shore Candlyn window, St. Paul's Chapel

Detail, Donald Shore Candlyn window, St. Paul’s Chapel

T. Frederick H. Candlyn Anniversaries 1938 and 1940

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This photograph has hung in the robing room for choir men for many years, but we were never sure of the occasion represented, or the names of those pictured, other than T. Frederick Candlyn (St. Paul’s organist and choirmaster 1915 — 1943), who is seated in the center.  Thanks to a scrapbook compiled by parishioner Grace McKinlay Kennedy in 1940, we now know that the photograph was published in the Knickerbocker News for April 22, 1938, with all explained.

1938 Choir Boy Reunion with T.F.H. Candlyn

1938 Choir Boy Reunion with T.F.H. Candlyn

The event was a reunion of former boy choristers, probably occasioned by  the 23rd anniversary of Candlyn’s arrival at St. Paul’s that month.  In addition to Candlyn, those pictured are:

  • Ted Bearup
  • Ed Newcomb
  • Charles Tremper
  • Marion Henry
  • Harold Henry
  • Herbert Devlin
  • James McCammon
  • James Shattuck
  • Harvey Sayles
  • Raymond S. Halse
  • Russell LaGrange
  • Charles Loftus
  • Edward Jackson
  • Laird Robinson

In the same scrapbook, Grace McKinlay Kennedy included this drawing of Candlyn, published in the Knickerbocker News April 20, 1940, on Candlyn’s 25th anniversary at St. Paul’s.

T.F.H. Candlyn 25th Anniversary at St. Paul's

T.F.H. Candlyn 25th Anniversary at St. Paul’s

The scrapbook also explains a photograph of Candlyn that had puzzled us all. It shows Candlyn with George A. Taylor (St. Paul’s rector 1932 — 1948) standing in front of the chancel, with Taylor handing Candlyn what appears to be an umbrella.

Candlyn and George A Taylor, June 1940

Candlyn and George A Taylor, June 1940

This photograph, she tells us, is not from Candlyn’s 25th anniversary as organist and choirmaster. It was taken two months later, in June 1940, when Candlyn was honored for twenty-five years’ perfect attendance at Sunday School.

 

May 1915 — The Arrival of T.F.H. Candlyn as St. Paul’s Organist and Choirmaster

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Last month marked the centennial of T. Frederick H. Candlyn‘s arrival at St. Paul’s.  Among musicians at St. Paul’s Church during the twentieth century, Candlyn stands preeminent. Not only did he serve as our organist and choirmaster for an unprecedented 28 years (from 1915 until 1943), he was also an internationally respected composer of works for organ and for choir. I will have much else to say about Dr. Candlyn at another time, but didn’t want to let the anniversary pass without this brief reminder, and without sharing this portrait of him, taken at St. Paul’s organ.

T. Frederick H. Candlyn at St. Paul's organ.

T. Frederick H. Candlyn at St. Paul’s organ.