Donald C. Ingram

LATHAM - DONALD INGRAM was born in Hinsdale, in southwestern New York on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1932. He took his first piano lessons at age 4½, and he began playing for Sunday School at age 9, and church (piano) at age 10. His first paying organ job was at age 12 in the Presbyterian Church, Cuba, NY.

In 1949, at age 17, he helped bring about the installation of a pipe organ at his home church, the Hinsdale Methodist Church, on the 100th anniversary of the church building. He gave a recital at that time and fifty years later performed on the newly refurbished instrument at the church’s 150th anniversary.

While in high school, Don commuted to Buffalo, NY for organ lessons, and to Alfred University for carillon instruction. After graduating valedictorian, he was accepted in the music programs at both Syracuse University and the University of Michigan. He chose Syracuse as a scholarship student and from there received Bachelor (‘54) and Master of Music (‘60) degrees in organ. His teacher and good friend was Dr. Arthur Poister, one of the outstanding organ professors of the twentieth century. During student days, Don also worked as Organist/Choirmaster (O/C) at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Cazenovia, NY, and while there designed the specification for a new
Schlicker pipe organ which was installed in 1954.

Upon graduation, Don served as O/C at the Church of the Transfiguration in Cranston, RI, and in 1956 he was hired as Sales Manager and Staff Organist of the Schlicker Organ Company in Buffalo where he was employed through 1963. During these years he designed specifications for a multitude of pipe organs. Over the years he continued to serve as consultant for many new and rebuilt instruments.

As O/C at Kenmore Methodist Church from 1957-62, he prepared specifications for a new pipe organ installation in 1961 (and returned for the fiftieth anniversary recital in 2011). While at Kenmore he welcomed several guest conductors including Dr. Helen Hosmer, founder of the Crane Chorus at the Crane School at Potsdam State, Dr. Richard T. Gore from the College of Wooster, Ohio, and Robert Shaw, founder and conductor of the Robert Shaw Chorale.

Donald moved on to St. Paul’s Cathedral (Episcopal), Buffalo in1962. During his tenure there he founded the noonday organ recital series and the Buffalo Choral Society. His cathedral choir of men and boys sang at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and Trinity Wall Street, NYC, the National Cathedral in Washington, with Robert Shaw, and with the Buffalo Philharmonic under Josef Krips, and Lukas Foss. For the Cathedral’s anniversary, he commissioned the Harold Darke Communion Service in A minor.

After personnel changes in Buffalo, Don was invited in the summer of 1968 to St. Croix, US VI, but by the end of the year, he was called to Albany, NY. During his brief time in St Croix, he became a child welfare caseworker. This experience was to later help qualify him as a social worker in Massachusetts.

While O/C at St. Peter’s Church, Albany from 1969-78, Don supervised the installation of two new pipe organs (Schlicker) in the choir and gallery. From 1978 to 1982 he was O/C at St. Paul’s, Troy, NY (the Tiffany Church). Rather than replace or revamp the 1921 Austin at St. Paul’s, however, repairs undertaken were restorative of this classic “symphonic” organ. The 1980’s saw appointments at Christ Church, Baltimore, Pilgrim Lutheran Church Warwick, RI, and St. Elizabeth’s, Sudbury MA. In 1989 he took the O/C position at historic Trinity Church, Newport RI, and then in1994 he assumed that post at Trinity Church, Vero Beach 1994-99. It was here in Vero Beach that he designed a new Harrison and Harrison pipe organ which was installed in 1997. However you wish to count, this was the fifth or sixth new organ installed in churches where he served. After fifty-five years, Don “retired” at the end of 1999 to his home on the Mohawk River in New York. Retirement positions, however, included: interim at The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Trinity United Methodist Church, and First Presbyterian Church, Albany,
and Trinity Church, Newport, First United Presbyterian Church, and once again at St. Paul’s, Troy. 

The American Guild of Organists was a major interest and influence in Don’s career. Besides being founding Dean of the Treasure Coast Chapter in Vero Beach, he served as Dean of the Buffalo and Eastern NY Chapters. He was Region II Chairman for three terms and member of the Executive Committee of the National AGO. He was largely responsible for bringing the national AGO convention to Buffalo in 1970 and he was chair and co-chair of two Regional AGO conventions (1979, 2003) in Albany.

He gave his first recital at the Washington National Cathedral in 1957. This was followed by over four decades of recitals there. After the 1957 recital, the late Day Thorpe, then Music Critic of The Washington Evening Star, observed there had been desultory talk about the organ and replacing it: “Ingram showed an odd type of salesmanship when he made the old girl sound like a million dollars.”

Don presented recitals in 30 states, Canada, US Virgin Islands, England, Scotland (The Fringe of the Edinburg Festival), and Sweden, and has been honored by Trinity Church, Vero Beach, and St. Paul’s Church, Troy, with the title Organist Emeritus. 

Donald Ingram is survived by his partner of 55 years, Eugene Tobey, and by his niece, Beverly (George) Gardner, Cambridge, MD; nephew Dave Welsh of Ocala, FL; great nieces Pamela Gardner of Walpole, MA and Julie Morris of TN; and great nephew Randy Blakeslee of FL.

He was predeceased by siblings George, William and Mary Lou (Welsh), niece Bonnie Blakeslee, and great nephew Adam Gardner.

A memorial service will be held May 10, 2025 at St. Peter's Episcopal Church 107 State Street Albany beginning at 10AM with an organ recital. All are invited.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in memory of Donald Ingram to the Donald Ingram Endowed Scholarship Fund at Syracuse University. Donations may be sent to Syracuse University, 640 Skytop Road, 2nd Floor, Syracuse, NY 13244.

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