obituaries
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Newton Wayland // – //
Newton Wayland, son of Helen Hart and L.C. Newton Wayland, was born in Santa Barbara at St. Francis Hospital on November , . He died at Cottage Hospital on September . That could read as just a move across town, but there was nothing staid about his living. Even as a boy he was drawn to hugeness, his first passion being steam trains, real ones (the city had a roundhouse in those years). Then came music. By the time he was in his teens, already an accomplished pianist, he had formed both a jazz combo and a chamber group. After graduating from Santa Barbara High School, he made a stab at Harvard, but found himself more engaged with the jazz band he started there, and he soon transferred to the New England Conservatory of Music. He earned a presence as pianist, arranger, and composer before graduating with high honors and bachelor and master of music degrees. He became first-call
keyboardist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was musical director at the Charles Playhouse, and arranger and keyboardist for Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops. His audition for successorship to Fiedler was lauded, and though John Williams was chosen, Wayland’s career as a conductor then soared. For most of his professional life he was a regular guest conductor for over orchestras in the US and Canada, principal pops conductor of the Houston, Denver, South Bend, Oakland, and Vancouver B.C. symphonies. He made his European debut leading the Orchestre National de Lyon in his Gershwin program, and his New York debut with Peter Schickele in the P.D.Q. Bach Christmas concerts at Carnegie Hall. He became Rockefeller Artist-in-Residence at WGBH-TV in Boston, music director of the PBS Emmy Award-winning children’s show “ZOOM!”, conductor and more for the engaging Adventures in Music program. He also wrote music for Nova, conducted opera for the Associate Artists Opera Company in Boston and the Castle Hill Summer Festival in Ipswich, MA, and was music director, arranger, and pianist for the off-Broadway show “Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill”. Throughout he was in great demand as an arranger. It could be said that he was one of the first masters of crossover, partly by necessity, as quality pops repertoire was at that time relatively
Death Notices EDWARDS, Carol; ; of Abingdon, VA, formerly of Santa Barbara; died August , . Celebration of life pm October , Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Congregation, N. Fairview, Goleta. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions to: Heal the Ocean, PO Box Santa Barbara, CA , or the Head Start Program c/o the Community Action Commission of Santa Barbara, Hollister Ave. Suite Goleta, CA . GIAMBO, Mariana; of Santa Barbara; died August , ; she was . Funeral mass will be Wednesday, October at : at St. Barbara Parish at the Old Mission. Arrangements by Welch-RyceHaider -. JOHNSON-McFADDEN, Carlyn Joyce; of Woodburn, OR, formerly of Santa Barbara; died August , ; she was . Viewing was September at WelchRyce-Haider Funeral Chapels Goleta location. Funeral service was September and interment at the Goleta Cemetery. Memorial Donations may be made to your local humane society in Carlyn’s name. Arrangements by Welch-RyceHaider -. JONES, Elizabeth F.; of Santa Barbara; died September , ; she was . No
services. Arrangements by Welch-RyceHaider -. JONES, Lettie Ann; of Santa Barbara; died September , (Born: //); she was . Visitation, / & / from am to :pm at Welch-RyceHaider, East Sola St. Funeral Service on Oct , :am at Greater Hope Baptist Church, interment to follow at Santa Barbara Cemetery. Arrangements by WelchRyce-Haider -. KOSKI, Arleen Zapata; of Goleta; died September , ; she was . Memorial Service: September , am at WelchRyce-Haider Goleta Chapel. Arrangements by Welch-Ryce-Haider -. NORRIS, Lida Ann; of Santa Barbara; died September , (Born: //); she was . Private services. Arrangements by Welch-Ryce-Haider -. SAFFOLD, Robert (Bob); ; passed away on August , at his home in Santa Barbara. Please support VNSCSB. org. TARZIU, Eli; of Santa Barbara; died April , ; he was ; burial St. Paul, MN; memorial service May , Trinity Lutheran Church, Santa Barbara.
limited. It was in his eclectic nature to want to connect classical, jazz, broadway, and popinfluenced scores. One of his many recordings was an album of his arrangements, played by what he called the Wayland Quartet, titled Jazz Loves Bach. His offbeat programming has been called free-associative, though the seeming spontaneity belied the work he put into making the arrangements interesting for the orchestra and entertaining for everyone else, including himself. Audiences were delighted with his lively and insightful commentaries delivered from the podium, glimpses of his almost encyclopedic musical knowledge. Eventually Santa Barbara drew him back. When not traveling to conduct the sometimes concerts a year, he also tracked, in person, the last routes of the steam trains in the Americas. One of his later projects was an enactment, with a soprano (a former fellow student at NEC), of the Brahms and Clara Schumann letters and music, “ The Brahms Experience”, playing venues as far-flung as the Canterbury Music Festival in England and our Music Academy of the West. Even in retirement he continued to be the ebullient Renaissance man he had always been. His passion for the theater included an intense study of Shakespeare’s plays. History, philosophy, and geology were only a few of the other subjects he studied in depth. His analyses of Bach’s work were both enlightening and moving to the circle of friends he shared them with. After four years of immersion in the Bach Cantatas he felt he was beginning to understand them. On being hospitalized in what became his last months, he decided to turn to Bach’s organ works, gathering more scores, CDs, and books about him. He leaves two sisters and their families: Lisa Cabryl and her children William Runnette, Sean Runnette and his wife Anna Cunningham, and Deirdre Runnette and her partner Ingrid Anderson; and Constance Brown, her husband Julius, and their children Janelle and Julius Anthony and his fiancée Cara Henry. At Newton’s request there will be no memorial service. Contributions in his name may be made to the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, and the League of Women Voters. More locally, two libraries and their staffs were essential to him. Gifts to the UC Santa Barbara Music Library may be made with a personal check designated to the UC Santa Barbara Foun-
dation (please indicate on the check memo that the gift is for the Music Library in the memory of Newton Wayland, and send to UCSB Library, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA -). He may also be honored by gifts to Friends of the Montecito Library. Gratitude and admiration go to the Cottage Hospital medical ICU doctors and medical staff.
Arnita Matthews // – //
Arnita Matthews, aged , passed away August , at Sarah House after her struggle with cancer. She was born Arnita Walton, October , to Joe Cravens Walton and Fern Lee Armstrong in Poteau, Oklahoma. In she married Lonnie Adams and had her only child, Tracy Adams. It was when Arnita, now a single mother, moved to Lompoc CA, to be closer to family. After graduating beauty school she visited Santa Barbara, and fell in love with the city making it her home. She worked as a cosmetologist and later owned and operated her own beauty salon “Miss Arnita’s”. Arnita re-married in to Frank Leslie “Skip” Matthews. Both Arnita and Skip served the Santa Barbara community working in drug and alcohol recovery. Skip, on the board of directors of New House and as one of the founders of NewHouse II and Arnita with The National Council on Alcoholism and as President of Friends of Casa Serena. Together they helped hundreds of men and women rebuild their lives. Arnita is loved and remembered by her sister Nila Stone, her mother and step father Fern and Russ Erikson, her step son John Matthews and her son Tracy Hall Adams. She was kind and loving and when it came to matters of the spirit, she was very wise. There will be a memorial service on Saturday Oct, th , pm. The family asks any remembrances be given in Arnita’s name to Sarah House in Santa Barbara.
Ruth St. Oegger // – //
Long time Santa Barbara resident Ruth St. Oegger, age , passed away on September , at the Maravilla Retirement Community. Ruth was born in Oklahoma to Roy and Ethel Summers. Following her graduation from high school she moved to Los Angeles. There, she joined the Woman’s Marine core as a secretary, serving during World War II. After the war Ruth moved to Glendale and worked at the telephone company as a switch-board operator. She was preceded in death by her husband Kenneth St. Oegger who died July , . She met her husband Ken at a bar in Glendale California and they were married for years. She travelled with him during his racing career throughout the western states and Hawaii, after which they retired to Santa Barbara to raise their family in the early sixties. During their marriage they continued travelling through Europe and New Zealand and then later with their sons in western North America. Ruth volunteered with several local organizations, including pet therapy and the Santa Barbara Yacht Club Women’s Group. She loved dogs, especially poodles, having owned several over her lifetime. She is survived by her three sons and six grandchildren. Her ashes will be sprinkled at sea so that she may join her husband and sister.
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THE INDEPENDENT
october 3, 2013