Barbara J. Owen

Barbara J. Owen, a longtime resident of Newburyport and a national and international authority on the history and music of the pipe organ, passed away peacefully on October 14, 2024, at the age of 91.

Ms. Owen received her Bachelor of Music degree from Westminster Choir College in 1955, and her Master of Music degree in musicology from Boston University in 1962, as a student of the eminent scholar Karl Geiringer. She pursued advanced study in Europe at the North German Organ Academy and the Academy of Italian Organ Music.

In 1963, Barbara became Director of Music at the First Religious Society, Unitarian Universalist in Newburyport, MA, a distinguished tenure she held for 38 years. She is remembered especially for her direction of the Candlelight Choir Christmas concerts and for founding the youth and high school choirs. Retiring from First Religious in 2002, she then served other churches as an interim or substitute music director and organist. For much of that same time, 1961 to 1979, Barbara worked as a voicer with C.B. Fisk, Inc. of Gloucester, MA, renowned builders of pipe organs.

Across several centuries of American Organ activity, no one has touched so much of it as Barbara did. At one or another stage over a remarkable seven decades she was builder, restorer, author, researcher, advocate, consultant, musician, editor, lecturer, hymn writer, librarian, and mentor. Above all, she will be remembered for her commitment to aspiring organists, organ builders and her writings. These range from standard-bearing volumes on 19th-century organ builders and players, to a noted biography of E. Power Biggs; the registration of baroque organ music and the organ music of Brahms; to finely-crafted monographs on regional locales and such famous organs as Tabernacle on Temple Square (or the Salt Lake City Tabernacle) and Methuen Memorial Music Hall. Barbara was also a peripatetic traveler, visiting and studying organs all over the world.

Owen served in numerous capacities for the Boston and Merrimack Valley Chapters of the American Guild of Organists, including Deanships for both chapters. For many years she was Librarian for the Boston AGO Organ Library, housed at Boston University. Also, she served as national president of the Organ Historical Society, an organization she founded in New York City in 1956, with a group of other young organists and enthusiasts.

The Methuen Memorial Music Hall, home of the 1863 Great Organ from the Boston Music Hall, was another of Barbara’s dedicated interests. As a Trustee there for 34 years (1989 - 2023), Owen was a leading member of the Program Committee and frequently was organist for weddings.

Born in Utica, NY, to Welsh immigrants David and Vera Owen, Barbara was the oldest of three sisters. In her early elementary school years, the family moved to New Haven, CT, where Barbara made the most of the educational and musical opportunities on offer there. In addition to her parents, she was predeceased by her youngest sister Beverly Owen. She is survived by her sister and brother-in-law Mona and Frank Fucci and their children.

In her beloved Newburyport, Owen was an ongoing volunteer and supporter of the First Religious Society as well as the Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society since its inception in 1992. Her home always had one or more beloved feline companions. She was a person who looked outward, a daily and unfailing servant friend to all people, animals and the earth, and she expressed gratitude and generosity throughout her life.

In sturdy health almost her entire life, a broken hip hastened her final weeks. Her last months and days were marked by the steadfast companionship of devoted friends and church members. A memorial celebration of her extraordinary life will be planned for 2025. Burial will be private. Donations in her name may be made to The Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society, in Salisbury, MA, and The First Religious Society in Newburyport. Arrangements were by Elliott, Woodworth & Rogers Family Funeral Home, 35 Green Street, Newburyport, MA 01950.