Redlands Branch
During these past few months, three longtime member of the Redlands Branch have passed away. In honor of their dedication to music, we wish to celebrate their lives and accomplishments.
MARY EVELYN GOLZ
Mary Evelyn was born in Decatur, Georgia on August 6, 1923, to Leon and
Evelyn Hollingsworth. Her sister, Elizabeth (Betty), was born two years
later. Mary Evelyn graduated from Decatur High School and continued
her education at the Eastman School of Music where she earned a Bachelor
and Masters Degree in Music. At Eastman, she met violinist John Golz,
and they were married in 1948.
Mary Evelyn was born in Decatur, Georgia on August 6, 1923, to Leon
and Evelyn Hollingsworth. Her sister, Elizabeth (Betty), was born two
years later. Mary Evelyn graduated from Decatur High School and continued
her education at the Eastman School of Music where she earned a Bachelor
and Masters Degree in Music. At Eastman, she met violinist John Golz,
and they were married in 1948.
In 1951, the young couple went to France where, taking advantage of the GI bill, John continued his musical studies at the Paris Conservatory. Thus began a love of France and travel that they shared throughout their life together.
They moved to California in 1952 when John began his long tenure as professor of music at the University of Redlands. Mary Evelyn taught piano privately and at the University of Redlands and often performed with John as a violin piano duo. She was active with the U of R Faculty Wives Association and the Sigma Alpha Iota music fraternity.
She served as president of the Redlands Branch of the Music Teachers’ Association of California, and she was a very active supporter of the Southern California Junior Bach Festival for which she served as general chairman. She was proud to have designed the commemorative medal which is awarded annually for distinguished performance in the Complete Works Audition.
Mary Evelyn was a long time member of the Spinet Music Club, and she and John were presented with an Honorary Membership in 2007. Most recently, she co-founded and served on the board of the Redlands Chamber Music Society.
Mary Evelyn was a generous and active member of her community. In 2007, the Family Service Association honored her for her more than 20 years of service to their organization. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church where she served on the Mission committee. She was also an enthusiastic member of the Cosmos club where, over the years, she presented several papers about her travels and many interests.
In her late 70’s, inspired by an Elderhostel trip focusing on the French Impressionist painters, Mary Evelyn developed a passion for painting and surprised her family and friends with her newfound talent. She created many lovely oil paintings depicting favorite views of places that brought her special happiness.
At all ages, Mary Evelyn was beautiful, both in person and in spirit. She had a unique combination of charm, intelligence, sweetness and strength. Her true sense of compassion made her a charitable and concerned citizen. She truly made the world a better place.
Mary Evelyn was a devoted wife, a loving mother to her children Elizabeth, Evelyn, Madeleine and Jack, and a proud grandmother of Tim, Israel and Akira. She is greatly missed by her family and friends and her cherished memory will live on in their hearts.
MINNIE IVERSON WOOD
Minnie Iverson Wood, long-time piano, violin and voice teacher and member
of the MTAC passed away as a result of a stroke on February 28, 2008,
three months shy of her 100th birthday. After graduation from Washington
Missionary College in 1928, Minnie received her master's degree in
music from Catholic University in Washington, D.C. and taught two years
in Latvia before returning to the United States where she met and married
Wilton
Wood, also a teacher. They served at many Seventh Day Adventist schools
including Indiana; Shanghai, China; Singapore, Indonesia; Manila, Philippines;
Washington, D.C.; Michigan; and finally "after retirement in 1972" Loma
Linda, California. Minnie taught music, piano, violin, and directed choral
groups. The Washington, D.C. choir performed weekly on the radio, and
she performed for presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower.
Until a week before her death, she was teaching piano and voice lessons
at her Loma Linda home.
MARJORIE ZIPRICK
Marjorie Jean Ziprick, Loma Linda Chamber of Commerce's Citizen of
the Year for 1999, died April 1 at Plymouth Village Health Center
in Redlands,
following an illness. She was 93.
Ziprick was known as a musician, music teacher and artist and for her service to the Loma Linda community.
She was active in the Loma Linda Cultural Arts Association, was instrumental in Loma Linda's incorporation effort and was a prominent figure in bringing the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Veterans Medical Center to Loma Linda.
"She was an amazing lady," said Ardyce Koobs, a violinist, longtime music teacher and former mayor of Loma Linda who had worked with Ziprick in many areas.
"Marjorie had so many valuable contributions to the community," Koobs said. "She was very important in the incorporation effort and of course her contributions in the music area were enormous.
"In addition, she was very helpful to the university in terms of promoting the fine arts. She worked tirelessly for the Fine Arts Festival."
She was born Jan. 1, 1915, in Lansing, Mich., and was exposed to music even before that. In a list of biographical information and achievements she compiled a number of years ago, she wrote that her mother, who was a singer, gave a recital about a month before giving birth.
A few years later, as soon as she was able, she climbed on the piano bench and started "playing the pictures" on her mother's music.
She began formal piano lessons early and started accompanying her mother in church and at school programs. At age 10 she was also playing the piano at retirement homes, and when she was a teenager she played for weekly church programs and for a citywide cantata festival as well as soloing with the school orchestra for competitions.
When she was 13, she won a piano competition sponsored by the Music Teachers' Association of Michigan.
She earned her bachelor of music degree in 1937 from Michigan State University, where she served as president of Sigma Alpha Iota, a music fraternity for women.
She played then in a trio with violinist Dorothy DeLay, who later became internationally known for her teaching a Juilliard and Aspen. She also played the organ for church services.
During Christmas vacation in 1936 she married Dr. Wilford Albert, who graduated from the College of Medical Evangelists (now Loma Linda University) in 1937.
After graduation, she left Lansing and moved to Leslie, Mich., where she served on the City Council during World War II and worked on a war memorial.
In Leslie, she also started a chapter of the Music Federated Club and started a concert series, in addition to teaching piano.
After her husband died in 1947, she moved to Glendale, continued her music studies with artist teachers and became organist at a Los Angeles church.
She met Dr. Harold Ziprick, a medical school classmate of her late husband, and they married in 1949.
She was bedridden for a year after she had polio in 1953, but was back to teaching soon after that.
Before moving to Loma Linda in 1963, she and her husband lived in San Diego, where she continued teaching and was active with the American Guild of Organists, Music Teachers' Association and Sigma Alpha Iota.
In Loma Linda, her husband became chairman of the obstetrics and gynecology department at Loma Linda University, and she joined the music faculty on the La Sierra campus of Loma Linda University. (La Sierra College, which had become part of Loma Linda University, is now La Sierra University, separate from LLU.)
She earned a master of music degree from the University of Redlands in 1966 and did further graduate study at the University of California, Riverside, and the Claremont Colleges.
In the late 1960s, she and her family worked toward the incorporation of Loma Linda. The city was incorporated in September 1970.
She was on the Loma Linda Development committee when the veterans hospital in Loma Linda was in the planning stages, following a 1971 earthquake that destroyed a veterans hospital in the Sylmar area.
During that time, she was in close touch with Rep. Jerry Pettis, the local congressman for whom the veterans hospital was named after he died in a plane crash in 1975.
In 1972 she joined the Loma Linda University Fine Arts Committee and worked many years to help present its annual festival.
She was also a painter, doing landscapes and nature subjects in watercolor, acrylic and oil. She was a member of the Redlands Art Association and the Loma Linda Cultural Arts Association and was a charter member of the Fine Arts Institute of the San Bernardino County Museum.
When she was the featured artist for the Loma Linda Cultural Arts Association in the spring of 2002, Miyori Ito, a member of the arts association, described her paintings as "vibrant in color and free in spirit."
She had served as president of the Redlands Branch of the Music Teachers' Association of California and had served as co-chairman for the association's concerto and solo competitions for the state.
She had also served as president of the Spinet music club of Redlands and was active in the Redlands chapter of the American Guild of Organists and in the Music Teachers National Association.
In the 1960s, she wrote a book, "The Influence of the D'Este Family on the Rise of National Music in Italy," and in 1979 she wrote an article on composer Arthur Farwell, one of her former teachers, for the California Music Teachers magazine.
She also composed music and was commissioned to set to music the winning poem of the 1972 California Poetry Competition sponsored by the California Federation of Chaparral Poets.
She continued teaching in her home studio in Loma Linda for many years, working with as many as 50 students a week.
Among the outstanding piano teachers she studied with are Mabel Whitney, who studied with Rudolph Ganz and Percy Grainger; and Amparo Iturbi, concert artist and sister of Jose Iturbi. She also studied organ with Ernest Douglas, a composer and organist, and others.
She was honored with lifetime membership in the Music Teachers' Association of California and received the association's Helen Daun Honorary Service Award in 1998 and community service award in 1989.
Other awards include a mayoral commendation in 2001 for her work in music and the civic life of Loma Linda; a citizen of the year award in 2000 from the state Assembly; and a Heritage Award in 2007 from the Loma Linda Chamber of Commerce.
Her biography has been in "International Who's Who in Music," "Who's Who in American Music," "International Who's Who in Education" and "The World Who's Who of Women."
Her husband Harold Ziprick died in 1998.
Survivors include her sons Dr. Douglas Ziprick and Robert Ziprick, both of Loma Linda, and William Ziprick of Spokane, Wash.; her daughter Jean Guilfoy of El Dorado Hills; her brothers Dr. John Affeldt of Rancho Santa Fe and Dr. Robert Affeldt of Truckee; her sister Betty Farley of Vancouver, Wash.; 13 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.