Episcopal Press and News
Lee Bristol, Church Music Leader, Dies
Episcopal News Service. August 16, 1979 [79260]
New York -- Lee Hastings Bristol Jr., a leading figure in church music development, died in upstate New York Aug. 10 after an illness of many months. He was 56.
He had served as a member and officer of the Episcopal Church's Standing Commission on Church Music, helped organize the Hymnal Supplement volumes, was the editor of "More Hymns and Spiritual Songs" and wrote many choral and organ compositions.
Bristol was also known to the wider Church as an engaging and popular preacher and conference speaker. He is believed to be the first American layman ever to preach four times at Westminster Abbey. He has also written inspirational books, including More Power to You and The Big Picnic.
A 1947 alumnus of Hamilton College, he earned a Licentiate in Organ from Trinity College of Music, London and had received 11 honorary degrees. He was president of the Westminster Choir College, one of the foremost church music institutions in the country, from 1962 to 1969.
From 1951 until he joined the Choir College he was an executive with the BristolMyers Company which his grandfather had founded. Among other honors he received was the Kellogg award for distinguished service to education from the Association of Episcopal Colleges. He was also a commander of the Venerable Order of St. John of Jerusalem and a fellow of the British Royal School of Music.
He was a deputy to the Episcopal Church General Convention in 1973 and 1976 and had been elected to serve again this year. He once said of his ministry, "I continue to try with God's help, to come ever closer to my true potential and to try to see to it that my life counts for something in terms of the lives of others."
He is survived by his wife, Louise Wells Bristol and four children. A memorial service was held at Trinity Episcopal Church in Princeton where the Bristols made their home.