HYMNS ETC. - Awards and Honors
Biographical sketches of Mary and John have recently been added to the North American hymnody section of the Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology, an online reference resource for scholars of global hymnody, with information on the hymns of many countries and languages, and a strong emphasis on the historical as well as the contemporary. This is a supplement to John Julian’s Dictionary of Hymnology (1892, rev. 1907), and is a joint project of the Hymn Societies in Great Britain and Ireland and the United States and Canada.
Honorable mention, 1997 Heckman Memorial Hymn Contest, sponsored by Macalester Plymouth United Church, St. Paul, MN, for “The People Came from Everywhere” (CHILD’S PLAY).
Honorable mention, 1998 hymn search for new hymns on justice, jointly sponsored by the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada and Alternatives for Simple Living, for “Your Spirit, God, Moves Us to Pray" (CHILD’S PLAY)
Honorable mention, 2005 hymn search for a new psalm setting, sponsored by the Brehm center and the Fred Bock Institute of Music at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA, for “How Can We Sing Our Love for God? (MCDONALD).
ASCAP. Both of us are members of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, and for a number of years have received ASCAPLUS awards granted to established writers whose main activity is outside the broadcast media.
Two of our hymn collections, Come Away with Me: A Collection of Original Hymns (Abingdon Press, 1998), and Time Now to Gather: New Hymns for the Church Family (Abingdon Press, 1998), are mentioned in CHRISTIAN HYMNODY IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY BRITAIN AND AMERICA: An Annotated Bibliography, by David W. Music. Greenwood Press, 2001.
The text of our hymn, “When Quiet Peace Is Shattered” (HEALING VOICE), is mentioned with comments in Paul A. Richardson’s edited and expanded version of Erik Routley’s A PANORAMA OF CHRISTIAN HYMNODY. GIA Publications, Inc., 2005, 1979. Mary attended the annual conference of the Hymn Society in the U.S. and Canada held July 13-17, 2014 in Columbus, OH. Our hymn, “A Mother Lines a Basket,” was one of those sung from the new Community of Christ hymnal when it was introduced at the conference.
Carleton College. In June, 2006, Carleton College and the Carleton Alumni Association jointly presented Mary with a Distinguished Achievement Award in recognition of distinguished achievement in composing text for religious music. Her new hymn, “How Glad We Are to Be Alive,” with a setting by John, was sung at the Sunday worship service during Carleton’s alumni weekend.
Mary was honored on November 18, 2013, at the American Education Banquet at Sibley East High School in Minnesota for her work as pastor and teacher, journalist and lyricist, and hymn text writer. She was graduated in 1952 from Gaylord High School, one of three schools that joined to form Sibley East. A plaque bearing her name and picture was added to the school’s “wall of fame.”
