The chapter now known as the Saint Louis Chapter #633 of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) was originally chartered as the Missouri Chapter on October 23, 1911. In February of 1955, we officially became the Saint Louis Chapter. Saint Louis was privileged to host the 1948 AGO National Convention. The 1948 Convention was the first post-war convention and was organized largely by Dr. Howard Kelsey, former Washington University professor in the Department of Music in Arts and Sciences.
Dr. Kelsey served as the University organist at Washington University for more than 30 years. During that time he established one of the naation’s first programs in historical performance practice as well as a nationally acclaimed program in organ. He supervised two-dozen PH.D. students, over a dozen Fulbright scholars, and scores of master’s degree students. He helped many of his students secure positions at major churches and universities across the United States and abroad.
Mid-Winter conclaves were held in Saint Louis in 1956 and 1975. In 1985, and in 2015 Saint Louis was the site for an AGO Regional Convention. Saint Louis has also hosted three Pipe Organ Encounters (2006 and 2010, and 2019)
Past Deans
| 1922-23 | Edgar McFadden |
| 1926-28 | Walter Wismar |
| 1931-33 | Alfred Lee Booth |
| 1934-35 | Hugo Hagen |
| 1935-37 | C. Albert Scholin |
| 1946-47 | Howard B. Kelsey |
| 1955-56 | Mary Friess |
| 1957-59 | Gordon Williamson |
| 1958-59 | Robert M. McGill |
| 1959-61 | Charles H. Heaton |
| 1961-63 | Fern O. Kelly |
| 1963-65 | Bill Davidson |
| 1965-67 | Aline Perkins |
| 1967-69 | Richard H. Strand |
| 1969-71 | Elizabeth Buck |
| 1971-72 | Frank Perkins |
| 1972-74 | E. Alan Wood |
| 1974-76 | Marie Kremer |
| 1976-78 | Kathleen A. Thomerson |
| 1978-79 | Earl Naylor |
| 1979-81 | Thomas R. Pearce |
| 1981-83 | Fern S. Black |
| 1983-85 | David Porkola |
| 1985-86 | Fern Heib |
| 1988-90 | Robert J. Hutcheson, Jr. |
| 1990-92 | Yvonne Lafser (Sullivan) |
| 1992-94 | Barbara Radeke |
| 1994-96 | Mary Hitchcock-Reinhart |
| 1996-98 | William (Pat) Partridge |
| 1998-2000 | Henry Glass |
| 2000-02 | Kathleen Bolduan |
| 2004-06 | Stephen Mager |
| 2006-08 | Martha Shaffer |
| 2008-10 | Charles Peery |
| 2010-12 | Henry Evans |
| 2012-14 | Bill Wade |
| 2014-16 | Dawn Riske |
| 2016-18 | Mark Scholtz |
| 2018-20 | Burnell Hackman |
| 2020-22 | Rick Burk |
| 2022-24 | Jeff White |