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Donald Paul Hustad, Fellow of the Hymn Society, died June 22, 2013, at Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital in La Grange, Illinois. He was survived by his wife, Ruth Lorraine McKeag Hustad; their three daughters, Donna, Sondra, and Marcia; four grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. Don and Ruth were married on November 28, 1942 (her twenty-second birthday), and enjoyed more than 70 years together. Ruth died July 18, and a memorial service for both was held at Western Springs Baptist Church in Western Springs, Illinois, on July 27, 2013.
The "Worship Service of Thanksgiving" for Don and Ruth followed their plans and incorporated elements from the communities in which they regularly worshiped. The order followed Rite Two from The Book of Common Prayer. Worshipers were welcomed by Dean Monkemeier, pastor of the host congregation. Said Ailabouni, senior pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in La Grange, Illinois, was the liturgist. The homily was given by Mark Tusken, rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Geneva, Illinois. Granddaughters Anne Amstutz Dahlgren, Caroline Amstutz Wiltfang, Meghan Brunsting Johnson, and Jennelyse Brunsting read scripture. Remembrances were shared by daughters Donna Amstutz and Sondra Brunsting, and by former student and colleague Paul A. Richardson. Daughter Marcia Hustad, flutist, played Don's setting of "Amazing Grace." The choir of Moody Chorale alumni was conducted by retired director and former Hustad student Gerald Edmonds. Organist M. Jane Holstein, editor at Hope Publishing Company, led the hymns and provided service music.
The congregation sang "Christ, the Victorious" (Carl P. Daw, Jr.), "How firm a foundation," "In Christ is all I need" (Timothy Dudley-Smith), and "Now thank we all our God." Dudley-Smith's text, designed for Don's 1953 tune Paradoxy, was written in 2008 for a celebration of Don's career by the American Choral Directors Association. Its concluding stanza reads:
In Christ is all my peace,
his presence calms my fears;
so may my faith and love increase
amid the passing years.
In him the light has shone
that lightens all my way,
to guide my steps where he has gone
to everlasting day.
(© Hope Pub., 2007. Used by permission.)
The prelude included "Adorn yourself, dear soul, with gladness" (J. S. Bach), "Fugue in E-flat major [St. Anne]" (Bach), "Solemn Melody" (Henry Walford Davies), and...