Fred Kimball Graham

We are grieving the loss of Dr. Fred Kimball Graham, who died Sunday, August 30 at Lakeridge Health Oshawa (General Hospital) after a brief illness, surrounded by family and friends. He was a beloved father, grandfather, husband, brother, uncle, mentor, and friend — and, for over 6 decades, a brilliant organist, choir director, teacher, preacher, composer, and author who dedicated his life to the musical and liturgical lifeblood of UCC and Anglican congregations, seminaries, and fellowships.

We invite Newcastle area family and friends to join us for a visitation at Newcastle United Church (84 Mill Street South, Newcastle, Ontario) on Saturday, September 12, 2026. The church will open its doors at 1:00 pm, with prayers and remembrances at 2:00 pm, followed by visitation and light refreshments in the church hall from 2:30 to 4:30 pm.

A memorial service celebrating the life and ministry of Dr. Fred Graham will also be held in Toronto in October 2026 and livestreamed for those unable to attend in person. Those interested and available will be invited to join the choir for the occasion. Private inurnment will follow at Lakeview Cemetery in the Durham Region.

In lieu of flowers, Fred requested that memorial donations be made towards the Master of Sacred Music program at Emmanuel College, the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada, or the Transplant Unit of Toronto General Hospital.

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Raised by farming parents in Newcastle, Ontario, Fred Graham attended Newcastle Public School, achieving academic distinction and winning the Wilmot Gold Medal in 1958 for General Proficiency. Grateful to his parents for providing him with piano lessons from the age of 8, Fred selected and accompanied hymns for the local Sunday School from age 10, and playing piano for assemblies and various instruments in the Band while attending Bowmanville High School. He began organ lessons in Oshawa in 1960 and chose that as his performance “major” while attending the University of Toronto, 1963-67.

During that period, he completed the requirements for the ARCT, winning the Gold Medal for highest marks in Canada, and successfully leading the music ministry briefly in 1966 at Bloor Street United Church in Toronto. The same summer, he attended the Royal School of Church Music in the UK, completing the requirements for the ARCO, and 4 years later, the requirements for the Fellow of the Royal College of Organists, London. While there, he greatly enjoyed the experience of European art and history, along with a very special tea party at Buckingham Palace.

Upon graduation from the Faculty of Music (MusEd) at Toronto, where he developed life-long friendships, he was awarded the Fairclough Scholarship enabling further study, which he pursued initially in Cologne, Germany under organist Michael Schneider, and later in West Berlin with Karl Hochreither and Martin Behrmann. There he met and courted Melva Rae Treffinger, a fellow student of church music. Fred was also supported by a Canada Council scholarship, endorsed by the late Elmer Iseler, towards advanced studies in choral conducting. With a view to future classroom teaching, he registered for a short course in Kodaly methods at the Liszt Academy, crossing the Iron Curtain to spend a summer in Budapest in 1970.

Returning to Canada in 1970, he was appointed music director at the church of St. Mark the Evangelist, Ottawa, as well as music instructor at Ashbury College, Ottawa, 1970-75. He established the instrumental music program for students at Ashbury, and led several Gilbert and Sullivan productions in collaboration with students at the Elmwood School. During this time, he succeeded Nicholas Goldschmidt as conductor of the Canadian Centennial Choir, and performed regularly at the National Arts Centre.

After a correspondence by airmail of many months, Fred and Melva were married in the USA in 1972; they made a home together in Ottawa, where she had moved from her native Baltimore, MD to assume a church music position. In 1975, they moved to Rothesay, New Brunswick, where Fred was housemaster for 12 boarders under 13, chapel organist, and instructor at Rothesay Collegiate. After the birth of their first child, Jessica, in Saint John, NB, the family moved to Halifax, where Fred had been appointed music director at the Cathedral Church of All Saints, organ instructor at Dalhousie University, and adjunct professor of church music at the Atlantic School of Theology. Shortly thereafter, Fred and Melva welcomed a second child, Adrian. During this period came also the first health threat due to progressive liver disease, addressed thanks to Dr. Charles Graham of Halifax.

Each summer 1977-81, Fred studied at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, completing the requirements of the Master of Music (Organ Performance) in the studio of the late Russell Saunders. But a “theology impulse” had energized his vision, and the family left Halifax in 1985 to enable his residence at Drew University, Madison, NJ to complete the requirements for the PhD in Liturgical Theology. He gave thanks for the mentorship there of Bard Thompson, Charles Rice, Robin Leaver and Kenneth Rowe, as well as for the friendship with classmate Rev. Dr. Heather Murray Elkins, who is now his daughter’s mother-in-law. His thesis, ‘with One Heart and One Voice’, concerned the development of Methodist hymn tunes in the USA, 1810-1876. It was defended in 1991 and published in 2004 by Scarecrow Press.

Having completed PhD comprehensive exams in 1987, the next move for Fred and family was to Toronto, where Melva thrived at Grace Church on the Hill as Music Director under the wise guidance of Rev. Milton Barry, and the family enjoyed recurring choral trips to the great cathedrals of England. Fred was subsequently appointed Officer for Worship and Music at The United Church of Canada, a role he considered the “finest denominational role in the whole world”. During 14 years at Church House, he had the joy of working closely with dear friend John Ambrose as Associate Editor on the denominational hymnal “Voices United” (1996) and its worship resource “Celebrate God’s Presence” (while also contributing a tune for one of its new hymns, “A Woman and a Coin”) and travelling from Atlantic to Pacific to introduce the collection across Canada along with leading workshops on such topics as sacred architecture and the integration of liturgy and sacred music, 1988-2001.

In 2001, Fred was honoured to be appointed to the faculty of Emmanuel College in the Toronto School of Theology as the sole professor of church music. He ensured that Hymnology be a required course for all candidates for ministry. He also negotiated with the University over a period of 4 years to establish Canada’s only graduate-level program in church music, the novel Master of Sacred Music (MSMus) inaugurated in 2008. When he retired from Emmanuel in 2012, he was awarded the status of Associate Professor Emeritus. Special mention here of colleague Bill Kervin, whose support, friendship and counsel he treasured.

The thread tying Fred’s life together was congregational life. While living in Toronto, Fred acted as interim organist at various United and Anglican Churches, including Islington United in Etobicoke, Humbercrest United, Deer Park United, Eglinton St. George’s United, Christ Church Deer Park (Anglican), St. Clement’s (Anglican,) and later at Dublin Street United Church in Guelph. In 2021, he was invited to act as interim musician at the parish of St George’s Anglican in Pickering Village, close to his retirement home in Oshawa, Ontario. He retired from that position just weeks before his final illness.

As he said, “What a privilege it is to meet with two of 3 (or more) souls in search of Truth for The Way and The Holy. What’s more, we sing together, and that has been the ultimate experience. To sing is to live.” And so we thank those congregations along with St. Marks, Ottawa; All Saints, Halifax; and last but not least, the prayerful support of the faithful flock at Deer Park United in Toronto, who prayed him into health, and resolutely carved a future for themselves.

During the same period, Bill pastored Fred through the second difficult medical episode of his life; Fred suffered catastrophic liver failure, and was blessed to receive a liver transplant thanks to his own daughter, Jessica, in a series of surgeries in 2007 at Toronto General Hospital.

After a lengthy but exemplary recovery, this transplant proceeded to extend his life by 20 years, allowing his and Melva’s retirement to the community of the Village By the Arboretum (VBA) in Guelph, where they enjoyed an active social life and warm new friendships in beautiful surroundings. Fred made the most of all VBA had to offer; he accompanied a variety of musical ensembles including ProMusica with Steven Henrikson and Vanessa Lanch; spent great time and effort on the gardens of their home; and as a member of their Cabaret troupe, performed comedy skits, song and dance numbers, and learned how to play upright string bass.

Just in time for the covid19 pandemic, Fred and Melva decided to downsize and move in with Adrian and his family in the Northglen neighbourhood of Oshawa. There, they cherished the time spent and close relationships nurtured with Adrian, partner Mallory, grandchildren Aislinn and Sage, stepson Zach, and partner’s mother Peggy. Most recently, Fred coordinated a move for Melva to Assisted Care at the Village of Taunton Mills, and also spent precious time with both daughter Jessica and son-in-law Daniel Elkins in the last weeks of his life. A tireless correspondent, Fred also leaves behind an international circle of colleagues, former students, and associates in the professional areas of music and liturgy.

In body, Fred is gone, but in spirit he remains with his darling sister Janet Hodsoll and her spouse Bill, her daughter Stephanie, and Janet’s grandchildren Millie and Monty; many Graham and Kimball cousins; countless friends and colleagues; and with his nearest and dearest, Melva, Jessica, Adrian, Mallory, Aislinn and Sage. From his own writings, let us say with him: “Even as we go down to the grave, let us sing Hallelujah, Hallelujah.”