Edith Henry Kilbuck, noted harpsichordist and Professor Emerita at Lewis & Clark College, died peacefully in Portland on Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008, four days short of her 77th birthday.

Born in Hood River, Ore., in 1931 to Emma Stratton Kilbuck and Joseph Henry Kilbuck, she attended local public schools, skipping sixth grade and graduating first in her class of 91 students from Hood River High School in 1948.

Her musical life began at the age of 5 with piano lessons, financed in part by her older brother John’s paper route. She later began commuting by Greyhound bus from Hood River to Portland to study piano with David Campbell, and was an accomplished performing artist and accompanist by the time she was a teenager.

In these years she was the pianist for Hood River’s Music Association junior and adult orchestras, whose Finnish-born conductor, Boris Sirpo, called her “Eda,” a name that her family adopted and used at home.

She graduated from Lewis & Clark College in 1952 with a degree in piano, and earned a master’s degree in piano and accompanying piano from the Juilliard School of Music in 1955.

Kilbuck was the first recipient of the Lillian and Paul Petri award (1962), which enabled her to study piano and accompaniment in Vienna for one year. With the support of additional grants she also spent time in Florence, Prague, Antwerp, Haarlem, and Oxford, and became an expert in German Baroque keyboard music.

She served on the faculty of Lewis & Clark College from 1963 to 1989, where she was highly and affectionately regarded for her excellence as a teacher and music coach. A chronic arthritic condition induced her to switch from piano to harpsichord, and in 1969 she gave her first solo recital as a harpsichordist. She completed her doctorate in harpsichord and music history at the University of Oregon in 1976, during a sabbatical leave from Lewis & Clark.

Dr. Kilbuck, better known to colleagues and friends as Edith, received Lewis & Clark College’s Distinguished Alumni Award for distinction in her field in 1995.

Among her many concert appearances, Dr. Kilbuck spent three summers at the Aspen Music Festival as vocal coach and pianist, and performed regularly at the Eugene Summer Music Festival, both in chamber music ensembles and as soloist with the orchestra. Together with Endre Granat, she performed and recorded Bach’s Complete Works for Violin and Harpsichord (Orion, 1976).

In 1987 and 1988, she performed the entire “Well-Tempered Clavier” by J.S. Bach in a series of four solo concerts. The Oregonian’s music critic, David Stabler, praised her “remarkably brave approach to what is often referred to as the ‘Old Testament’ of keyboard music.”

Edith Kilbuck was descended from the Delaware chief Gelelemend, a signer in 1778 of the first American Indian treaty with the United States. In 1884, Gelelemend’s great-grandson, John Kilbuck, Edith Kilbuck’s grandfather, was the first Delaware to be ordained a Moravian minister.

A graduate of Moravian College, John Kilbuck served as a missionary in southwestern Alaska. His diaries and those of his wife, also named Edith, provide much of what is known of Yupik life in the late 1800s. The Kilbuck Mountain Range in southwestern Alaska bears their name. Dr. Kilbuck’s personal interest in the music of the Moravian Church led her to spend four months in Herrnhut, East Germany, researching original scores and manuscripts.

Proud of her Native American heritage and gifted with dignity, integrity, and professionalism, Edith also spread warmth and kindness, even as illness separated her from her beloved harpsichord in her later years. She was a vibrant presence, had a disarming sense of humor and an infectious laugh, and never once lost the twinkle in her eyes, even in her last days.

She is survived by her siblings, Katherine Beggs, Elizabeth Asbury, John Kilbuck and Helen Muchow, as well as numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents and by her sister, Margaret Johansen.

A memorial service will be held at the Agnes Flanagan Chapel of Lewis & Clark College on Friday, April 11, at 3:30 p.m. Contributions in Edith Kilbuck’s memory may be made to the college’s music department in support of its chamber music program, dear to Edith’s heart. The designation “Edith Kilbuck Memorial” should appear on the check’s memo line. Contributions may be sent to: Lewis & Clark College, Department of Music, 0615 S.W. Palatine Hill Road, Portland, OR 97219-7899.

Vernon James Orcutt, a Newberg, Ore., resident, died March 31, 2008, at Chehalem Health and Rehab. He was 93 years of age.

Graveside services and interment was held on Friday, April 4, at 2 p.m. at Idlewilde Cemetery in Hood River, Ore. Rev. Steve Funk officiated.

Vernon was born June 29, 1914, in Tiff City, Mo., to Ira and Julia Pearl (Howard) Orcutt.

He was raised in the Ozarks, coming to Newberg, as a teen for a couple of years and then returned to Oklahoma.

On April 29, 1935, he and Lucille Haughn were married in Neosho, Mo. They came to Hood River in 1943 and lived in the Pine Grove area.

Vernon owned and operated a painting and wallpaper hanging business. He was a member of the Mt. Hood Assembly of God Church. Vernon enjoyed spending time with his grandchildren and was an avid fisherman.

Preceding him in death were his wife, Lucille, in 2007 and one child, VJ Orcutt, in 1980.

He is survived by daughters Mary Brewer, of Miami, Okla., Dora Bailey, of Dundee, Ore., and Linda Hazen, of Willard, Ore.; 17 grandchildren, four step-grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren, eight step-great-grandchildren and 20 great-great-grandchildren.

Remembrances may be made to Trout Unlimited in care of Anderson’s Tribute Center (Funerals, Receptions, Cremations), 1401 Belmont Ave., Hood River, OR 97031; (541) 386-1000; www.andersonstributecenter.com.