Local name on program

Gloria Brilling was excited that “Improvisation on St. Agnes,” by composer Maurice Whitney of Glens Falls was among the musical selections at the ordination Mass on Thursday for Monsignor Edward Scharfenberger, the new Roman Catholic Bishop of Albany.

“In fact, I didn’t know the woman next to me and I said, ‘Oh my goodness. Look at this. I knew this man,’” Brilling said Friday, speaking about her emotion when she noticed Whitney’s name on the program.

Whitney, who died in 1984, was head of the Glens Falls school district music program for 25 years.

He also was organist and choir director at Christ Church United Methodist Church and was active in the Glens Falls operetta club, now Glens Falls Community Theater.

Whitney composed more than 100 works for choir, band, orchestra and soloists during his career, and he served on the editorial board of “Music Educators Journal,” according to documents on file at The Folklife Center at Crandall Public Library.

Brilling, a 1948 Glens Falls high school graduate, said Whitney was music teacher when she was in school.

“He was just such a wonderful, wonderful man,” she said.