Retired Professor Charles Farley Retires Again

Retired Knox College music professor  Charles Farley got a standing ovation on the occasion of his second retirement, on Sunday, September 18, according to a South Carolina newspaper.

Farley, who also is a professor emeritus of music at Knox College, stepped down from the post of organist at First Presbyterian Church in Hilton Head. He moved to South Carolina after retiring from Knox 14 years ago.

Farley, the Robert W. Murphy Professor Emeritus of Music, taught at Knox from 1959 to 1997. He taught music history, theory and keyboard performance at Knox, gave numerous recitals, performed with the Knox-Galesburg Symphony and was organist for First Presbyterian Church in Galesburg.

"Not many like Farley will come this way again," wrote columnist David Lauderdale in "Church organist still strikes a hallowed chord," in the Island Packet newspaper. "He's been playing in churches since stepping to an electric organ in a Methodist church in 1955 or 1956. And he's not through yet. He and his wife, Beverly, a professional soprano, have moved to Savannah, where he'll be organist and music director at St. Thomas Episcopal Church on the Isle of Hope."

Full story: http://www.islandpacket.com/2011/09/17/1796321/church-organist-still-strikes.html

Below, Charles Farley performs at Knox College in 1984.