Margaret Mueller, beloved organist and educator, is dead at 99

In Winston-Salem, beloved keyboardist and Salem College Professor Emerita Margaret Mueller has died. She was a renowned organist who performed at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church for 38 years where her playing was described by colleagues as pure, free, and seemingly effortless.

Mueller and her husband John — also an organist — helped jump-start the mechanical action organ movement in this country through their association with famous builders like Dirk Flentrop, and their Summer Organ Academy where internationally acclaimed teachers and organists mentored their students.

And education was where Mueller would leave her most enduring mark.

Throughout her decades-long career at Salem College, and the Community Music School where she taught for nearly a half-century, Mueller was known for her good cheer and boundless enthusiasm for music and music-making. Longtime friend, pianist Clifton Matthews, got to see it first-hand.

"She taught all three of our daughters the piano and they would come skipping out of Salem College after their lessons with her — she made them so happy," says Matthews. "And not only did she train them wonderfully musically, but she encouraged them to compose, which they did, and then once they had made some charming little compositions then she had them illustrate them. And we have a whole sheaf of these charming remembrances of those times."

A memorial service was held for Margaret Mueller on Monday. She was 99 years old.