Person Page

     Martha Rock was born on 4 May 1930 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts.¹ She married Eugene Endicott LeFevre, son of James LeFevre, on 16 June 1951 at St. Theresa's Chapel in West Roxbury, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts.² They later divorced.³ She died on 6 November 2000 in Woburn, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, at age 70.⁴
     She graduated from Milton Academy in Milton, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts, in 1948, then attended Wheelock College in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts, for three years.²

     Eugene Endicott LeFevre was born on 9 April 1928.² He married Martha Rock, daughter of John Charles Rock and Anna Thorndike, on 16 June 1951 at St. Theresa's Chapel in West Roxbury, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts.¹ They later divorced.³ He died on 2 November 1968 in Norwood, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts, at age 40.⁴ He was buried at Hope Cemetery in North Attleboro, Bristol Co., Massachusetts.⁴
     He graduated in 1947 from Milton Academy in Milton, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts.¹

     Ellen Rock was born on 21 February 1933 in Boston, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts.¹ She married Joseph Gerald Phillips, son of William H. Phillips and Helen Allingham, on 15 February 1958 at Sacred Heart Church in Roslindale, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts.² She died on 9 October 1982 in Worcester Co., Massachusetts, at age 49.³ She was buried at Evergreen Cemetery (Sect. 19, Lot 95) in Leominster, Worcester Co., Massachusetts.⁴
     She attended Milton Academy in Milton, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts, then graduated from Cambridge School in Weston, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts, and later attended the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois,² where she met her future husband J. Gerald Phillips. Returning home to Boston in 1955, she worked for a short time at the Rock Reproductive Study Center founded by her father at the Free Hospital for Women in Brookline, Norfolk Co., Massachusetts.⁵
     She was involved in various civic activities while raising her children in Worcester, Massachusetts. She collaborated in development and fundraising activities for the Bayridge Residence, a non-profit women's student residence and cultural center, when it was established in Back Bay Boston in 1960. She also served on boards of the Main South Neighborhood Center and the Piedmont Community Center in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and took in foster children for short-term care.⁵

     Joseph Gerald Phillips was born on 3 December 1927 in Waterbury, New Haven Co., Connecticut.² He married Ellen Rock, daughter of John Charles Rock and Anna Thorndike, on 15 February 1958 at Sacred Heart Church in Roslindale, Suffolk Co., Massachusetts.¹ He died on 19 August 2013 at Leominster Hospital in Leominster, Worcester Co., Massachusetts, at age 85.² He was buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Leominster, Worcester Co., Massachusetts.²
     He graduated from Crosby High School in Waterbury, New Haven Co., Connecticut. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1945, and was discharged three years later as a radarman third class. After his discharge he went back to school, graduating from the University of Montreal in 1953 with a bachelor's degree in church music, and from the University of Chicago in 1954 with a master's in music. From 1955 to 1956 he did post-graduate work at L'Institue Gregorien and at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. While in school he worked in the summers with the Von Trapp family singers in Stowe, Lamoille Co., Vermont.²
     In the 1950s he composed three versions of the Latin Catholic Mass, then composed the first English version, commissioned for the National Liturgical Conference in St. Louis, Missouri, and first sung in 1965 at St. Mary Church in Shrewsbury, Worcester Co., Massachusetts. He later composed three more English versions of the Mass.^2,3
     He was the music teacher and choir director at Thomas More Prep School in Harrisville, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire, from 1962 to 1966, and music lecturer at Clark University in Worcester, Worcester Co., Massachusetts, from 1966 to 1976. He also taught music in the Worcester public schools from 1971 to 1977, and was professor of music and choral director at Thomas More College in Merrimack, Hillsborough Co., New Hampshire, from 1981 to 1990.²
     In 1966, in collaboration with St. Paul's Cathedral, he founded St. Peter's Choir School at St. Peter's Elementary School in Worcester, serving as its director until 1971. He co-founded Trivium School in Lancaster, Worcester Co., in 1979, and served as its music teacher and choir director until 2008.
     He also served as organist and music director for several churches in Massachusetts, including Sacred Heart Church in Roslindale, Suffolk Co., First Unitarian Church of Worcester, and Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Winchendon, Worcester Co., and helped found the Pius X Guild of Church Organists.²
     He was the author of the textbook Perceptions in Music, as well as many articles on liturgical music, and helped edit sacred music for publication.²