Person Results

E. O. Excell

1851 - 1921 Person Name: Edwin O. Excell Composer of "[Jesus wants me for a sunbeam]" in Timeless Truths Edwin Othello Excel USA 1851-1921. Born at Uniontown, OH, he started working as a bricklayer and plasterer. He loved music and went to Chicago to study it under George Root. He married Eliza Jane “Jennie” Bell in 1871. They had a son, William, in 1874. A member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he became a prominent publisher, composer, song leader, and singer of music for church, Sunday school, and evangelistic meetings. He founded singing schools at various locations in the country and worked with evangelist, Sam Jones, as his song leader for two decades. He established a music publishing house in Chicago and authored or composed over 2,000 gospel songs. While assisting Gypsy Smith in an evangelistic campaign in Louisville, KY, he became ill, and died in Chicago, IL. He published 15 gospel music books between 1882-1925. He left an estate valued at $300,000. John Perry

Don Hustad

1918 - 2013 Person Name: Donald P. Hustad, b. 1918 Arranger of "[Jesus wants me for a sunbeam]" in Worship and Service Hymnal

L. O. Sanderson

1901 - 1992 Person Name: Lloyd O. Sanderson, 1901-1992 Arranger of "I'll Be a Sunbeam" in Sacred Songs of the Church See also Vana R. Raye (pseudonym). ================== Lloyd Otis Sanderson was born May 18, 1901 near Jonesboro, Arkansas. His father was a singing teacher. There were a variety of musical instruments in the home, so all of his children learned to sing and play instruments from early in life. He studied and taught music most of early teens and twenties and then began to serve churches for Churches of Christ. Among Churches of Christ, L.O Sanderson is one of a handful of significant individuals who helped to codify the hymnody of this denomination in the early and mid 20th century. Dozens of his songs remain at the core of this group’s hymnody. As Musical Editor for the Gospel Advocate Company of Nashville during the hymnal heyday of the mid 20th century, Sanderson was responsible not only for the editing of a number of important hymnals, but for helping to shape the church’s song. He composed a number under the pen name of Vana Raye in tribute to his wife. As a composer of both lyrics and music, Sanderson collaborated with a number of individuals, the most notable being his friend, Thomas O. Chisholm, with whom he wrote “Be With Me, Lord,” perhaps his most popular hymn. Dianne Shapiro, from Sanderson's autobiography (http://www.therestorationmovement.com/_states/tennessee/sanderson.htm) and D. J. Bulls

Nellie Talbot

Author of "I'll Be a Sunbeam" in Timeless Truths

C. L. Naylor

1869 - 1945 Arranger of "SUNBEAM" in The New Canadian Hymnal

Speros Demetrios Athans

1883 - 1969 Person Name: Sr. S. D. Athans Translator of "Nítido Rayo Por Cristo" in Cantos Infantiles para La Escuela Sabática 1 Speros Demetrios Athans was born 1883 in Turkey. Raised in the Greek Orthodox Church, Athans left home at age 15, after his father’s death. He spent two years on the island of Corfu, Greece, and two more in Egypt, then went to Great Britain, where he worked as a sailor. In 1903 he went to America, and during immigration processing, someone gave him a New Testament in Greek. A year later, he joined a Nazarene church in Chicago, Illinois. He then enrolled in a Bible school and university. While in school in California, he began to study Spanish and to work with the Latino community. In 1910 he decided to work in evangelism. In 1931, he joined the Methodist missionary work in Latin America, retiring in 1949. © The Cyber Hymnal™ (hymntime.com/tch)