Loryne H. Koebele, 85, of Arlington, died on October 12, 2012, following a brief illness.

Miss Koebele was born in Cambridge to the late Frank J. and Elsa (Schulz) Koebele. She was raised in Belmont and was a member of the Class of 1945, at Belmont High School. She continued her education at Boston University where she received her BA in 1949.

Miss Koebele was a long-time member of the First Lutheran Church of Boston. She was also very active with the Association of Lutheran Young People (ALYP), particularly through creating a "Messiah" concert every December at First Lutheran for several decades, long beyond the "young people" category!

Her lifelong career was as a church musician. She initially was at the Christ Lutheran Church in Belmont and later served at Centenary Methodist Church in Auburndale, First Presbyterian Church in Brookline and then became the Minister of Music at The First Church of Christ, Congregational in Bedford, serving there thirty-five years.

Miss Koebele was well known for her dedication and devotion to the Ecumenical Choir Festival as Founder and Director. That "Service of Ecumenical Song" created an inspiring experience for choir members of churches all over eastern Massachusetts in Massachusetts for forty-seven years. Singers had an opportunity to be part of a several-hundred-voice choir accompanied by organ, brass, and handbells.

A firm believer that anyone could learn to sing, Miss Koebele nurtured the stage experience of hundreds of children and youth, providing them with the chance to grow in confidence and skill onstage in Christmas plays and pageants and spring musicals at First Church. For some families this became an intergenerational adventure as children of her earliest choristers began to sing in choir and perform in the musicals. Several of her actors and singers went on to distinguish themselves in middle school and high school productions.

Miss Koebele was also a supporter of the Bedford community, fostering the singing of adults in the Bedford Choral Society for decades. Her concerts ranged from classical to holiday to theme-inspired, such as the Salute to the Bedford Flag. She helped recruit singers for the Christmas tree lighting for several years, brought music to Ashby Place and Carleton Willard Village, and even appeared with some of her choir kids in costumes on a Bedford Day parade float. She was an honorary member of the Bedford Center for the Arts.

Inspired by St. Francis of Assisi's original living crèche, she recruited Butch Card to build a sturdy stable and small fenced area to place in front of First Church to be filled with some animals and some very hardy young people in costume each Christmas Eve. This became a well-known and visited site for many folks in Bedford as part of their Christmas celebrations.

A memorial service will be held at The First Church of Christ, Congregational, in Bedford, 25 The Great Road, on Sunday, October 21, at 2:00 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Bedford Community Table/ Pantry, Inc.,12 Mudge Way, Bedford, MA 01730 or to the American Cancer Society, 30 Speen St., Framingham, MA 01701