Moonyeen Cecelia Albrecht

1936 - 2020

Moonyeen Cecelia Albrecht, née Brown, 84, of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, died peacefully under hospice care on Friday, October 9, 2020. She was born in Chicago, IL, on March 31, 1936. She is preceded in death by her parents, Cecilia and Wayne Brown, and ex-husband, close friend, and father to her children, George Albrecht. Moonyeen earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Mundelein College in Chicago and Master of Music in Theory and Composition and Doctor of Music in Composition degrees from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. She was a contemporary classical composer who had dual professions: Church Musician and College Professor. Her professional Church Music career began at St. Athanasius Church in Evanston, IL, in 1957 when she accepted the position of organist and choir director, which she held for six years during her graduate studies. This 62- year career ended in July 2019 when she retired from her organ position at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Mt. Pleasant. In the intervening years she composed many compositions for choir, organ, songs, chamber music, and liturgical music composed for two bishops’ Installation Masses. Her compositions for Flute and Organ have been broadcast on PBS’ Pipedreams several times. Her music has also been published by Concordia Publishers, Selah Publishers, The World Library of Sacred Music, and St. James’ Music Press. Her music has been performed throughout the United States and internationally in Norway and Russia. By the age of five, Moonyeen knew she wanted to be a teacher. Her 37-year teaching career began when she became an Instructor of Music Theory at Central Michigan University (CMU) in 1963. She ascended through the ranks to Full Professor and also earned four Full Professor Merit Awards, as well as a Merit Award in Professional Development for her studies of Russian music and language. While at CMU she taught freshman music theory, counterpoint, aural skills, form and analysis, and composition. She co-developed and co-taught two new courses at CMU: "Music Theory for Non-Music Majors” and “Music of Christian Liturgy.” Passions for church music, theory, and composition were joined by two additional passions. Since she was a young child, she was fascinated and bewitched by Russian music, opera, and language. It was always a major influence in her life, and finally in 1995 she was able to make her first trip to St. Petersburg, Russia. The trip re-stimulated her interest in the language and she was finally able to study Russian at both CMU and Michigan State University, where she was initiated into the National Slavic Honor Society, Dobro Slovo. This led to numerous adventures abroad in many parts of the world. She is listed in the “World’s Most Traveled People”, an extreme travel club. Her second and most recent passion was working with stained glass. What started as a hobby in 1990 eventually developed into a one-person business: “Visions in Glass.” For many years she traveled throughout the region, participating in art and craft shows, as well as creating many works of art on consignment. Despite her prognosis earlier this year, she sold previously created stained glass pieces to individuals residing and working at Green Acres Assisted Living Facility in Mt. Pleasant, MI, and donated more than $1,000 in proceeds to local hospice programs. However, the shining achievement of her lifetime is her three children who survive her: Elise Bur (John) of Marquette, Michigan; David Albrecht (Richelle) of Chicago, Illinois; and Karl Albrecht (Charlene Young) of Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is also survived by grandson Bryan Bur and two great grandchildren. In honor of Moonyeen’s wishes, arrangements will take place in 2021 once everyone is able to congregate and celebrate her life. Memorial donations may be made to either Mid-Michigan Home Care, at: https://midmichigan.org/donations or the American Cancer Society, https://www.cancer.org/involved/donate/memorial-giving.html