Mary Bittner

Mary Bittner was a native of Pennsylvania and received a B.S. in music education from Penn State University. She taught piano, organ, clarinet, and school music, and also served as music director and/or organist in Baptist, United Methodist, and Presbyterian churches and a U.S. Air Force Base Protestant chapel. In 1991 she became organist at Knox Presbyterian Church in Naperville, IL. She was an active member of the Naperville chapter of the Illinois State Music Teachers Association, and honored as Member of the year in 1998. She also participated in recitals and activities of the Fox Valley chapter of the American Guild of Organists. She began writing hymns in 1990 while enrolled in a church music degree program at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. She received her Master of Theological Studies in church music in 1993, the same year she began attending hymn writing workshops and conferences of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. Mary died from cancer in 2007.

Source: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailyherald/obituary.aspx?pid=93934328