Lucienne G. Biggs, Organist, Teacher

Lucienne Gourdon Biggs, an internationally known organist and teacher of liturgical music, died last Saturday in her Hollywood home after a series of illnesses. She was 88.

The French native was the youngest lecturer at the Sorbonne, and there she met her husband, organist and composer-conductor Richard Keys Biggs.

She married Biggs shortly after World War I and moved with him to the United States, where she bore 11 children while touring with her husband and teaching such well-known musicians as Roger Wagner. She also established and conducted choirs at many Southland churches, including Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Hollywood, where her husband, who died in 1962, played a 5,000-pipe organ.

Mrs. Biggs also was a consultant on Gregorian Chants to many motion picture and TV studios, helped arrange the background music for such films as “The Great Caruso” and “Blossoms in the Dust” and sang on the French sound tracks of several Walt Disney features.

She was a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and taught at Catholic schools in Burbank and Studio City for 25 years.

In 1970 Pope Paul VI awarded her the Benemerenti for her service to her faith.

She is survived by 10 of her children, 36 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren and one great-great granddaughter.