08/23/2026
Rev. Allan Sandlin
August 25, 1952 – August 7, 2026
The Rev. Allan Sandlin, priest, musician, and teacher, died in Atlanta, Georgia, on August 7, 2026, at the age of 73. He was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on August 25, 1952 and, though he came to love Maine and New Mexico deeply over the course of his life, his wife liked to remind him that he remained, inescapably, a Texan.
Before he was a priest, Allan was a musician. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in music from the State University of New York at Buffalo and then studied harmony, viola, and solfège at the Ecoles d'Art Americaines in Fontainebleau, France, under the legendary Nadia Boulanger. He went on to earn a Master of Music, summa cm laude, from Hardin-Simmons University. As a professional violist, he was a founding member of the Dakota String Quartet, studying principally with Emanuel Vardi, Heidi Castleman, and Martha Strongin Katz, and working in chamber music with Robert Levin and Benjamin Zander at the Castleman Quartet Program, where he later served as Dean of Students. He also coached chamber music with members of the Budapest, Juilliard, and Cleveland Quartets. Later, he taught New Testament and directed the String Quartet Program at the Westminster Schools in Atlanta.
Allan's path from music to ministry led him to the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, where he was a Woodruff Fellow and earned his Master of Divinity, magna cm laude, in 1989. He would remain deeply connected to Candler for the rest of his life, later serving as adjunct faculty teaching liturgy and receiving Candler's Distinguished Alumni Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2016.
Ordained an Episcopal priest, Allan served congregations across two countries over a ministry spanning more than three decades: St. Luke's Episcopal Church, St. Francis by the Sea Episcopal Church, Holy Trinity Parish, Chaplain to Agnes Scott College, and St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Georgia and Maine, and the Episcopal Church of Christ the King in Frankfurt, Germany; and, in his later years, as an Interim Rector serving congregations in transition, including St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church and St. Martin in the Fields in Atlanta, Church of the Ascension in Munich, Germany, and St. Francis by the Sea Episcopal Church in Blue Hill, Maine.
Wherever he served, Allan brought together his two great loves - music and liturgy - believing deeply in the power of both to connect people to God and to one another in the most significant moments of their lives. A classically trained violist, pianist, and tenor, he sang for many years with the Meridian Chorale and delighted in playing chamber music with friends.
Allan was also a tireless advocate for causes he believed in. A strong opponent of the death penalty, he made regular visits to Georgia's Death Row for more than a decade, including assisting with monthly Eucharist, and served on the board of New Hope House. He led mission work with the Diocese of Haiti, with a particular devotion to Holy Trinity Music School in Port-au-Prince, and ministered to women and men deported from the United States to Germany during his years in Frankfurt. An avid traveler, he led pilgrimages to the Holy Land, the Middle East, and Greece. Within the Episcopal Church, he served twice as a Deputy to General Convention, chairing the deputation of the Churches in Europe in 2006, and served his home Diocese of Atlanta on the Commission on Ministry and as Vice Chair of the Nominating Committee for the 10th Bishop of Atlanta.
Allan never lost his musician's ear or his teacher's heart, mentoring students and clergy alike throughout his career.
He is survived by his wife, Gretchen Nagy; his children, Thomas Sandlin and Elizabeth Sandlin; his brothers, Mark Sandlin and Woody Sandlin; and a loving extended family spanning several generations and many places.
A funeral service will be held here at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in Atlanta, Georgia, at 2:00 PM, on September 28, 2026. A memorial service will also be held in the summer of 2027, at St. Francis by the Sea Episcopal Church in Blue Hill, Maine.
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church in Atlanta, St. Francis by the Sea Episcopal Church in Blue Hill, Maine, or the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta.
Rest eternal grant to him, O Lord,
and let light perpetual shine upon him. Amen.
