Francine Chloë Stodt, of Lenexa, Kansas, died May 12, 2026 at Kansas City Hospice House in Kansas City, Missouri. Chloë (as she preferred) was born December 2, 1951 in Burlington, IA, to Leo Francis and Mary Ellen (Seipel) Stodt. Her parents, teachers, mentors, and best friends nurtured her faith, her love of nature, reading, and especially music, which became both her profession and vocation. After completing undergraduate (St. Ambrose, Davenport, 1974) and graduate (CU, Boulder, 1976 and Notre Dame, IN, 1978) degrees in choral music education, piano performance, and theology-liturgical studies, and with ongoing private organ studies, Chloë served music and faith communities in Stratford, Ontario (1978-80), the Greater Kansas City area (1980-84; 2011-present), and the IA-IL Quad Cities (1984-2011) as a choral conductor, organist, music program coordinator, music instructor, public radio announcer, and collaborative and solo pianist and organist. She received her doctoral degree (DMA, piano, UI, Iowa City) in 2003. Most recently she was Director of Music at Holy Trinity Catholic Parish, Lenexa KS, retiring in 2024.

As a music educator at elementary-college levels, Chloë shared her students’ delight in musical discovery, and helped them to navigate the joys and challenges of independent music-making. Her piano students consistently earned top ratings in Federation festivals and Guild auditions, with many making music an ongoing part of their lives. Her work as a church musician was grounded in the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), and their implementation within the late 20th- and early 21st-century liturgical movement. She considered her life, and the potential for more peoples’ lives, to be immeasurably enriched by the steadily emerging roles for increasingly active lay participation in the liturgy and in theological studies, and by the vision of the Church as the whole People of God, ordained and nonordained, being nudged by the Spirit toward more collaborative ministry. From her high school years, she also was invited to engage in ecumenical initiatives. Within this refreshing early post-conciliar era of interreligious dialogue, she studied and honored Catholic, mainline Protestant, and Jewish worship histories, theologies, rites, and norms, and mutually celebrated lasting friendships made within organizations and churches she served. Volunteer musicians under her guidance shared moments from the silly (“One of Those Songs” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” at socials) to the sublime (Lenten cantatas 1995-2005), expanding their abilities - at times surprising themselves - by exploring wider limits of each one’s talents. She loved searching out music that lifted ritual and scripture-based texts into communal sung prayer, helping others to recognize intentional connections between worship principles and practices, and balancing the baptismal call to servant leadership with the scriptural values of integrity, accountability, excellence, and beauty. Her own volunteer time was spent in various community music roles, working with AGO, NPM, and church colleagues in organizing guest performers, interfaith services, benefit concerts with neighborhood churches, and educational workshops by respected scholars, including timely presentations on the relationships between the broader (small “c” catholic) Church and contemporary culture. Over the years, the myriad multigenerational expressions of true gratitude she received attest that the good soil where seeds from her teaching fell yielded worthy fruits, among these being renewals of shared understandings, heightened musical sensitivity, consoled hearts, and more mindful faith.

When off-duty, she particularly enjoyed Quad-Cities Mississippi Riverfront activities (e.g., Freight House and Front Street), vintage folk and Irish session music, holiday fireworks, riding bike trails, attending concerts, musicals, movies, meals, farmers’ markets, and local art/craft/antiques fairs with friends, hunting the elusive morel mushroom (“They can hide but they can’t run”), Thanksgiving family visits, KCAGO dinner meetings, swimming, sewing, and tending to her kitty family. Chloë was a member of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy, American Guild of Organists (Greater Kansas City and Blackhawk Chapters), National Association of Pastoral Musicians (NPM), a Faculty Member of the American College of Musicians (National Guild of Piano Teachers), and a past member of the Quad Cities Music Teachers Association.

Survivors include two older brothers, Richard W. Stodt (Denver) and John A. Stodt (Salt Lake City), several cousins, lifelong high school and college best friends Sharon (Smith) Knotts (Merrimack, NH) and Becky (Chouteau) Pracht (Davenport, IA), and more wonderful friends including her extended music family. Chloë was especially grateful for the comprehensive and personalized care given by Advent Health Cancer Institute, KU Medical Center, and all of her healthcare providers, and the spiritual and corporal support of her Holy Trinity, AGO, and NPM circles during her survivorship journey after her cancer diagnosis on April 5, 2018. She was preceded in death by her parents. Online condolences may be shared with the family at www.porterfuneralhome.com.

All are invited to celebrate (and sing) the Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30am on Wednesday, May 20, 2026 at Holy Trinity Catholic Parish, 13615 W 92nd Street, Lenexa KS, with visitation preceding in the church lobby at 9:30am. Interment will follow later at Chippiannock Cemetery, Rock Island, IL. Those who wish to make a memorial gift are invited to contribute to the Youth Organ Scholarship Fund (Archdiocese of Omaha, c/o Controller – Finance Office, 2222 N 111th Street, Omaha, NE 68164), the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance (http://www.ocrahope.org/give), or a public radio station of choice.