From the OHS PC Database, derived from A Guide to North American Organbuilders, by David H. Fox (Richmond, Va.: Organ Historical Society, 1991). —

Robert L. Sipe was born in 1940 in Dallas, Texas. He began doing organ maintenance and rebuilding while a student at Baylor University, in Waco, Texas, (1956-1959). He was a partner with J. Rodney Yarbrough in the firm Sipe-Yarbrough of Dallas, Texas, 1960-1964; the firm continued as Robert L. Sipe, Inc., 1965-1968. He was a representative of Aeolian-Skinner firm of Boston, Massachusetts, in Texas, 1968; then accepted an offer to become president and tonal director of the Aeolian-Skinner Company of Randolph, Massachusetts, in 1969. He served as vice president, technical and artistic director at Aeolian-Skinner, 1970-c. 1972. After Aeolian-Skinner closed in 1972, he returned to Texas and re-established his own firm there; active 1989.*

Staff: Storey Clamp.

*Firm is active at last update, December, 2016. —Ed.

Source:

• Uwe Pape, The Tracker Organ Revival in America, (Berlin: Pape Verlag, 1978), 413.

From the OHS PC Database —

After the partnership of Sipes-Yarbough ended, Robert Sipes established his own firm as Robert L. Sipes, Inc. in Dallas, Texas in 1965. He began representing Aeolian-Skinner in Texas in 1968. By 1969 he had accepted an offer with Aeolian-Skinner and closed his Texas firm to move to Randolph, Massachusetts. When Aeolian-Skinner closed in 1972, he returned to Texas and re-established his own firm under the previous name. The firm is active as of 2015.

From the Robert L. Sipe Inc. website, accessed Oct 31, 2015 —

Robert Sipe builds organs "advocating a return to 17th and 18th-century design concepts. Among these principles are low wind pressure, slider wind chests, mechanical key action, the integrity of each separate division housed in the main organ case, and the case itself 'standing high and free...' Following this classical design appropriate to the traditional polyphonic literature for the organ, Sipe organs also incorporate certain modifications to meet requirements of many 19th and 20th-century compositions"