Kirkwood church organ is going to Samoa...

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http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/kirkwood-church-organ-is-going-to-samoa/article_e50a438a-13e9-5fdd-ab78-933573cd62c1.html

19 hours ago  •  BY MARGARET GILLERMAN • mgillerman@post-dispatch.com > 314-725-6758

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Church donates organ to Samoa

KIRKWOOD • For more than half a century, the booming sound of the pipe organ at First Presbyterian Church of Kirkwood has reverberated to the rafters, filling the sanctuary with music.

Sunday will be the last service for the organ in Kirkwood. Later this month, the organ, which has 2,767 pipes, will be taken to a new home in Samoa in the south Pacific Ocean. There, in the capital city of Apia at the new Immaculate Conception of Mary Cathedral, it will bring music to worshippers whose church was irreparably damaged by an earthquake and tsunami in 2009. Nearly 180 people died in the tsunami on Samoa and nearby islands.

The departure of the organ "is hugely emotional ... and a spiritual journey," said the Rev. David Holyan. The organ "breathes with us. It sings with us. To think it's going to go halfway across the world to do the same somewhere else is a phenomenal thought."

First Presbyterian, at the corner of Kirkwood Road and Adams Avenue, will get a new organ next year.

Judy Roberts, a church elder and co-chair of its new organ committee with Alan Ritter, said that congregants of the Kirkwood church couldn't be happier at finding another church that needed an organ. The archbishop in Samoa is thrilled by the gift, she said.

On Monday, the gigantic organ will begin to be dismantled. First Presbyterian congregants and workers for Wicks Organ Co. in Highland will carry out the pipes, the oak console — which has four manual keyboards, 52 stops (knobs that pull out) and 45 ranks, as well as blowers and wind chests.

Wicks, a 106-year old company that custom-built the organ, will make updates at its Highland plant before sending it off. Wicks has been maintaining the organ since building it in 1957 and still has the original blueprints.

"It's going to be a perfect fit," said Mark Wick, president of Wicks.

The organ will travel by train to California and then across the Pacific Ocean on a Samoa Maritime Shipping Co. boat. It is due to arrive in Samoa in about a month, Wick said. A team from Wicks led by Alan McNeely will go to Samoa to install the organ in the new cathedral.

Wick put the church and Samoans together. The first contact was made when the Rev. Michael Adams of Samoa reached out to McNeely.

"The cathedral wanted a pipe organ but cannot afford a new one," Wick said.

To guard again future earthquakes and tsunamis, the new cathedral is being built of cast reinforced sculptured concrete. It will have an Italian marble floor and seat between 1,500 to 2,500 people.

Wicks also will provide First Presbyterian a temporary large electronic church organ at no cost until its new organ is built.

"The fact that they would do that for us and not charge us enabled us to go ahead with our project," Roberts said of Wicks.

First Presbyterian is buying a new $1.75 million pipe organ, Roberts said. Congregants already have pledged the money.

The new organ is being built by Casavant Frères Organ Co. of Canada. It will have 4,357 pipes, 61 stops, 76 ranks and three manuals, or keyboards.

But Sunday in Kirkwood, it's all about saying goodbye to the trusty old organ. Holyan plans to speak about the organ, and organist and music director Bill Stein will play the organ in the center of the altar area with the keyboard in clear view of the congregation.

At rehearsal Thursday, Holyan said, "I listened to the last piece today and had goosebumps." The final piece played on the organ in Kirkwood will be Toccata from Symphony No. 5 by Charles-Marie Widor.

Keeping with tradition, the new organ is due to be played for the first time on Christmas Eve 2013, just as the departing organ was first played on Christmas Eve 1957.

And the comments:

Silver Spring, Maryland
Dear Kirkwood Presbyterian Church, your beautiful organ will be a welcome addition to the historic and monumental Mulivai Cathedral in Apia, Samoa. It will aid the locals in their beautiful liturgies and worship of the Lord. As a native of nearby American Samoa, I can say that the Catholic Church in Independent Samoa will be truly grateful and appreciative of your show of solidarity, generosity, and unity with your brothers and sisters in Christ across the globe. God bless you all and may He replenish a thousand fold what you have spent in His Name. If you wish to follow the progress of the new Cathedral, you can visit their Facebook page for photos and information: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Immaculate-Conception-of-Mary-Cathedral/283951111702364.
Reply · 2 ·
· 6 hours ago

Washington University in St. Louis
Hope it makes it by the pirates.
Reply · 1 ·
· 11 hours ago

· Montcalm Community College
What a sweet blessing:)).
Reply · 1 ·
· 17 hours ago


I am sure an organ will help feed a lot of hungry children over there.
Reply ·
· 11 hours ago

  Southwest Missouri State University
    Man does not live by bread alone. The soul needs to be feed as well.
    Reply · 1 ·
    · 10 hours ago
    McCluer High School
    How many do you feed?
    Reply ·
    · 9 hours ago

    The gift of the organ frees up many resources for use by the Samoa congregation to reach out to the community and bring many more people to know the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
    Reply · 2 ·
    · 4 hours ago

    It's the thought that counts. Maybe the people in Samoa saw the "The Simpson's" episode that involved "In a Gadda da Vida". We can hope anyway...
    Reply ·
l
    Let alone saving their resources for the Catholic Charities that are notorious for helping the poor.
    Reply · 1 ·
    · 3 hours ago

Eric
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http://www.websterkirkwoodtimes.com/Articles-Features-i-2012-08-31-182263.114137-Organ-Donors.html

2012-08-31 tracking Features section
Organ Donors

First Presbyterian Church members disassemble 2,787 pipes from Wicks organ for shipment to cathedral in Samoa.

by Jaime Mowers


More than two dozen church members spent several days this week helping Wicks Organ Company crews remove 2,787 pipes from the sanctuary. The pipes - ranging from six inches to 16 feet - were carefully taken down and wrapped in slender cardboard boxes.

"It's pretty exciting," Judy Roberts, co-chair of the church's organ committee, said as crews worked packing the pipes. "We are getting a new organ because our present organ was built to last 50 or 60 years and it needs to be replaced. Our new organ is a top-of-the-line, world-class organ. It's a Casavant pipe organ from Quebec, Canada, but it will not be in until late next year."

After deciding on a new organ, the committee searched for someone interested in the old organ who would be willing to help disassemble it, she explained. That's when the president of Wicks Organ Company told the committee that Immaculate Conception of Mary Cathedral in Samoa was in need of an organ.

"There's a big Catholic cathedral in French Samoa that was damaged by a tsunami, so they tore it down and are building up from the bottom and they wanted a pipe organ," Roberts said. "Our organ will be the only pipe organ on the island, so that will be really neat."

It may not arrive there for quite some time, though. The organ will first go back to Wicks Organ Company in Illinois before being put on a train to the West Coast. Once there, it will be shipped overseas, Roberts said, noting the shipping company has donated the costs to ship it.

Immaculate Conception in Samoa would like to have the organ installed by December, Roberts said.

   
Disassembling the organ and packing up its components for shipment to Samoa took church volunteers several days. photo by Diana Linsley (click for larger version)
Bill Stein, director of music ministries at First Presbyterian Church, said he's thrilled their organ has found a new home.

"We didn't want it to end up in the garbage, which is frankly what happens to a lot of these old organs," he said.

Stein, who has played First Presbyterian's organ during his past six years as the church's music director, said it had a "grand sound that filled the space beautifully," but the congregation needed something "larger, with more color and versatility."

With 4,300 pipes, the new organ will be larger. Pipes will not only grace both sides of the sanctuary, but on the back wall as well, Stein explained.

"It will have a lot more variety of sound," he said.

Marcia Ritter, longtime church choir member, said she's looking forward to hearing the new organ.

"The committee members who went to hear an organ like the one we're getting said the sound was so beautiful it brought people to tears," she said.

Wicks Organ Company will provide the church with a temporary organ at no cost until the new organ arrives next fall. It's slated to arrive in October 2013.

"We plan to play it for the first time on Christmas Eve next year," Roberts said. "Our old one was played for the first time on Christmas Eve in 1957, so we want to keep with the tradition."

Read more: http://www.websterkirkwoodtimes.com/Articles-Features-i-2012-08-31-182263.114137-Organ-Donors.html#ixzz26xJD0yT7

Eric
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