Page 11 - MLD Book

confided it to me shortly before Frannie died. Retirement was the reason given. Sound familiar? Not a pretty ending, nor would it be the last person to be treated in that manner.
1973
In 1973, Mr. Watercloset finally attained his and Bea’s lifelong dream – RETIREMENT and thus began the reign of Louis Emmanuel Hemmers. Being a former radio showman and recognizing what the potential was for music at Calvary to bring in more people, he gave me full sail ahead. He was not a musician, and thankfully did not pretend to know all about music as some priests do. His ego did allow the experts to do their thing, much to his credit. He dubbed me WBO (World’s Best Organist) and I dubbed him in return SP, (Super
Priest). We got along super well. We still keep in touch, especially with our dollar bet on the annual OSU- Michigan football game. He injected new life into a parish that had mostly gone to sleep, and it was exciting to be a part of that.
1974-1980
In 1974, a big tornado hit Louisville, and many people lost their dwelling places. By this time, Hank and Georgine Buckwalter were members of the choir – Hank was the
choral director at the University of Louisville and they were both graduates of Westminster Choir School. Georgine pitched in full throttle to aid those who had been displaced in the tornado, especially the aforementioned Palfreys (she was the one who threw candy during the sermon, remember?), and through this ministry, Georgine felt the call to full time ministry through ordination. She knew she wanted to minister to older people, and after ordination (even an eventual doctorate), she became a nursing home chaplain, eventually landing in that capacity at the Episcopal Church Home, where she stayed until her retirement. She no longer had time to sing in the Calvary choir, but Hank remained for a while and actually, after he and Georgine divorced, he met Joy (another choir member). Subsequently they were married! Choir has a way of doing that to (for?) people! Over the years in both Bach Society and Calvary, a number of singers tied the knot. We performed Bach’s Cantata 196, written for a wedding, many times at Calvary and elsewhere. Not all stayed hitched, but most did. Not the fault of Bach.
The school year 1974-75 brought many changes to a number of Calvary people, including the Dickinsons. It was the very first year of busing and Michelle was bussed to Whitney Young Elementary, way down at 35th Street in west Louisville. To get there, she had to take a bus to Hawthorne Elementary first, then transfer to a second bus at a different location, then transfer again at Central, I think, for the last leg to Whitney Young. The odds of that complicated transport working well for three there and then three back were totally against us. Something was always going wrong. Even though she was very level headed, she was