Page 22 - MLD Book

of both rites that had served us well for a couple of years, assuming that when the new hymnal came out, we would have many good choices. Bottom line is that we continued to use mine, up until 2012, of course. Now occasionally during penitential seasons or if I ever get to sub, my setting is used. A good quote about the somewhat suspicious enthusiasm of exploring the hymnal was illustrated by someone who said, At the rate we are going, we will have sung all the hymns in the new book by the end of the year!! And another new thing that occupied our attention both inside and out was the completion of the new roof!! While many contributed to the cost of the roof, it was the generosity of Bill Galloway that put us over the top. Pun maybe?) Remember Bill was the one who left his entire house to Calvary as well, so we are doubly indebted to him. Also in that year, Beth Rudwell became Junior Choir director, and named them the SONGBIRDS. And Johann Sebastian Bach was celebrated throughout 1985 with many concerts marking the 300th anniversary of his birth. Some were at Calvary. Not only did I participate in all of the LBS productions, I also gave an organ recital in the U of L concert hall featuring music composed on the BACH theme (the four notes representing his name, of course). It was much fun researching all of the pieces written through the ages on this these, and I ended up with compositions by Bach himself, Schumann, Sorge, Pepping, Rheinberger, and a blockbuster fantasy by Max Reger that had chords for all ten fingers and both feet all at once! Even Andrew Adler, the hard to please CJ critic, liked that recital. Actually, Andrew was really a big fan of mine, creating sometimes an awkward situation because he wasn’t always that kind to Melvin! I still have his reviews when I need an ego boost.
That was the year, too, that Ben celebrated his 47th birthday, so I wrote a special little booklet totally about Iris Gray that incorporated many of the antics she amassed over the years. It was entitled THE CHRONICLE OF DAISY BLACK, and everybody’s name was changed to fit in, with DAISY being Iris, and Black being Gray. For example, Sandra Cherry was Mandy Grape, and Lucile Paris was Lucia Madrid and I was Peggy Peterson. Peterson derived from Tina Rapphold, who insisted on calling me Peterson instead of Dickinson, not sure she realized the sexual connotation of that! I presented the booklet to Ben at a party and made the whole group listen to the whole thing as he read it aloud. I think I enjoyed it more that the rest of them did, as they got tired of it before it was finished.
And finally, one Saturday in December of 1985, I was at Calvary getting ready for Sunday stuff when suddenly there were fire sirens right up close. I looked out the window, and the entire Unitarian Church was on fire, flames billowing high in the sky. I prayed for them and prayed that the sparks wouldn’t ignite Calvary. They didn’t. The beautiful Steiner organ would sink, melted, to the basement, and the church was a total loss. We helped them as much as we could with providing worship space and comfort. I remember to my astonishment that they had a candlelight service at Calvary in the afternoon of Christmas Eve. We lent our choir robes to their choir – except for Pat O’Hara’s as he said I’m so sorry they lost everything but don’t give them MY robe! I still am astonished that, after a fire, they would want to have a candlelight service, but maybe that’s like when somebody falls off a horse, they want to get right back up and ride.
1986
The dreadful fire did spark us at the beginning of 1986 to redo all our fire and security systems! 1986 also saw the firing of Julian Griffin, who had been the sexton at Calvary for the past eight years. I surmise they had to throw away one chair in the parish hall after he left, because it had to be worn out from his sitting in it so much! He was a very bright man who had no ambition whatsoever, for he could have held a good job anywhere. Instead,