Page 66 - MLD Book

Weaver’s funeral with Bob, and he insisted that Melvin and I go through with that! So we agreed to do the music for the funeral the following Saturday,, since we had been U of L colleagues for many years as well as their both singing in Calvary choir. I remember being assigned a practice time, with Larry Frederiksen representing the vestry police by sitting in the kitchen supervising me so I wouldn’t steal anything. The choir came to sing for the funeral, 32 of them, and it was a very emotional time. I was told by Erdman that if other people died who wanted me, I would be allowed to come back and play! Over the ensuing years, that has happened quite often. Today if that happens, its usually for free, but if I get anything, I give it to Shawn, as Erdman had instituted a thing called a bench fee that was originally designed to protect ME from outside organists. (That has since been rescinded.) The word thanks has not been included in his vocabulary, as he considers it his right to get myfee.
It took a while to adjust to not being at Calvary, especially on Sunday mornings, but more especially during the week, where I had done so much with the food ministry. Remember all the complaining about me doing too much? They made Katherine be in charge of outreach, and she soon realized she was not able to do all I did, so she adopted the “hire it done” attitude that is so counter to my philosophy of including everybody in the process and making them feel worthwhile. She hired a guy at $10 an hour to pack food bags and bag chickens!!!! They lost a number of volunteers in protest, but some did stay on at my urging, Melvin and I tried hard to find another church. We even tried being Lutheran! It was too much of a spectacle, however, because we had to deal with the wheelchair and also with people who tried to overwhelm us with how much they wanted us to join their church. So we ended up not going, except on Christmas Day I snuck into the balcony at Calvary just because I needed to. And so ended 2012, with the true story finally being written down here Of course, the Melvin in the chancel situation had triggered my demise, but there was still an underlying clergy jealousy about my connection with so many parishioners, this beginning with Polk and continuing under the surface all the way through the next decade. Some of that was perpetuated by the Diocese, I must say. Altogether the 2001-2012 years were not the best of my 48, although I still loved my job, for the most part!!
2013
The Bach lectures continued to occupy our attention and rescue us from ordinary house confinement, and Opus 12 took place to kick off 2013 on January 8. By this time, we were nearing the end of most of the major Bach organ works and starting to think about presenting other composers in the ensuing lectures. With the great success of the lectures to this point, nobody wanted to stop doing them! So please notice as you read the schedule of what we presented, that Herr Buxtehude enters the stage in May, and then a parade of
worthy (in our opinion) composers follows through 2013. Here’s the list:
OPUS12 January8 SchueblerSix,CanonicVariations,MusicalOfferingRicercari Performers: Margaret Dickinson, Glenna Metcalfe, Theresa Bauer,
Lisa Lewis, Timothy Baker,
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OPUS 13 February 12 The Art of Fugue, Part One
Margaret Dickinson is the lecturer, explanation follows later! Performers: Margaret Dickinson and friends
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NOTE THAT THERE WAS NO LECTURE IN MARCH
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OPUS 14 April 9 The Art of Fugue, Part 1