Page 7 - MLD Book

to begin each concert. That did not go over well as the first prayers kept growing into extended Evening Prayers lasting more than 15 minutes, and so on October 18, 1965, the vestry moved that the LBS accept Fr. Allan Bartlett’s invitation to move to Christ Church Cathedral. There the LBS remained until Dean Wolf decided we were no longer welcome. No music lover, she subsequently sold their historic organ, maybe out of jealousy because it was a greater attraction than she was! (Wide speculation to that end was made). With that dismissal, Fr. Ben Sanders graciously invited us to return to Calvary. (Ben actually sang in the LBS for a while himself.)
One of the many enticing aspects of my move to Calvary was that a contract for a brand new pipe organ had been signed with the Casavant Freres Organ Company on November 6, 1963. This time, I didn’t have to convince an organ committee that the church needed a new organ. I had to do that at Indianola Presbyterian back in 1961, and again at Good Shepherd in 1963. Both were ultimately successful, but neither time was I still around to reap the benefits of playing a brand new instrument. Thus, I was thrilled to inherit a new one in my new dream church. The organ drive had been spearheaded by the first woman stockbroker in Louisville (or so I was told), Ora Ferguson. She had started the organ fund with a generous contribution of Winn-Dixie grocery stock, and ultimately the full amount of the cost, $45,705, was raised. On my very first Sunday at Calvary, I played a landmark Hook and Hastings organ that was finally on its last breath, having been donated by Llewelyn Smith in 1903 to honor his wife, Ethel Crippen Smith. I played this organ for a couple of months, and then it was dismantled to allow for the construction of the new organ in the same spot. I don’t know where the organ went or if it were totally dismantled, but there were a few pipes floating around for a time. In the interim period, the choir and I were lifted to the balcony and an electronic “organ” was temporarily installed. Never a fan of any “electronic device,” as Melvin always insisted on calling all of them, I remember being amused at the
17, 1965. In a strange coincidence, that is the exact same day that our second daughter, Michelle Dickinson, came into this world. I still have a vision of Mr. Waterhouse leaning over
various sounds that instrument would emit. The funniest thing about this “organ” was that, being up high in the Calvary balcony, it picked up the frequency of the WLRS radio station that was housed on the 28th floor of the 800 building across the street. My most vivid memory of contending with this electronic device was Christmas Eve 1964, when suddenly in the middle of the service, “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer” came blaring out of the speaker! I am NOT making that up!
Thankfully the tenure of this “organ” was relatively fleeting, although it seemed forever to me. The new organ was delivered to Calvary on February
this