Organist

SMITHSBURG - One Sunday morning in early July, Betty Eckstine showed up at St. Paul's United Methodist Church as always to play the organ for the 9:30 a.m. service. All she knew was that the hymns of Charles Wesley were going to be featured that Sunday on the occasion of the birth 300 years ago of that church leader. What she didn't know was that she, too, was being recognized - for her 50 years at the keyboard. "We only realized it had been 50 years because Betty had said something to someone," said the Rev. Mark Mooney, pastor of the church.

HANCOCK - Take it from Gwynne Cavey, if you want your Sunday mornings free, don't become a church organist. Cavey didn't listen to that advice years ago when she embarked on her musical odyssey. She recently was honored at St. Thomas' Episcopal Church for her 20 years as minister of music there. "I was introduced to music by my mother and my sister was my first piano teacher," Cavey said. That was in Howard County, Md., and while she admitted not liking to practice, she followed through for a number of reasons.

andreabh@herald-mail.com Marge Peacher doesn't read Hebrew, but she expresses the emotional meaning of Jewish prayers in a language she knows well - music. She's Episcopalian, but she has taken part in Jewish worship services at a Hagerstown synagogue every Friday evening for the past 20 years. Peacher, 83, is at home behind the small organ in the balcony at Congregation B'nai Abraham. The Star of David crowning a stained glass window flanks Peacher to her left as she uses her hands and feet to create sacred melodies for the worshippers in the pews below.

HAGERSTOWN -- First hired as organist at Washington Square United Methodist Church in 1951, Catherine "Katie" Stevens retired for a while. But she returned in 2000. "I said I'd stay until they found someone else, and I'm still here," Katie said. And she's not complaining. Looking ahead to her 94th birthday March 13, Katie said she enjoys playing and contributing to her church. "I love what I do," she said on a recent morning as she arrived at the church to practice for the coming Sunday.

By KIMBERLY YAKOWSKI / Staff Writer photo: RIC DUGAN / staff photographer Mark B. King's earliest memories are of voices raised in song and the strains of the violin and piano. [cont. from front page ] It was through the influence of his musician parents and grandparents that he developed a love for organ music, and turned that love into a career. As the minister of music and the parish organist for St. John's Episcopal Church at 101 S. Prospect St., King performs regularly for a Hagerstown audience.

Christ Reformed Church , UCC, Shepherdstown, W.Va., will observe the Feast of Epiphany on Friday with a 6 p.m. High Tea (supper) followed by candlelight vespers at 7 p.m. The musical service of vespers will feature internationally acclaimed organist Dorothy Papadakos. The meal and service are free, although a free will offering will be accepted.

Charlotte Cora Decker, 94, of 100 S. Mont Valla Ave., Hagerstown, Md., passed away, Tuesday, April 19, 2011, at the Williamsport Retirement Village, Williamsport. Born Wednesday, Jan. 10, 1917, in Hagerstown, she was the daughter of the late Bernard Seitz Irvine and the late Mary Ellen Keefer Irvine. She graduated from Hagerstown High School in 1934. She was a crossing guard in Hagerstown for 15 years. She was employed with Hagerstown Dry Cleaners for 17 years. She was also an organist at First Christian Science Church for 33 years and assistant organist at St. Mark's Lutheran Church for 14 years.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com MERCERSBURG, Pa. - Members of the Presbyterian Church of the Upper West Conococheague celebrated the preservation of a piece of the church's past Sunday with the rededication of its organ. The 1959 Tellers organ was out of commission for six weeks while the Lawless-Johnson Organ Co. of Greencastle, Pa., repaired and refurbished it, said church organist Anna Belle Meyers. "We've preserved the past, present and future," Meyers said. Members of the West Seminary Street church celebrated the organ's repair during a service Sunday afternoon, which featured music played by Meyers and several other local organists.

Editor's note: Each Sunday, The Herald-Mail publishes "A Life Remembered. " This continuing series takes a look back -- through the eyes of family, friends, co-workers and others -- at a member of the community who died recently. Today's "A Life Remembered" is about Donald M. Gillett, who died April 3 at the age of 90. His obituary was published in the April 5 edition of The Herald-Mail. Craig Doyle, who now is owner of the Hagerstown Organ Co., said he was a high school senior when he first met Don Gillett in New Jersey.

With Catherine “Katie” Stevens' 99th birthday behind her, the calendar is closing in on her centennial birthday. March 13 marked the last birthday Stevens's age could be counted in double digits. She said she received many floral arrangements, more than 50 cards and was still scheduling lunch dates to celebrate with friends. Stevens still lives independently, occasionally drives, flies annually to visit her granddaughter in Florida  and plays the organ at her church, Washington Square United Methodist in Hagerstown.

Organ music is typically reserved for Sunday worship. But members of the Chambersburg Chapter of the American Guild of Organists gave the often misunderstood instrument a chance to show off its versatility at “Pipes Spectacular.” Area organists Tim Wertime, Carolyn Kerlin, Kyunghee Reed, Miriam Meglan, Helen Wingert, Gloria Massa, Kathy Ott and John Angle performed hand-selected pieces on the pipe organ at Zion Reformed Church UCC in Chambersburg...

Christ Reformed Church , UCC, Shepherdstown, W.Va., will observe the Feast of Epiphany on Friday with a 6 p.m. High Tea (supper) followed by candlelight vespers at 7 p.m. The musical service of vespers will feature internationally acclaimed organist Dorothy Papadakos. The meal and service are free, although a free will offering will be accepted.

Catherine Marie Reese Hoffman Newcomer, 82, of Edgemont Road, Edgemont, Md., passed away at 8:45 a.m.  Dec. 27, 2011, at her home. She was born on Boonsboro Mountain Road,  Boonsboro, on Oct. 30, 1929, the daughter of the late James R. Reese Sr. and Marie Foreman Reese of Boonsboro. She was a member of First Christian Church in Boonsboro during her childhood. At age 12, she claimed Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior, and was baptized into the church and later became a member of Beaver Creek Christian Church, where she served as church organist.

Organist Jim Powers will play Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. at Pen Mar Park as the summer concert series continues. Smithsburg senior site Smithsburg senior site calendar: Today — Bingo, 10 a.m. Friday — Dominoes, 10 a.m. Monday, July 18 — Poetry readings and word search, 10 a.m. Vacation Bible school "Pandamania! Where God's Word about you!" is the topic of this week's vacation Bible school at Ringgold Church of Christ, 14420 Barkdoll Road.

Charlotte Cora Decker, 94, of 100 S. Mont Valla Ave., Hagerstown, Md., passed away, Tuesday, April 19, 2011, at the Williamsport Retirement Village, Williamsport. Born Wednesday, Jan. 10, 1917, in Hagerstown, she was the daughter of the late Bernard Seitz Irvine and the late Mary Ellen Keefer Irvine. She graduated from Hagerstown High School in 1934. She was a crossing guard in Hagerstown for 15 years. She was employed with Hagerstown Dry Cleaners for 17 years. She was also an organist at First Christian Science Church for 33 years and assistant organist at St. Mark's Lutheran Church for 14 years.

Jonathan Giblin has been named organist and director of music at John Wesley United Methodist Church at 129 N. Potomac St. in Hagerstown. He succeeds Ken Stoops, who retired in December. Giblin, a native of Connecticut, received a bachelor's degree in music education from the University of Connecticut and a master's degree in organ from the University of Cincinnati. He is pursuing a doctorate in organ performance from the Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.

“Why do people try to keep blaming all the American people when someone gets shot or wounded by a gunman? ... But to try to get everyone to stop complaining about the conditions in this country and the need to fix it by blaming a senator’s and others’ death and wounding on it is political speak. Keep the masses quiet, don’t solve the problem. The problem is we are overextended, we need to tend to our own house. Sorry to complain. God bless those that were killed or wounded.

Editor's note: Each Sunday, The Herald-Mail publishes "A Life Remembered. " This continuing series takes a look back -- through the eyes of family, friends, co-workers and others -- at a member of the community who died recently. Today's "A Life Remembered" is about Donald M. Gillett, who died April 3 at the age of 90. His obituary was published in the April 5 edition of The Herald-Mail. Craig Doyle, who now is owner of the Hagerstown Organ Co., said he was a high school senior when he first met Don Gillett in New Jersey.