WOW! This thread has gone far beyond what I could have imagined to draw the organ interests out of our OGR Community participants. As the thread originally focused on the roles of our wives, let me take a slight right turn here and share a piece I wrote some time ago for my organ world colleagues.
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One of my favorite concert organists was the late Dr. John Weaver who was Organist/Choirmaster at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in NYC. John was a big time Lionel aficionado who requested that his Session of Elders allow him to build a layout around the four walls of his approximately 20â by 20â choir office at the church. This apparently left just enough room for his desk and file cabinet in the center.
My late very good friend Josef K. Lesser, author of a Kalmbach published book on layout realism got wind of Johnâs train interest. Next time visiting NYC, Joe went to see Johnâs layout. The two men got around to the phenomenon of the dual interest in pipe organs and trains held by so many (including Joe himself) in our hobby community. Dr. John shared that this very phenomenon was currently the subject of a doctoral dissertation by a Boston University grad student working on her Ph.D.
When Joe returned and shared this, I howled - âPh.D. Dissertation? She donât need no 200 page dissertation to unravel that!!!â
âWhat do you mean?â Joe responded.
âI can give it to you in one sentenceâ I countered. âItâs a preoccupation with things BIG, LOUD, and most importantly EXPENSIVE!!!â
You need look no further than our own OGRâs fearless leader, Rich Melvin. On a Saturday morning many years ago, I called Rich to order the Fort Wayne Societyâs MTH NKP 769 fund raiser locomotive. Now the NKP Berkshire was my sonâs favorite prototype locomotive. He had just completed his Masterâs Degree, and the O Gauge model would be his graduation gift.
Rich and I completed the order details in a couple minutes, and somehow, the word âorganâ was spoken by one of us. A nearly one hour conversation ensued having zero to do with trains, and everything to do with pipe organs. Rich talked at length with an in depth knowledge of a large pipe organ restoration project he was involved in for a church in Youngstown, Ohio, as I recall.