Pipe Organ Renovation
Renovation of St. John's historic pipe organ is on hold. The pipe organ at St. John has been in declining health for some time. Our longtime organist and music director, the late Garland Kneten, realized the need for major work. He had obtained bids for rebuilding the organ, and had even applied for a grant to fund it (that was turned down) before his death in 2016. A thorough inspection of the organ by two different organ rebuilders
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indicated the time for a major rebuild has arrived. The
existing pipe organ was purchased second-hand but is estimated to be from the 1920's. As a general rule every fifty to seventy years a major rebuild is required. On June 24, 2018 our congregation voted to purchase and install a new organ console, due to the many issues with the existing console. Installation of the new console was completed in October of that year. 
Purchase of the console was achieved through gifts made to St John, many in memory of Garland Kneten. This second phase required more money than we had, so had to wait for more fund raising. Unfortunately, Ken Mowell of Lampasas, who was to do the work, passed on to his Heavenly reward in October of 2021 before we could begin the second phase. The price he had agreed to was about half of what anyone else was willing to do it for. Ken had said he considered that as a way of ministering to others. |
