“Carl! Carl and Kathy!”

We had just come out of downtown Chicago’s Crate and Barrel store and heard a man and woman calling our names. We had a six hour layover in Chicago on our pilgrimage to Mecca, aka Leipzig and took the train into town to kill some time.

We turned around to look at who called our names and were absolutely delighted to see Mel Butler and his wife, Mary Coon, standing behind us! As you may recall, Mel is the organist-choirmaster of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Seattle, Peter Hallock’s successor. Mel came to Hawaii two years ago January to play an Abendmusiken organ recital at LCH, and Mary tagged along. That was the concert which the women of the choir sang a most memorable performance of Britten’s Missa Brevis.

Mel and Mary happened to be vacationing in the Windy City and it was pure chance that we all were walking down Michigan Avenue!

Wonders never cease–it surely is a small world after all!