My husband, Carl, just came back from a ten-day business trip to Philadelphia and Boston but took the opportunity to meet up with some long-lost friends — some of whom he had not seen in DECADES and all who had some connection to the Lutheran Church of Honolulu and its music program.

When he found out he was going to Philadelphia, he said, “I’m hope to see Fred Epting there!” You see, more than thirty years ago, Fred (a music teacher and organist) spent his sabbatical in Hawaii and stayed with us for a time. He was introduced to us by organist, McNeil Robinson, and sang in both the mixed and Compline choirs at LCH during his year in Honolulu. When Fred returned to the Philadelphia area, he met his wife, Cassie, and they returned to Hawaii for their honeymoon. The last time we saw the Eptings was when we vacationed in Philadelphia about twenty-four years ago and took our young sons to Hershey Park and the Liberty Bell. Carl attended church with them at St. Mark’s Episcopal, Philadelphia, and had a couple of great meals catching up on the last twenty-five years!

Carl then spent the weekend in Boston with retired choirmaster, Edith Ho (who has visited us in Hawaii) and attended the High Mass at the Church of the Advent. (Read about Edith’s influence on Carl by clicking here.) Afterwards he met with Nicholas Walters whom you may remember sang the Monteverdi Vespers concerts as well as the Bach B-Minor Mass while he was in Honolulu. Nick is presently a voice student at the New England Conservatory and just loving it.

Finally this week we made contact with William “Bill” Livingston, a tenor from Carl’s hometown of Bremerton, WA who was responsible for Carl’s moving to Hawaii in 1972. Do you remember my telling you that the first service I ever played at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu was a Bach Cantata Vespers on May 4, 1975? Well, it so happened that Bill Livingston sang the tenor arias in that service. One distinct memory I have of the dress rehearsal for that service was that Bill was sick and had lost his voice so he whistled his entire Bach aria — and was it ever fantastic! I’m afraid we lost contact with Bill years and years ago, and just contacted him this week through FaceBook!

It was our music at the Lutheran Church of Honolulu that brought us all together!