I mentioned in my last post that I dedicated my organ recital at St. John’s Episcopal Church—Kula in memory of Dr. John Hanley, his wife, Cancy, and son Paul Hanley. Way back in August 2013, I wrote a post about John’s influence on the procurement of three tracker organs in Hawaii which you can re-read by clicking here.

Let me also share with you the message that the former rector, The Rev. Heather Mueller, sent to the congregation which I included in the program:

I am so grateful to you for your plan to honor John and Cancy Hanley. It is so appropriate to offer an organ concert in their memory. My friendship with John and Cancy goes back to November 1, 1981 when I was being interviewed for the position of Rector of  St. John’s. John was the Senior Warden for the parish at the time and I believe my call to St. John’s was something that he was instrumental in making happen. The newsletter article to announce my call to the church was titled by John, “A priest for St. John’s and He is a She!”

In 1984 John started the process for a pipe organ at St. John’s. He offered a generous amount to begin the process and then got others on board. I remember the sign he created to show fundraising progress. It was a group of organ pipes which showed, like the familiar thermometer, the amount which had been collected from week to week. John was certainly the catalyst for the beautiful pipe organ which St. John’s is so privileged to have. 

The Oberlinger Organ was assembled by Wilhelm and Ushi Zuck in May of 1987, and the dedication of the organ was at the end of May. The Zucks were at the dedication service.

John and Cancy were faithful friends to me and completely committed to the ministry of the church. We were blessed at St. John’s by them in so many areas of ministry and especially in the music.

I also wanted to let you know what kind of work was done on the instrument. In the fall of 2013, Hans-Ulrich Erbslöh, formerly of the Rudolf von Beckerath firm, completely overhauled and rebuilt the Oberlinger organ. The work included the removal of mold and mildew and a complete change of the manual coupler system. Mr. Erbslöh thoroughly regulated and repaired the stop and tracker action, re-fit all the stopped pipe caps with felt instead of paper and extensively repaired the ends of the cone-tuned pipes. He also soldered supporting seams at the mouths of all the cone-tuned pipes. The restoration concluded with a complete voicing of the whole instrument, including work on the reed stop (Rohrschalmey), and especially the 4’ Principal.

It was like a new organ and was so much fun to play!