This has been a week of reunions, a celebration of long time friendships that have lasted a lifetime. These friendships have all happened because of our common interest in the pipe organ.

My current houseguest is Barbara Adler, whom I met in December 1972 on a visit to Hawai’i in anticipation of my move here. I went to the University of Hawai’i Music department office and met the then-chair, Dr. Ricardo Trimillos, who at one time (I think!) told me he played the organ! When I announced that I was currently a masters student in organ and planning to move to Hawai’i, he suggested that I meet their organ instructor, Barbara Adler, whom I found in Orvis Auditorium. She and I made an instant connection and became fast friends.

That was December 1972. In February 1973, Barbara came with her husband to the East Coast where I was studying organ with Joan Lippincott at Westminster Choir College. I distinctly remember Barbara coming to visit me, but her memory of that trip has faded!

Not long after Barbara moved with her husband to Hilo where they lived for 11 years. She invited me to play a recital at Holy Apostles Episcopal Church where she had become organist. Many years later I played a recital there in 2003 for the church’s centennial anniversary, because of my friendship with Elizabeth “Liz” Bell, who was my maid of honor, and whose family still attends Holy Apostles. Liz knows Barbara, too!

Since Barbara left Hawai’i, we have frequently met up at organists conventions and I visited her homes in California and Florida. We have stayed in touch through letters, phone calls and emails. She even taught my former student, Joey Fala, for a short time when he went to college at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.

Barbara is here in Hawaii for 3-1/2 weeks where she will spend most of the time on the island of Moloka‘i but only two days in Honolulu. She wanted to take the opportunity of the two days here to see long-time friends.

So yesterday, three of Barbara’s friends came to visit, all of them her former organ students: Don Conover, Gloria Moore Faltstrom and Randy Castello. Hey, these people have also been MY oldest friends here in Hawaii and we met each other in the early 1970s. When we all met (Barbara, Don, Gloria and Randy) we were in our 20s and 30s; now we’re all in our (gulp!) 70s and 80s! I titled this post, “Old friends,” in the sense of being long-time friends, but now we’re also OLD! Yikes, WHAT HAPPENED?!

When I first met Don Conover, he was the graduate assistant at the University of Hawaii Music Department where I taught organ from 1974-1988. He took organ lessons with Barbara and was the long-time director of music/organist at Church of the Crossroads. It was Don’s generosity in donating funds from his 50th birthday celebration which kicked off the Hawaii Chapter AGO’s scholarship program. He recently visited Joey Fala, a four-time recipient of our AGO’s scholarship program, at University Presbyterian Church in Chapel Hill, NC and sang in his church choir. He could not stop raving about Joey’s ability to conduct a choir rehearsal! Don also attended the memorial service for Samuel Hammond, Duke University’s long-time carillonneur, in which Joey played the carillon and about whom I have written several posts. This year Don turns 80!

Gloria received her master’s degree in organ from the University of Hawaii under Barbara Adler; she was also the Dean of the Hawaii AGO chapter when I first moved to Hawaii in 1973.

I didn’t know that Randy Castello had taken organ lessons from Barbara and only found out yesterday when I recognized his voice on the telephone! My late husband Carl used to say that the only person who had been in the Lutheran Church of Honolulu’s choir longer than anybody was Randy Castello. I also played for Randy and Jeanne’s wedding at the church, and attended both of their parents’ funerals.

No sooner had I dropped Barbara off to a friend’s apartment where she will catch a ride to the airport to Moloka‘i, then it was time to wash the sheets and towels for my next set of houseguests who are coming in tonight—my niece, Clarissa Au Leung, her husband, and two-month-old baby.

Tomorrow I’ll also entertain Michael Kleinschmidt, music director and organist from St. Mark’s Cathedral Seattle, who is in town for a Hawaii vacation with Marc Aubertin.

The Crosier Bed, Breakfast and Hospitality Company has officially opened for 2022!