Last week we were sitting in a restaurant and the cell phone rang. It was Eric Becklin, a former LCH chorister who used to be on the faculty of the University of Hawaii Astronomy Department! What was so amazing was that it was only a few days before that someone had come up to us at the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians conference and asked us if we remembered the Becklins, since they used to be members of her church before they moved away. (For a bit of history, Ann Becklin was one of the driving forces of getting the nursery lanai built at LCH. Eric sang bass and had one of the low Cs in the choir.) I don’t know how many years ago they left Hawaii (it’s been at least 15), but you can find Eric’s bio on Wikipedia.

Then this past week when I came to the church, in the office was Lothar Bandermann, a former organ student of mine who left Hawaii in 1978! I had not seen him ever since, which means that it’s been 34 years. Lothar is now the organist at the church of St. Joseph of Cupertino (yes, home of Apple Computer), but when he lived in Hawaii, he was the organist at Sacred Hearts, just down the street from LCH. He has composed over 300 pieces for organ, piano, voice and church choir. You can read about Lothar’s fascinating life on his website and listen to many recordings of his music as well.

I can’t describe the feeling of reconnecting with people decades later. But hey, I found a fun website called “See you in 20 years” which invites you to upload a picture of yourself, and then digitally “ages” you (using advanced face detection and morphing technology) to see what you’ll look like in 20 years!

I think I’m too chicken to try it out.