LABC Update – Monday, January 23, 2023

Family,

Yesterday, we had a magnificent celebration of Stan’s tenure of our organist. The letter below, from Dale Edmondson, is representative of the accolades and tributes you shared. Stan will be with us one more Sunday, this coming Sunday, January 29th. The 29th will also be Annual Meeting Sunday.

Dear Stan,

 I wish I could be with you these last two Sundays of your time with us, but cannot as I’ll be preaching then in Walnut Creek then. You know that your organ work has contributed greatly to my experience of worship. Clearly all of us will miss you.

  I remember the first time I heard you: it was on a then live Sunday morning broadcast. I was a pastor in Pleasant Hill at the time, but ill that Sunday and in bed. You played a piano solo (Chopin, if I recall). I had no idea then I would be a member of that congregation with you as organist.

Your leaving will require some adjustments for me. One has to do with the music I’ve listed for my funeral, as drawn from your repertoire. I understand that on your last Sunday, you plan to play the Toccata from Widor’s Fifth Symphony. I don’t know if you’ll remember that when I was planning for the service marking the 50^th anniversary of my ordination, I’d asked if you had that in hand. You replied that doing so would have required your practice to be more current. I’ll resist the temptation to cancel my preaching on the 29^th but I’ll hear it afterward on YouTube.

                                                           Best warmest wishes,

                                                                          Dale