Pipe Organ Foundation Sends Two Organs

to the Philippines

In the summer of 2020, Father Ric Marpa of the Catholic Archdiocese in Palo, Leyte, the Philippines, was in communication with the President of the Foundation, Carl Dodrill. He expressed an interest in obtaining pipe organs for two of the seminaries in the Philippines. Fr. Marpa had previously worked with the Foundation with the result that the Foundation had sent to the Philippines a substantial three manual Kimball organ in 2012, and it had been successfully placed in a cathedral there.

Late in 2020, the Pipe Organ Foundation heard of two pipe organs in its geographical area which were in need of new homes. Fr. Marpa and organ builder Cealwyn Tagle in the Philippines welcomed the prospect of receiving these organs, and the Foundation undertook the task of removing these organs from the churches, packing them, and sending them to the Philippines. These two organs and their destinations are briefly described below.

Organ at St. John Episcopal

The first organ was in St. John Episcopal Church in Gig Harbor, Washington. It began as a small Moller instrument built in 1977. It was then expanded and installed in St. John Episcopal in 2000 by Michael Gardner. When completed, it was a two manual 12 rank electropneumatic organ with a Great division of 237 pipes and 4 ranks (8’ Principal, 8’ Rohrflute, 4’ Octave, 1 3/5’ Tierce), a Swell division of 390 pipes and 6 ranks (16’ Gedeckt, 8’ Salicional, 8’ Celeste, 8’ Erzahler, 1 1/3’ Larigot, 8’ Oboe), and a Pedal division of 89 pipes and 2 ranks (16’ Subbass, 8’ Principal). The church had been given a larger and extremely nice pipe organ, and it wished to find a home for their existing organ to make space for the new one. It was available at no cost and the Pipe Organ Foundation took ownership of it and assumed the responsibility of getting it removed, packed, and sent to the Philippines.

In December, 2020, workers from the Foundation went to Gig Harbor and joined St. John organist Dennis Northway and other workers from the church in dissembling and packing the organ. Three days were required to accomplish this task. As the church was essentially unoccupied due to COVID, it was possible to temporarily store it in Sunday School classrooms and in a hallway. One major task remained, however, and this was to crate up the very large five rank windchest in the Swell. This task proved to be a truly difficult one due to its very large size and weight. In addition, the nature of the windchest was such that it had to be suspended within the crate to prevent damage during shipment. Doug Williams of the St. John church undertook this substantial task with willing volunteers from the church, and much planning and labor was required to complete this crate and properly fit in the windchest.

On January 17, 2021, the Foundation rented a truck, took it to Gig Harbor, and together with a sizable crew arranged by Dennis Northway, loaded the organ into the truck and a van. Later that day, it was taken to the Foundation shop on Mercer Island. The next day, when the 40 foot container came, the organ was loaded into the container first and packed at the far end. The photos give information on how this was done with a crew of willing Foundation volunteers.

German United Church of Christ

The German United Church of Christ in Seattle was started in 1881, but it closed in 2020 and the property was sold to another church which did not want the 1917 Hinners mechanical action organ which was in the sanctuary. The organ had originally been placed in a Lutheran church in Iowa, and after two other placements, it was installed in the German church in Seattle by Randall McCarty in 1976. It has one manual with 61 notes and the pedal has 30 notes. There are six ranks of pipes with only the 8’ Open Diapason being exposed, and the other five ranks being in the swell box and under expression. Some of the façade pipes speak as part of the Open Diapason and some are silent.

The first Hinners photo presents the essentially intact organ, and subsequent photos show progressive disassembly. It was taken apart very carefully with many notations in removable tape as to how the parts connected with each other. Preservation of the more delicate parts was carefully done, and tracker organ specialist Tim Drewes was called in to assist with the disassembly. A total of three days were required to take the organ apart and carefully move it to the Foundation shop. At the shop, custom made crates and pipe boxes were constructed for the organ parts with the objective of protecting them against rough seas.

When the Moller organ had been completely loaded, three pieces of liturgical furniture gifted by the German church were loaded (pulpit, altar, baptismal font). Also, a fully functional Estey reed organ was included which was given by Carl and Halie Dodrill. The Hinners organ was then loaded with everything tied in place. The next morning, the container was picked up and it was on its way to the Philippines.

Planned Locations for the Organs in the Philippines

The anticipation is that the two organs sent to the Philippines will be placed in the balconies of the chapels in two Catholic seminaries in Palo, the Philippines. The Sacred Heart Seminary accommodates younger students and the Saint John the Evangelist School of Theology is adapted to older students and it offers advanced degrees. In addition to playing for services and ceremonies in the chapels, the organs will also be available for students who wish to take instruction in organ.

Both organs will receive any necessary repair work and then be installed by Diego Cera Organbuilders of Manila. This company has been operating since 1994, and it is headed by senior organ builder Cealwyn Tagle who will be in charge of both projects.

Finally, note is made that the entire project used the services of about 23 volunteers who worked a total of approximately 700 hours to complete the project.