Tales from the Archive
Tales from the Archives is a presentation from the Archives at St. Paul's
Contributions of items of significance to the Church History or contributions of stories are welcome and encouraged. Please submit by the 23rd of the month for publication the first Sunday of the following month. It is the goal of the Archive to preserve the church history and make selected portions of it known to the congregation from time to time.
September 2023
Happenings in the Archive
Archive marks the beginning of fall
Archive September 2023
Since we are saying good bye to Dave Riethmiller as our organist and hello to our new organist Christine Grycenkov plus an Organ Crawl this August, I thought it fitting to share a little information from the Oran Crawl about our church organ.
About the Organ ( Also known as “Gloria -gloria in Excelsis “)
By Gerald I. Piercey Lewis & Hitchcock, Inc.
The “new” organ in St. Paul’s Church was built by Lewis & Hitchcock, Inc. as their Opus 261, began in 1984 and was completed in 1985. It is a two-manual and Pedal instrument that utilizes mechanical action.
The case of oak and oak veneers stained to match the church furnishings, contains the console, Great and Swell divisions. The Pedal division is in the chamber behind the organ case.
On September 12, 1984 the cabinet work was in process with the Great & Swell chests in place.
The console feature manual keys of Bubinga and Ebony and pedal keys of Maple and Walnut. The stops are operated by levers in the Italian style.
The couplers are operated by tredles. There is a swell shoe that controls the shades as large as Venetian blinds and are used by the organist to regulate the volume of sound produced by that division. The shades are visible and front the Swell division which is locate in the “Brust’ position above the music desk.
The Great division is locate above the Swell in the ‘Haupt’ position. It is fronted by the facad pipes which are from the 8’ Dolce stop. The largest pipes are in the two towers, one on each side of the case. The graceful curve of the case roof above the Great division follows the natural cure of the pipe.
The Swell Toe board with pipes racked was completed on June 19, 1984 and the cabinet was completed in November of 1984. January 1985 saw all the keys in place on the keyboard. February 1985 the organ was stained and the finished keyboard and music desk was put into place.
Note: Those pipes and parts of the former organ that were of sufficient worth and value were carried over into the new organ. Among them are: The Subbass pipes, the blower, the rectifier and the chimes.
Specifications are on the following page.
Respectfully submitted,
Kerry Griffin
Archivist
Scroll Down for additional stories
Organ Specifications
Great Division
8’ Dolce—This is a full Stop. Dolce is from the Italian and means “sweet”. A useful light sound.
8’ Rohr flute—This is a very versatile flute Stop. Pipes have chimneys or ‘rohrs’ soldered to the top.
4’ Principal– It is a full, solid sound upon which the chorus of the organ is built.
2’ Gemshorn - German term, translates to “Goat Whistle”. Similar to the Pan-pipe played by shepherds.
1 1/3’ Mixture II—The Mixture is an overtone series, a set of pipes that produce harmonics. Adds fullness.
8’ Trumpet—The trumpet is a rank that produces sound from a brass reed beating against a shallot.
Manual Coupler– Operated by a tredle, causes the keys of the lower manual to operate with the upper.
Chimes—This set of tuned metal tubes cause the keys of the lower manual to also operate.
Swell Division
8’ Gedeckl—German term, means ‘covered’. This rank of pipes is a covered flute. Pipes are metal
4’ Spitzfulte—Pointed or tapered set of pipes of a flute tone. Broad and full sounding
2’ Principal—Principal Stop of the Swell division. An octave higher than the Great division.
1 1/3’ SpizQuini—Another tapered rank. Two octaves and a fifth above unison. For color & brightness.
2 2/3’ Cornet II—This is a cornet Stop of French origin. This is a very ‘reedy’ in sound and useful in combination
Note there is the possibility of a 8’ Krummhorn Stop in the future
Pedal Division
16’ Subbass—This Stop is the basic stop for any pedal combination. The pipes are of wood, and have a flute tone.
8’ Subbass—This Stop is from the 16’ Subbass but speaks at an octave higher.
Great to Pedal Coupler—connects the mechanism of the lower manual to the Pedal.
Swell to Pedal Coupler—operated by a tredle, connects the upper manual to the Pedal.
Note there is the possibility of a future addition of a 16’ Stop and Schalmei.
Featured Items
Shown Left is a baby picture of A. Walter Brady as a baby. It is kind of unique as it is printed on a glass slide and over seventy years old. It is similar to photos you can get from a company call “Fractureme” which prints photos on glass today. Which goes to show you all things old are new again.
The slide is about 3x5 and is similar looking to an old mirror. Time has not been kind, but it is an interesting addition to the Archive.
Thank you Charles and Judy.
Pastor Joseph Lettrich
Congratulations to Pastor Joe on his Anniversary of 56 years of Ordination, Thursday, June 8, 2023. We are so blessed to have him here with us. Photo—Carol Lettrich. Thanks for sharing!
Elise Wessel Original Painting
Painting of the original wooden church that stood on the property in the 1870's. Now a Real Estate Office in Savage, MD.
J. Santini Painting from Wessel Room or Youth Room.
Painting of the "stone" church from earlier in our history.
John Santini was a member and a builder of homes in the area. Believe to be during the late 50's and 60's.
Chalking the Door
January 2020
1870 Bible now add to the Archive Collection
Donated by Charles and Judy Iager in September 2019
1870 Bible
Front Cover
St. Paul's "Last Supper"
St. Paul’s version of the “Last Supper’’. Our version executes some of the traditional elements. However, notice in this version the table is semi-round in the Jewish tradition and there is nothing on the table as in Leonardo’s and there is a faint image of an altar as well as a suggestion of foot washing in the lower left corner. It is fittingly located beneath our Trinity Stained Glass window.
C. Ellsworth Iager (Charles Iager’s father) bought the picture around 1980 and it is an original depicture of the “Last Supper” done by an artist. C. Ellsworth and Mary Elizabeth Iager (married 49 years) donated it to the church and took a lot of pride in giving it and having it hung up. They were very humble about it and very proud of finding it because they loved it.
C. Ellsworth was President of the Church Council several times. Building the parsonage and the 100th Anniversary took place while he was President. Ellsworth sang in the choir for many years.
The Banners of St. Paul's
A Brief History and Inventory of the Banners at St. Paul's Lutheran Church
The purpose of this photo Gallery is to document the variety of banners that enhance our worship here at St. Paul's through countless hours, talent and treasure of all those who have contributed to make them possible.
The banners contained here in take us through the Church year: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Pentecost and the sacraments of marriage and baptism as well as the rite of confirmation.
Although Church banners are not new to the St. Paul's they do more than just decorate, many are based upon passage's from the Bible and God's creation and remind us of His word and the beauty of creation as well as marking important milestone in St. Paul's congregation's life.
Most of St. Paul's banners are hand sewn and one their creators, Sandy August is particularly fond of adding a ribbon. Make note of the special fabric used in some of them, such as the Advent banners. The photos may not do them justice but they have an unusual impression in them similar to a watermark on paper.
Please browse by clicking the forward arrow ">" or the backward "<" arrow on the image below. There are at present about 60 in the collection.
Index
The Stained Glass of St. Paul's
I happened upon a 2009 Booklet about the Stained Glass of St. Paul's and the meaning of each of the various windows at St. Paul's written I believe by Prue Ronneberg and I was inspired to re-do the booklet in a larger format and update it to present 2017. Below is the resulting story.
1952 Jr. Choir
1 John Orndorff
2 Joy Orndorff
3 Joyce Tyler
4 Linda Mauck
5 Charles David Sealing
6 Rosalie Mauck
7 Ann Buch
8 Charlie Iager
9 Brenda Wehland Grooms
10 Gertrude Bassler Sewell
11 Loretta Mauck Bassler
12 Carl Mauck
13 Marie Hall
14 Joan Grauel Sammons
15 Carolyn Wehland Frost
16 Helen Hein
17 Donald Wessel
18 Roger House
