Saint Margaret’s | Frances Smith

Frances Smith

This letter came in from Frances Smith, St. Margaret's first organist:

May 1993 Letter from Frances Smith St. Margaret’s first organist:

St. Margaret's held its first services in a restaurant on the highway (now Non-Restaurant). I took my autoharp as a substitute for the organ, and swung onto a stool at the counter. The chords on the autoharp are limited, so I went through the hymnal to pick out suitable hymns. I usually had to transpose them.

We met in the recreation room of a subdivision just west of the present site down Haystack. We finally raised enough money to build the sanctuary, which now serves as your parish hall.

When the church moved into the new building on Highway 74, we were given a reed organ by the St. James Day School in Corona del Mar, where I had been the music teacher. It had a vacuum cleaner motor, so noisy that it had to be turned off during the sermon.

We finally raised enough money for a real pipe organ. It was a red letter day when our first pipe was installed. I asked the technician how much it would cost to install chimes. He mentioned a certain amount. Then the phone rang, and Father Brownlee went to answer it. He Came back with the strangest look on his face. "That was Mrs. So-and-so", he said. "She wants to donate some money to the organ." The amount she offered was precisely the cost of the chimes!!!

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